Clergy Book Recommendations for September

Susan's Recommendation: Hour By Hour, by Edward S. Gleason.
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For those that want to start a daily prayer discipline and yet feel a little intimidated by the daily offices in our Book of Common, this little pocket-sized prayer book is an ideal place to start. Following the ancient practice of praying 'the hours', "Hour by Hour" offers four very short prayer offices - morning, noon, evening and compline - for each day of the week. It's perfect for opening up a prayer space in your day, and it can go with you anywhere! These reduced daily offices are truly doable - even for the very busy! I keep mine on my nightstand, which enables me to do the nightly Compline office without traipsing my BCP around the house. Using this prayer book faithfully over the years is an excellent way for learning many portions of the daily office and the Psalms. It's small, easy to use and leather-bound. So, if you are looking for a meaningful gift, this is one that folks will truly use and treasure.

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Nick's Recommendation: Learning to Walk in the Dark, by Barbara Brown Taylor

Ok. I'm cheating a little on this one. I'm listening to it on Audible during my walks with Kora in the morning. Nevertheless here is what they New York Times has to say about, Learning to Walk in the Dark. “Taylor has become increasingly uncomfortable with our tendency to associate all that is good with lightness and all that is evil and dangerous with darkness. Doesn't God work in the night-time as well? In Learning to Walk in the Dark, Taylor asks us to put aside our fears and anxieties and to explore all that God has to teach us ‘in the dark. She argues that we need to move away from our “solar spirituality' and ease our way into appreciating 'lunar BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR spirituality' (since, like the moon, our experience of the light waxes and wanes). Through darkness we find courage, we understand the world in new ways, and we feel God's presence around us, guiding us through things seen and unseen. Often, it is while we are in the dark that we grow the most.” I'm liking this one y'all.

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