| Whether you grew up reciting Prayers of the People each Sunday or aren’t quite sure what liturgy means, chances are that you have some concept of a repeated, well-known prayer. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”
“God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food…”
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace…” In “Life’s Darkest Moments Call for Prayers We’d Never Choose to Pray,” Rachel Joy Welcher reviews Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep by Anglican priest and author Tish Harrison Warren. Warren’s book explores suffering, intimacy with God, and the role of recited prayers when we can’t find words to offer to the Lord. “More than a mere celebration of liturgy,” writes Welcher, “[Prayer in the Night] is about ‘how to continue to walk the way of faith without denying the darkness.’ One way we fight for faith in the dark is through prayer.” The idea of repeated prayers during these repetitious days may make you feel a bit skeptical. But consider this: perhaps prayers repeated by brothers and sisters throughout history are just the thing we need. Perhaps they can lift us, even momentarily, from the darkness of our cultural moment and bring us into the light. | 