Resources for Prayer

Our group continues to gather in some fantastic resources for assisting us in prayer! Here are a few more that were mentioned on Wednesday:

The Hour That Changes the World by Dick Eastman is a guide to 12 steps or "movements" (as Brian McLaren might say) of prayer. Each "movement" is intended to take about 5 minutes, leading the individual through an hour of prayer. Linda mentioned this book to the group and was quick to note that the book is not written in a legalistic manner, nor should it be taken that way. It's a practical guide, with room for flexibility. (Note: The book is available both in paperback and as an ebook.)

If you do a search for Eastman's book, you might stumble upon the article How To Pray at  www.714movement.com, a site developed in collaboration with Dr. James T. Bradford. Bradford has used Eastman's principles of prayer (which are listed in the article at the link above) to develop a prayer journal called Seven: Fourteen. The 714 website and app include daily readings, devotionals, and real-time maps of people praying around the world!

Also, I cannot recommend highly enough Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Prayerbook of the Bible. This book is often sold in a combined volume with his book Life Together, which also includes some lovely readings on the role of communal scripture reading, silence, and prayer. Bonhoeffer makes a convincing case for the daily reading of the Psalms as our Prayerbook. The Psalter is the prayer book that Jesus would have used in prayer. It was the prayer book of the early church. And it still relevant today as it encompasses a range of human emotion and experience.

For previously mentioned resources, see Daily/Weekly Practices, The Daily Office, Contemplative Spirituality, and Fixed Hour Prayer, and Praying the Divine Hours.