Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

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Overview

Experience a deeper prayer life through this fresh take on ancient liturgy for believers today.

Designed to help individuals, families, and congregations pray together across denominations, this book of common prayer will help you and your community join together each day with the same songs, scriptures, and prayers. Composed under an advisory team of liturgy experts, these three influential and inspiring authors have created Common Prayer—a tapestry of prayer that will help the church be one as God is one.

This universal prayer book allows readers to greet each day together, remembering significant dates and Christian heroes in church history, as well as important historic dates in the struggle for freedom and justice. There are morning prayers for each day of the year, evening prayers for each of the seven days of the week, a midday prayer to be repeated throughout the year, and prayers for special occasions. In addition, there are morning prayers for Holy Week.

Common Prayer also includes a unique songbook composed of music and classic lyrics to more than fifty songs from various traditions, including African spirituals, traditional hymns, Mennonite gathering songs, and Taize chants. Tools for prayer are scattered throughout to aid those who are unfamiliar with liturgy and to deepen the prayer life of those who are familiar with liturgical prayer.

Ultimately, Common Prayer makes liturgy dance, taking the best of the old and bringing new life to it with a fresh fingerprint for the contemporary renewal of the church.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780310326199
Publisher: Zondervan
Publication date: 11/28/2010
Pages: 592
Sales rank: 297,454
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 8.90(h) x 2.00(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and bestselling author. Shane worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia. He heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living “as if Jesus meant the things he said.” Shane is a champion for grace, which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless, and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. Now, grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty.

Shane’s books include Jesus for President, Red Letter Revolution, Common Prayer, Follow Me to Freedom, Jesus, Bombs, and Ice Cream, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers, his classic The Irresistible Revolution, Executing Grace, and Beating Guns. He has been featured in a number of films, including Another World Is Possible and Ordinary Radicals. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks over one hundred times a year, nationally and internationally. His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame.

Shane speaks regularly at denominational gatherings, festivals, and conferences around the globe.



Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is an associate minister at St. Johns Baptist Church. A graduate of Duke Divinity School, Jonathan is engaged in reconciliation efforts in Durham, North Carolina, directs the School for Conversion (newmonasticism.org), and is a sought-after speaker and author of several books. The Rutba House, where Jonathan lives with his wife, Leah, their son, Jai Michael, daughter, Nora Ann, and other friends, is a new monastic community that prays, eats, and lives together, welcoming neighbors and homeless. Find out more at jonathanwilsonhartgrove.com.

Enuma Okoro was born in the United States and raised in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and England. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School where she served as Director for the Center for Theological Writing. Currently, she is a writer, speaker, and workshop/retreat leader. The author of Reluctant Pilgrim, Enuma lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. http://reluctantpilgrim.wordpress.com.

Read an Excerpt

Common Prayer

A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
By Shane Claiborne Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Enuma Okoro

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2010 The Simple Way and School for Conversion
All right reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-310-32619-9


Chapter One

EVENING PRAYER Sunday Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked will I return. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. O God, come to my assistance: O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Kneeling Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. Silence (or time to confess to God or to one another) Rebuke me, O Lord, but not in your anger, lest I come to nothing. Rising Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Amen. A candle is lit during the following song Walk in the light, the beautiful light. Come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright. Shine all around us by day and by night. Jesus, the light of the world. O gracious Light, pure brightness of the ever-living Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed! Now as we come to the setting of the sun, and our eyes behold the evening light, we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of life, your glory fills the whole world. In word or song Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God, all creatures here below. Praise God above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Declaration of Faith We believe and trust in God the Father Almighty. We believe and trust in Jesus Christ, his Son. We believe and trust in the Holy Spirit. We believe and trust in the Three in One. Prayers for Others (following each request): Lord, hear our prayer. Our Father Magnificat (Mary's Song) My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. The Lord looks on me, a lowly servant; henceforth all ages will call me blessed. The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is God's name! God's mercy is from age to age, on those who are faithful. God puts forth an arm in strength and scatters the proud- hearted — casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly. God fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty, protecting Israel, God's servant, remembering mercy, the mercy promised to our ancestors, to Abraham, Sarah, and their children forever. Lord Jesus Christ, you have triumphed over the powers of death and prepared for us a place in the New Jerusalem. Grant that we, who have this day given thanks for your resurrection, may praise you in that city of which you are the light and where you live and reign forever and ever. Amen. May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm, and may God lead us to eternal life. Amen. Monday Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked will I return. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. O God, come to my assistance: O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Kneeling Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Chapter Two

