This beautiful collection of prayers curated by the lovely Sarah Bessey is a breath of fresh air for people of faith - who are struggling or celebrating for any reason.

What an absolutely beautiful book. I'm someone who has openly talked about how "bad" I am at prayer (yes, I'm probably more critical about it than I need to be), and this book has helped me reshape my view of what prayer can be. I loved seeing different perspectives and hearing the joy, pain, hope, and lament of the authors.

A collections of prayers written by a diverse group of people. Remember prayer circles? Remember circling up and feeling the intimacy of whispered prayers. If you have left the church but miss prayerful moments. If you have found yourself in a questioning place, or of deconstruction and feel kind of weird about prayer, this is for you. A book of daily prayers meant to inspire and reframe prayer.

This blew my mind a little bit. It was simeoultaneously challenging and comforting. I love the idea of inclusive prayers whose language doesn't dictate who belongs. There aren't shame filled prayers used as a weapon of condemnation, but a collection of beautifully prayerful ponderings and longings. These prayers moved me to tears and reconfirmed my desire for a safe space for all people to participate in prayerful meditation.

This book is for everyone. You don't have to be a church goer, or person of faith to enjoy the richness and moving cadence of these prayers. You don't have to know what you believe or who you believe in, there's something in here for everyone. Its an invitiation to write outside the lines and find the unexpected.

Sarah Bessey had a similar moment of not knowing how to pray. She recalled the prayer circles of her youth, missing both the confidence of knowing that others were praying for her and the many different ways they reached out to God. Bessey asked a group of women who teach and challenge her to contribute prayers to this collection. These prayers are not necessarily meant to be read and repeated verbatim. Instead, they are intended to inspire you to find your own new ways to pray.
The prayers in this book are angry cries about injustice or a guided prayer for when you don't know what you want. Some selections are not prayers themselves; they are letters to a future self or musings on the power of a mother or grandmother's prayers. One of the prayers in this book even sparked controversy when the Black author prayed that God would just let her hate white people instead of having her heart broken over and over by people who won't address their racism. It is good for us to be reminded that prayer doesn't have to look just one way and sometimes the anger or grief we feel is uncomfortable to confess. A Rhythm of Prayer is exactly this reminder and a powerful tool for anyone who calls out to God.


A Rhythm of Prayer
A Collection of Meditations for Renewal
Edited by Sarah Bessey
Convergent Books February 2021
176 pages
Read via Netgalley

Sarah Bessey has once again written a balm for the weary Christian heart. A Rhythm of Prayer gives us words when we have none. I especially appreciate the contributions of a variety of authors, theologians, and pastors. Sarah Bessey collected hard words from strong women, and gave them to the readers as a reminder that we are not alone in our exhaustion and need for renewal. This book both comforts and challenges, redeems and rebukes. I am thankful for Sarah Bessey and all of her contributors for bringing this book into the world.

A beautiful collection of prayers and essays that are full of hope and leaves you feeling restored. As with anything by Sarah Bessey it is beautifully written and perfect for when you struggle with your own words for prayer.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

So beautifully written. A wonderful combination of actual Bible exerpts and original prayers, essays, lovely things to ponder. A compilation for everyday and everyone. I would purchase a hardcopy and give as a gift A book I will take out and read over and over as needed whenever I have a moment to reflect,

Sarah Bessey writes in the introduction of A Rhythm of Prayer that her goal was to offer a range of prayers that were "equal parts example and invitation, permission and challenge, to acknowledge the heaviness of our grief and at the same time broaden our hope."

During a year of uncertainty, of confusion and frustration and exhaustion, I would find myself seeking calm and quiet, and these pages could offer consolation, as I read this collection of prayers penned by women.

Words like these, from Laura Jean Truman, articulated what I, too, seek:
"Keep our anger from becoming meanness.
"Keep our sorrow from collapsing into self-pity.
"Keep our hearts soft enough to keep breaking. 
"Keep our outrage turned towards justice, not cruelty."

This is a thoughtful, relevant collection of prayers that I found solace in, and I know I will seek it out time and again when I find need of prayer but struggle to put to words the feelings I'm experiencing.

(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

I have really come to love and appreciate Sarah Bessey's work over the last couple of years as I go on my own faith deconstruction journey. I wasn't sure if I would be interested in a book of prayers, but when I was already in tears reading the introduction, I knew I would have to buy myself a hard copy.

This prayer circle of women is honest, raw, and real. There is one particular prayer in the "disorientation" section that has gotten some pushback from closed-minded, legalistic evangelicals who are taking it out of context, willfully misunderstanding, and forgetting that a good portion of the Psalms are angry and lamenting. I, for one, found it so refreshing to hear from a diverse group of voices. I will be returning to this little book over and over.

This isn't the kind of book I normally write about here, but why be predictable? Besides, the book has become a target for Grumpy and Hateful Christians (which should be a denomination, GHC) that don't like the progressive and inclusive faith of the book's editor, Sarah Bessey, and the diversity of the contributors she selected. Scroll the Goodreads reviews and you'll experience these lovely folks for yourself.
In truth, however, this collection of prayers by women who have not read the directions for praying like a good GHC provides a window into open-hearted, often raw prayer. People of faith who understand (or want to understand) the total acceptance of their God do not flinch from honesty, whether it means basking in the love that they are experiencing or shaking their fists in anger and confusion at things that seem completely devoid of love. This is, of course, an affront to those who value appearance above truth.
A Rhythm of Prayer is a powerful collection that echoes the strength, passion, and persistence of women who are unafraid to be fully human and fully alive, as well as the bold faith of the one to whom it is dedicated, Rachel Held Evans.
Women of valor, all.

