Praying with Beads: Daily Prayers for the Christian Year

Prayer is essential to the Christian life, bonding us to God. Yet we find it difficult in our frenetic world to keep our minds focused for long. All kinds of external noise and inner voices clamor for our attention. How can we slow down and quiet down so as to truly wait on the Lord? Nan Lewis Doerr and Virginia Stem Owens offer a solution that calls on the physical senses to break through to the spiritual -- praying with beads.

The use of prayer beads, which has a long history in practical spirituality, is now becoming more widespread among Protestants. Doerr and Owens here show readers how to use what have become known as Anglican or Christian prayer beads. Readers can then use the basic prayer structure provided by the beads to pray their way through each day -- morning, noon, and night -- and through the church year. These prayers -- a thoughtfully chosen combination of quotations from Scripture and gleanings from the Book of Common Prayer -- can be enhanced and enriched by the mindful and meditative practice of using beads.

Doerr and Owens encourage readers to use beads as "something to hang onto, a lifeline to the Presence that lies, often hidden or forgotten, at the center of our lives." Praying with beads, as outlined and embodied in this little book, has the potential to transform one's prayer life.


About the Author
Doerr, Nan Lewis: -
Nan Lewis Doerr is an Episcopal priest who has served in six parishes, on two university campuses, and in one mission in the diocese of Texas. She is also the coauthor, with Virginia Stem Owens, of Praying with Beads.Owens, Virginia Stem: -
Virginia Stem Owens is a writer whose many books include Living Next Door to the Death House. Formerly director of the Milton Center at Newman University, Wichita, Kansas, she is now a member of the editorial board of Books & Culture.