Andrew Murray is the master of devotional literature. His books are short, easy to read and profoundly challenging. These five books would be a great addition to any bookcase, providing a great source of Christian insight. With added Biblical Index.

"God, I need you to do something in my children!" Have those words found their way into your desperate prayers? Do you feel helpless to know how to equip your children for this world and all it throws at them? If so, you're not alone. When Brooke McGlothlin realized her best efforts were falling woefully short of her goal to produce godly children, she discovered the joy and power of praying Scripture over her family. Her life and her children's lives were transformed. Yours can be too. Complete with prayers for specific situations, this encouraging book is perfect for times when you * feel too busy to pray, * don't know what or how to pray, * don't know if your prayers really matter. Nothing is more powerful and faith-building than praying God's Word for those you love. Become a mom full of hope in the God who can, even if you can't. "Praying Mom is the prayer mentor you've always wanted from a mom who absolutely lives this message on her knees."--STACEY THACKER, author of Threadbare Prayer

From Tom Wright's meditation on Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: 'Prayer is one of life's great mysteries. Most people pray at least sometimes; some people, in many very different religious traditions, pray a great deal. At its lowest, prayer is shouting into a void on the off-chance there may be someone out there listening. At its highest, prayer merges into love, as the presence of God becomes so real that we pass beyond words and into a sense of his reality, generosity, delight and grace. For most Christians, most of the time, it takes place somewhere in between those two extremes. To be frank, for many people it is not just a mystery but a puzzle. They know they ought to do it but they aren't quite sure how'.

In contemporary Western society the church has been pushed to the margins, leading experts to describe the current era as a time 'after Christendom'. Many traditional churches and congregations are struggling, a condition worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic regulations. As the practice of churchgoing wanes, the performance of the sacrament is called into question. How can we bring the traditional, communal experience of sacrament into the modern world? In Sacraments after Christendom, Andrew Francis and Janet Sutton tackle this question head-on, exploring and discussing the enactment of the sacrament in the context of church decline and an increasingly isolated world. In doing so, they deconstruct traditional perceptions and broaden our understanding of ritual and community in order to rediscover the truth of the sacrament.

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Steele writes with an infectious understanding of her subject' MARK OAKLEY, CHURCH TIMES How can we convey the love of God to our neighbours in a post-Christian world that has largely forgotten the gospel of Jesus Christ? In Living His Story, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2021, Hannah Steele uncovers liberating and practical ways of sharing the gospel story afresh. With warmth and encouragement, she shows us how we can live Jesus' story in our own lives simply by being the people God made us and allowing people to be drawn to him through our natural gifts. Living His Story is a Lent devotional that will change the way you think about evangelism, show how ideally suited it is for the world we live in and fill you with confidence in sharing God's love with the people around you. Set out in six sessions to take you through Lent, each chapter of the 2021 Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent book can be used as a single study for individuals or small groups to prepare for Easter. It will help you find space to see evangelism from a new practical perspective.

The Jesus Prayer Rosary will be welcomed by the growing number of people who are discovering that praying with beads can be a spiritually enriching and therapeutic experience. It will further enrich the spirituality of the many Christians who have found meditative repetition of the ancient Jesus Prayer to be a valuable devotional aid. This unique book brings together these two popular approaches to prayer and worship. It offers a Jesus-centred way of praying with beads. Ideal for complete beginners, it includes basic instruction on how to pray the rosary, using the Jesus Prayer. It comprises four sets of meditations which focus on the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke, scenes from the ministry of Jesus, his passion and death. These include readings from the various Gospel writers. Finally, we are given insight into our experience of him as the Risen One who gradually transforms our lives. Each meditation concludes with a prayer mostly taken from the liturgy, and biblical canticles are provided as centrepiece prayers. A complete resource for praying privately or in groups, this will open up the riches of Eastern and Catholic spirituality for all. Michael Cleary SVD is parish priest of the Church of St Mary- on- the- Quay, Bristol.

