Daily Prayer for Baptists (Paperback)

Daily Prayer for Baptists (Paperback)

• Publisher : Bowker Identifier Services (March 24, 2021)
• Language : English
• Paperback : 380 pages
• ISBN-10 : 1734960728
• ISBN-13 : 978-1734960723
• Item Weight : 15.5 ounces
• Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.86 x 8.5 inches

As lifelong baptists and pastors, we have experienced the need for truly formative (and sustainable) spiritual practices - in our own lives and in the lives of our churches. This book is a “new” resource for Baptists, but it is drawn from a very ancient tradition of common prayer and scripture reading in community. We hope it can help Baptists to experience the formative power of that kind of worship - both with friends and in the home with family.

Daily Prayer

The book is anchored with Daily Prayer orders (6 in total) for common prayer and/or family worship; including the entire book of Psalms pointed for responsive reading. The 6 orders are A Brief Order for Morning Prayer; The Full Order for Morning Prayer; Midday Devotion; A Brief Order for Evening Prayer; The Full Order for Evening Prayer; and Prayers at the End of the Day. In addition to the Daily Prayer orders, there are many written prayers that go along with the church year. These prayers were traditionally called "collects" and many were originally translations of ancient Latin prayers. These can be used in the Daily Prayers or even used in church services each week.

The Psalter

The next section includes the entire book of Psalms, as you will use Psalms regularly in the practice of common prayer. The Psalms in this book are drawn from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are bolded for responsive reading. Reading the book of Psalms in this way is both deeply formative and profoundly authentic.

Schedule of Readings

Finally, the worship orders are followed by an entirely new schedule of scripture readings. We felt that a new schedule would be better fitted to Baptist life. Most lifelong Baptists have very limited familiarity with the Church Year. For such believers, a table of reading based on the Church Year would be very difficult to simply pick up and use. Thus, the schedule we have created is entirely new and is primarily based on our modern-day calendar. The "Schedule of Readings" walks through the entire Old Testament every four years, the book of Psalms twice a year, and the New Testament yearly. During the four-year Old Testament cycle, readers will proceed along four different alternative "tracks" each quarter: The Pentateuch, Histories, Wisdom Literature, and Prophets. This schedule has kept the readings intentionally short. Anyone who has tried to shepherd their cranky and restless children through a time of family prayer will appreciate that brevity has its own beauty!