“A Rhythm of Prayer” features a number of different types of prayers written by theologians, pastors and authors from a number of different Christian traditions.

They include a benediction by Bessey, a poem by Potawatomi Christian author and speaker Kaitlin Curtice, a prayer based on a chicken soup recipe by pastor and peacemaker Osheta Moore, “A Liturgy for Disability” by author and disability advocate Stephanie Tait, a “Prayer of a Weary Black Woman” by clinical psychologist and womanist theologian Chanequa Walker-Barnes, and even blank pages for those times when it feels like there aren’t words.

That’s partly because there are as many different ways to pray as there are people who pray, and she didn’t want to make something as personal as prayer “incredibly prescriptive and formulaic,” said Bessey, whose books include “Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith” and who co-founded the Evolving Faith conference with the late Rachel Held Evans.

It’s also partly because, in the months after Evans’ death, Bessey didn’t think she could write the book alone.

“I literally turned to these women because they were the ones that I trusted,” she said, referring to the contributors in the book who are all women. “They’re people I trusted to be honest, people whose leadership and activism and work in the world personally impacted my life or changed me in some way, and I trusted them with my grief.”

Still, Bessey was surprised when she learned last week that the collection was a New York Times bestseller, ranking No. 5 on the newspaper’s list of “Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous” books. Later, it made the Globe and Mail and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller lists, too.

“It feels really ridiculous. I think it might be a mistake. The kinds of things that I write and that I like to read and the kinds of things that we talk about in that book don’t seem like the kind of thing that would normally end up on The New York Times bestseller list,” she said in a video she posted on Facebook.

Bessey said prayer always has been an integral part of her faith — even more so after deconstructing the conservative, charismatic Christian beliefs she grew up with.

But she told RNS she has heard from so many people who feel like they no longer can pray the way they were taught after leaving previous religious traditions.

“I would say that’s good. Oftentimes you need to lose the old pathways in order to find new pathways, to even have eyes to see ancient pathways,” she said. “And so I think that that’s part of where that hunger comes from, is just saying, ‘I want to connect with God, I want to speak to God, I even have a yearning to pray, but I don’t know how anymore.’”

Read the rest of our coverage at Religion News Service at the link below.

This is a beautiful book of prayers, meditations - collections of words that will fill your soul. The prayers are honest and speak to so many of the emotions and experiences of today. If you are weary of American Evangelicalism, this book is for you and will speak to your heart.

As someone who grew up in a church that was not terribly liturgical, it has been a gift to discover written prayers as a tool to take me to Jesus. I loved this book. I loved the permission and gentleness found in these pages. I loved hearing prayers from so many different types of people, representing so many different backgrounds. Each one felt like its own permission to find the Lord, right where I find myself. I loved this one. I'll be returning to these pages.

This book is beautiful from the first page to last. I have been a fan of Sarah Bessey's work for a long time and this prayer book she compiled and edited did not disappoint. As an ordained pastor, I believe prayer is foundational to our faith journey - it's one of the ways the enables us to connect with God and to connect with our neighbors. Yet, I have also found that prayer can be scary for Christians though because we get caught up in needing to have the right words. This prayer book provides beautiful prayers written by a variety of writers fitting for many seasons of life. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to go deeper in their prayer life.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book is 100% quotable. It's lovely and touching and full of good feelings. Reading this felt like speaking to God, it gave me insight into daily prayer and it gave me something I really needed, that feeling of openness and honesty when speaking with God. It showed me that just having that open form of communication with God was in itself a prayer.

Thanks, Netgalley and Convergent Books for the ARC of A Rhythm of Prayer, it was a real pleasure to read and I will be looking for other books written by the contributors therein.

While I didn't love every prayer in this book -I loved this book. It has a diverse style of prayers, powerful words and would be a great resource for anyone struggling to pray. Beautifully, beautifully written.

This is a beautiful collection of prayers. In a time where hope feels desperate and prayer feels futile, this book reminds readers why they pray and the comfort it can bring. I love the way it is organized and easy to navigate to return to favorite prayers when needed. Bessey is always gently steadfast in the way she talks about faith, and this book is no different. She's an auto buy for me every time.

This is a beautiful collection of essays, quotes, scripture, poetry and other inspirational writings from both traditional and progressive Christian voices. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will appreciate having it on my shelves for years to come.

This is an excellent grouping of prayers. Words for my heart when I have none. Elequently putting on the page what my soul wants to speak but cannot. There are words that are comfort and some that challenge. I'm so grateful for this work.

"A Rhythm of Prayer" is a collection edited by Sarah Bessey, author of "Jesus Feminist" and many other interesting cultural/religion reads. This collection addresses burnout and the need for the prayer circle--a place for honest, gritty prayers. Sometimes the way we pray feels surface level and glossy, and these authors encourage authenticity and vulnerability in prayer, even when it's hard.

Written by the likes of Amena Brown, Nadia Boltz-Weber and Barbara Brown Taylor, each chapter is unique to its author. Different perspectives and prayers are shared so each reader can slowly work through the book, finding the prayers that ring true for them or become personal.

All in all, the book is an interesting read, but be aware that there is some profanity. (Just a heads up!) However, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, as there are other portions that may leave you feeling like the author heard prayers you've prayed before.

I was an early reader, thanks to #NetGalley, the publisher and author. All opinions are my own.