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A Gracious Rain: A Devotional Comentary on the Prayers of the Church Year
Using the Collects (opening prayers) for each Sunday and major feast day of the church year (including Christmas, Epiphany, and the days of Holy Week and Easter Week), the author offers a brief (one-page), anecdotal meditation on the relationship of the prayer's and season's theme to the realities of life. Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, Richard Schmidt takes the reader on a journey through the church year as he reflects on the mystery and challenge of our human pilgrimage.
260 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2008
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November 22, 2020
One of the most beautiful parts of the Episcopal church liturgy is the collects. Collects, which are short prayers with a specific structure, are said not only during weekly worship services—a different one for each Sunday—but also for many holy days.
This book by Richard H. Schmidt focuses on the collects said on Sundays and major holy days, such as Christmas and Easter week. Each chapter contains the collect as it appears in The Book of Common Prayer and a short commentary on the meaning of the collect. As would be the case with any book like this, some of the commentaries are far better than others, but all offer some tidbit for thought to better understand and apply that particular collect.
The book begins with the start of the liturgical church year, which is the first Sunday in Advent. I read it beginning with Advent I and then each Sunday thereafter until the last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday. Because the seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost vary in length depending on the date of Ash Wednesday and Pentecost respectively, you will find "extra" Sundays that are not in the liturgy for the year you are reading. It's worth reading them all even though they don't fit an actual date for the year.
I appreciated this book so much because it helped me to focus on a part of the worship service that is easy to gloss over.
This book by Richard H. Schmidt focuses on the collects said on Sundays and major holy days, such as Christmas and Easter week. Each chapter contains the collect as it appears in The Book of Common Prayer and a short commentary on the meaning of the collect. As would be the case with any book like this, some of the commentaries are far better than others, but all offer some tidbit for thought to better understand and apply that particular collect.
The book begins with the start of the liturgical church year, which is the first Sunday in Advent. I read it beginning with Advent I and then each Sunday thereafter until the last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday. Because the seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost vary in length depending on the date of Ash Wednesday and Pentecost respectively, you will find "extra" Sundays that are not in the liturgy for the year you are reading. It's worth reading them all even though they don't fit an actual date for the year.
I appreciated this book so much because it helped me to focus on a part of the worship service that is easy to gloss over.
Displaying 1 of 1 review