MORNING PRAYER

DECEMBER

Marks of New Monasticism Locating Our Lives in the Abandoned Places of the Empire

Everything in our society teaches us to move away from suffering, to move out of neighborhoods where there is high crime, to move away from people who don't look like us. But the gospel calls us to something altogether different. We are to laugh at fear, to lean into suffering, to open ourselves to the stranger. Advent is the season when we remember how Jesus put on flesh and moved into the neighborhood. God getting born in a barn reminds us that God shows up in the most forsaken corners of the earth.

Movements throughout church history have gone to the desert, to the slums, to the most difficult places on earth to follow Jesus. For some of us that means remaining in difficult neighborhoods that we were born into even though folks may think we are crazy for not moving out. For others it means returning to a difficult neighborhood after heading off to college or job training to acquire skills — choosing to bring those skills back to where we came from to help restore the broken streets. And for others it may mean relocating our lives from places of so-called privilege to an abandoned place to offer our gifts for God's kingdom.

Wherever we come from, Jesus teaches us that good can happen where we are, even if real-estate agents and politicians aren't interested in our neighborhoods. Jesus comes from Nazareth, a town from which folks said nothing good could come. He knew suffering from the moment he entered the world as a baby refugee born in the middle of a genocide. Jesus knew poverty and pain until he was tortured and executed on a Roman cross. This is the Jesus we are called to follow. With his coming we learn that the most dangerous place for Christians to be is in comfort and safety, detached from the suffering of others. Places that are physically safe can be spiritually deadly.

One of the best stories of community in the United States comes from the backwoods of Georgia. In the 1940s, long before the civil rights movement had begun to question the racial divisions in the South, white folks and black folks came together to start Koinonia Farm — a "demonstration plot" for the kingdom of God, as they called it. Koinonia survived attacks from the Ku Klux Klan in the '50s and '60s, tilling the soil and sowing seeds for God's movement in the least likely of places.

December 1

Charles de Foucauld (1858–1916)

While working in the North African desert after a dishonorable discharge from military ser vice, Charles de Foucauld was impressed by the piety of Muslims and experienced a dramatic recovery of his Christian faith. He spent a number of years in a Trappist monastery before hearing the call to a new monasticism among the working poor. "I no longer want a monastery which is too secure," he wrote. "I want a small monastery, like the house of a poor workman who is not sure if tomorrow he will find work and bread, who with all his being shares the suffering of the world." Though Foucauld died in solitude, the Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, inspired by his life and witness, have started communities of ser vice among the poor and outcast around the world.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Song "Servant Song"

May we cry the gospel from the rooftops: both with our words and with our lives.

Psalm 8:4–7 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers: the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, what is man that you should be mindful of him?: the son of man that you should seek him out? You have made him but little lower than the angels: you adorn him with glory and honor; you give him mastery over the works of your hands: you put all things under his feet.

May we cry the gospel from the rooftops: both with our words and with our lives.

Isaiah 1:1–9 Luke 20:1–8

May we cry the gospel from the rooftops: both with our words and with our lives.

Charles de Foucauld prayed, "Father, I abandon myself into your hands, do with me what you will. For whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all, I accept all, let only your will be done in me, as in all your creatures."

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Sometimes, Lord, it takes witnessing another person's commitment for us to realize our own lack of faith. Open our eyes to learn, even from strangers who inhabit other faith traditions, what it means to be committed to you. Amen.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

December 2

In 1980 Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan were murdered by officers of the Salvadoran military. Missionaries serving among the poor during El Salvador's civil war, these women knew, as Ita Ford said the night before she died, that "one who is committed to the poor must risk the same fate as the poor." Their deaths affected the North American church deeply, galvanizing opposition to US support for the Salvadoran government's repression of its people.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee: let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

Song "Were You There?"

