Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Shane Claiborne · Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove · Enuma Okoro

Nov 2010 · Sold by Zondervan

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

We hosted the launch of this book in India - and its great. I love the mix of Christian traditions - evangelical, Roman Catholic, Mennonite and Eastern Orthodox. The morning prayers for each day of the year use liturgy and readings - but fresh thoughtful language. I especially like the profiling of different CHristian heroes - from Latin AMerican dissidents for the WOrd to Desert Mothers to Dorothy Day.... Great resource I will use often and happiliy

I tried to like this book, I really did. I was looking for a liturgical prayer book, and purchased this based on many good reviews here. However, I just not could get over the ultra-left wing viewpoint. Comparing the war in Iraq to Herods genocide of baby boys in Bethlehem, and holding Malcom X as a good example of how Christians should behave were just too much for me. I'll be deleting this book, and looking for a prayer book minus the politics.

This book is truly amazing with devotional readings, songs, prayers and more all to draw us closer and together.

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, JaiMichael, 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.