Prayer is essential to the Christian life, bonding us to God. Yet we find it difficult in our frenetic world to keep our minds focused for long. All kinds of external noise and inner voices clamor for
Prayer is essential to the Christian life, bonding us to God. Yet we find it difficult in our frenetic world to keep our minds focused for long. All kinds of external noise and inner voices clamor for our attention. How can we slow down and quiet down so as to truly wait on the Lord? Nan Lewis Doerr and Virginia Stem Owens offer a solution that calls on the physical senses to break through to the spiritual -- praying with beads.
The use of prayer beads, which has a long history in practical spirituality, is now becoming more widespread among Protestants. Doerr and Owens here show readers how to use what have become known as Anglican or Christian prayer beads. Readers can then use the basic prayer structure provided by the beads to pray their way through each day -- morning, noon, and night -- and through the church year. These prayers -- a thoughtfully chosen combination of quotations from Scripture and gleanings from the Book of Common Prayer -- can be enhanced and enriched by the mindful and meditative practice of using beads.
Doerr and Owens encourage readers to use beads as "something to hang onto, a lifeline to the Presence that lies, often hidden or forgotten, at the center of our lives." Praying with beads, as outlined and embodied in this little book, has the potential to transform one's prayer life.
Grand Rapids Press
"The daily prayers here work for any person eager to deepen their prayer life."
Phyllis Tickle
— author of The Divine Hours
"This is an important book in the original sense of that adjective: it is a book that 'imports' to the church something that was lost in the Reformation and has been sorely missed during the centuries since. Protestant Christians, whether liturgical or not, will find here not only a missing part of their heritage, but also much counsel and instruction for their future practice of the faith."
Lauren F. Winner
— author of Girl Meets God
"Praying with beads has been a terrifically important practice to me over the last few years. How thrilled I am to discover Nan Doerr and Virginia Stem Owens's wonderful introduction to this age-old practice. I know this book will shape my own devotional life, and I am excited about the many people who will discover prayer beads through these pages."
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