O Lord, listen to the song: of your saints who cry, "How long?"

Psalm 12:1–5 Help me, Lord, for there is no godly one left: the faithful have vanished from among us. Everyone speaks falsely with his neighbor: with a smooth tongue they speak from a double heart. Oh, that the Lord would cut off all smooth tongues: and close the lips that utter proud boasts! Those who say, "With our tongue will we prevail: our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" "Because the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery: I will rise up," says the Lord, "and give them the help they long for."

O Lord, listen to the song: of your saints who cry, "How long?"

Isaiah 1:10–20 Luke 20:9–18

O Lord, listen to the song: of your saints who cry, "How long?"

Ita Ford wrote, "The reasons why so many people are being killed are quite complicated, yet there are some clear, simple strands. One is that people have found a meaning to live, to sacrifice, struggle, and even die. And whether their life spans sixteen years, sixty, or ninety, for them their life has had a purpose. In many ways, they are fortunate people."

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Lord, it was not enough for you to care for the poor. You chose to become one of them by descending as you did. Keep us free from fear and selfish preoccupations that we may walk as you walked among the poor, sick, and dying in body and spirit. Amen.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

December 3

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"

O come, O come, Emmanuel: and ransom captive Israel.

Psalm 18:3–7 I will call upon the Lord: and so shall I be saved from my enemies. The breakers of death rolled over me: and the torrents of oblivion made me afraid. The cords of hell entangled me: and the snares of death were set for me. I called upon the Lord in my distress: and cried out to my God for help. He heard my voice from his heavenly dwelling: my cry of anguish came to his ears.

O come, O come, Emmanuel: and ransom captive Israel.

Isaiah 1:21–31 Luke 20:19–26

O come, O come, Emmanuel: and ransom captive Israel.

Justin the Martyr wrote in the second century, "He called Abraham and commanded him to go out from the country where he was living. With this call he has roused us all, and now we have renounced all the things the world offers, even unto death."

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Hound us, Lord, with affection and conviction until we renounce all lesser things to follow you. Help us see that in giving up the fool's gold of the world, we open ourselves to heavenly treasure that lasts forever. Amen.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

December 4

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Come, let us sing to the Lord: let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Song "Magnificat"

Praise to you who lift up the poor: and fill the hungry with good things.

Psalm 22:22–25 Praise the Lord, you that fear him: stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob's line, give glory. For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them: but when they cry to him he hears them. My praise is of him in the great assembly: I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: "May your heart live for ever!"

Praise to you who lift up the poor: and fill the hungry with good things.

Isaiah 2:1–11 Luke 20:27–40

Praise to you who lift up the poor: and fill the hungry with good things.

Commenting on the activities of the early church, Roman Emperor Julian said, "The godless Galileans feed our poor in addition to their own."

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Lord, keep us from trying to distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving poor. Help us work to alleviate suffering and injustice wherever we find it, trusting that the rest is up to you. Amen.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

(Continues...)



Excerpted from Common Prayer by Shane Claiborne Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Enuma Okoro Copyright © 2010 by The Simple Way and School for Conversion. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Sidebars....................008
Introduction....................009
Evening Prayer....................027
Sunday....................028
Monday....................030
Tuesday....................033
Wednesday....................035
Thursday....................038
Friday....................040
Saturday....................042
Morning Prayer....................045
December....................047
January....................087
February....................127
March....................165
Holy Week....................205
April....................219
May....................259
June....................301
July....................341
August....................381
September....................423
October....................461
November....................501
Midday Prayer....................541
Occasional Prayers....................545
House Blessing....................546
Prayers for a Workplace....................551
Major Life Transition....................552
Before or After a Meal....................553
Prayer to Welcome the Sabbath....................554
Death of Someone Killed in the Neighborhood....................555
For Healing....................555
A Prayer for Adoption....................556
Baby Dedication....................557
Commissioning/Sending Out....................559
Celibacy Commitment....................560
Blessing of the Land or a Garden....................561
A Litany to Honor Women....................562
Sanctus....................563
Prayer for Communion/Eucharist....................564
Songbook....................565
Credits....................589
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