If Darwin Prayed

Our faith was never meant to stand still. We were meant, from the beginning, to grow in all things. Just as our understanding of God and what it means to be part of a faith community--and to be human--evolves, so too does our universe live and evolve. It's the stuff of Darwin, and it's the stuff of If Darwin Prayed: Prayers for Evolutionary Mystics by Bruce Sanguin.

If Darwin Prayed is a prayer book that includes prayers for all seasons included in the lectionary as well as a few additional times of year. Prayers for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Palm Sunday and Good Friday, Easter and the Ordinary Season are all included--most with a scripture reference upon which the prayer is based or from which it is derived.

The language is expressive and colorful. It's not everyday that one includes "silencing the political party poopers" in a prayer. It's not every church that can tolerate such things. Other prayers stir in the reader (pray-er) a desire for peace, to right the wrongs of our planet, to care for the Earth, to take one's place in the Earth as members of her community, to express gratitude for...well...all things.

This prayer book reminds us all that our faith should never stay in one place--and neither should the prayers we pray in corporate or personal worship. Although I've not yet read all of them, I have certainly found several that will be incorporated in my personal time of prayer.

My encouragement is that you not allow the mention of Darwin to scare you off. Instead, my hope is that you will be inspired to move beyond where you currently are and use this book as one of many tools to aid that endeavor.

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Thanks to Speak Easy for sending this book for me to review.