Praying the Dark Hours
A Night Prayer Companion
by Jim Cotter
Paperback
Price: £12.99
Publisher:Canterbury Press imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd
Published:August 2011
ISBN:978-1-848-25109-0
GoodBookStall Review:
Two books, Prayer at Night and Waymarks, are here presented in one volume. The first is an evening prayer office that maintains the traditional structure of compline while employing a greater variation of language and imagery. “Prayer in the night is different to prayer in the day,” the foreword reminds us, “it requires a naked exposure before God.” These prayers are designed to be suitable either for congregational use, or for private devotion, and the layout is liberally spaced to encourage selah-style (stop and listen) pauses for reflection. “If you make alterations” the author reassures us, “you are making your own contribution to the living prayer of God’s people, not desecrating an ancient monument.”
The Waymarks half of the book contains a thought for every night of the year, contributions to the kind of questions that arise during the troubled musings of sleepless nights. “Words well crafted can create a temporary sacred space for truth, compassion, light, meaning, protected from the encroaching falsehoods, cruelty, darkness, disintegration,” says one of them, and this is an excellent description of the book itself. There is something here for every Christian, regardless of denomination. Recommended
Reviewer: Diane Morrison (28/10/11)
Two books, Prayer at Night and Waymarks, are here presented in one volume. The first is an evening prayer office that maintains the traditional structure of compline while employing a greater variation of language and imagery. “Prayer in the night is different to prayer in the day,” the foreword reminds us, “it requires a naked exposure before God.” These prayers are designed to be suitable either for congregational use, or for private devotion, and the layout is liberally spaced to encourage selah-style (stop and listen) pauses for reflection. “If you make alterations” the author reassures us, “you are making your own contribution to the living prayer of God’s people, not desecrating an ancient monument.”
The Waymarks half of the book contains a thought for every night of the year, contributions to the kind of questions that arise during the troubled musings of sleepless nights. “Words well crafted can create a temporary sacred space for truth, compassion, light, meaning, protected from the encroaching falsehoods, cruelty, darkness, disintegration,” says one of them, and this is an excellent description of the book itself. There is something here for every Christian, regardless of denomination. Recommended
Reviewer: Diane Morrison (28/10/11)