The Rule of St. Benedict offers a rich opportunity to explore a grounded devotional practice, and this book's fresh perspective will bring the Rule into your daily life. Praying with Saint Benedict was written for the thousands of lay Christians who are drawn to the Rule of St. Benedict and desire to incorporate it into their daily devotional practice. Those who study the Rule aspire to apply the Benedictine values of community, hospitality, humility, simplicity, and prayer in their daily lives. This unique book incorporates the passage of scripture that Benedict cites, three contemplation questions that facilitate lectio divina, and a concluding prayer. Unlike other commentaries on the Rule, the reflections here tend not to be historical or theological, but rather present personal, relatable thoughts and applications.

God thinks the world is worth saving and invites us to believe this too. For anyone who thinks Lent is a seemingly endless time of self-sacrifice and introspection, this 6-week study offers a breath of fresh air. Author George Donigian challenges readers to connect their inner spiritual life with outward actions of compassion in the world. He inspires readers to pray about daily news events and respond to the needs around them by serving others, feeding the hungry, fighting injustice, offering healing, and extending friendship. Give up apathy for Lent this year

"At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD" (Genesis 4:26 ESV). From this first mention of prayer in the Bible, right through to the end, when the church prays "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20), prayer is intimately linked with the gospel?God's promised and provided solution to the problem of human rebellion against him and its consequences. After defining prayer simply as "calling on the name of the Lord," Gary Millar follows the contours of the Bible's teaching on prayer. His conviction is that even careful readers can often overlook significant material because it is deeply embedded in narrative or poetic passages where the main emphases lie elsewhere. Millar's initial focus is on how "calling on the name of the Lord" to deliver on his covenantal promises is the foundation for all that the Old Testament says about prayer. Moving to the New Testament, he shows how this is redefined by Jesus himself, and how, after his death and resurrection, the apostles understood "praying in the name of Jesus" to be the equivalent new covenant expression. Throughout the Bible, prayer is to be primarily understood as asking God to deliver on what he has already promised?as Calvin expressed it, "through the gospel our hearts are trained to call on God's name" (Institutes 3.20.1). This New Studies in Biblical Theology volume concludes his valuable study with an afterword offering pointers to application to the life of the church today. Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.

Existing books on Christian ritual and the sacraments tend to presuppose a good acquaintance with Roman Catholic thought and practice. Today, however, even at Catholic institutions students tend to lack even a basic knowledge of Christian ritual. Moreover, for many modern people the word "ritual" carries negative connotations of rigidity and boredom. In this accessibly-written book two noted authors offer an engaging introduction to this important topic. Their goal is first to demonstrate that celebration, ritual and symbol are already central to the readers' lives, even though most do not see their actions as symbolic or ritualistic. Once this point has been made, the book connects central Christian symbols to the symbols and rituals already present in the readers' lives. The Christian theology of symbol, ritual, and sacrament is thus placed in the context of everyday life. The authors go on to discuss such questions as how rituals establish and maintain power relationships, how "official" rituals are different from other "popular" Christian rituals and devotions, and how Christian rituals function in the process of human "salvation." Their lively yet solidly grounded work will appeal to intelligent lay readers and discussion groups, as well as being useful for courses in ritual and the sacraments at the undergraduate and seminary level.

* Reflections follow the practices of The Way of Love-Turn, Learn, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, Rest * Each devotion includes a passage of scripture, a story, and reflection questions * Perfect during Lent or any time of year "Living the Way of Love" offers forty brief reflections about the seven Jesus-centered practices identified by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in "The Way of Love" initiative. Sullivan tells stories from her own and others' experiences as a starting point for discussion about how to seek and find a deeper connection to God. Rotating through each practice so that each is covered once a week, going deeper into the practice throughout the forty days, each reflection ends with questions designed to spur further discussion and assist readers in making the practices their own. Perfect for using as a Lenten devotional or at any time of the year, the book includes a guide for creating a personal rule of life, and a downloadable Facilitator's Guide.