Praying the Way - with Matthew Mark Luke and John by Terry Hinks  

Prayers around various passages in the four Gospels; if your church uses liturgical language you will like this a lot

Praying the Way - with Matthew Mark Luke and John 
By Terry Hinks 
Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF)
ISBN: 9780857467164 
Reviewedby: Keith Parr 

I found myself in a rather beautiful place in late October. 

There is this beautiful little Baptist church in beautiful Bunessan on the beautiful Isle of Mull in beautiful Scotland. Everything about it is, well beautiful! The people smile an outrageous amount, the weather is always clement (unless it's cold and raining which happens quite a lot) and the view from the pulpit......oh my, I could wax lyrical about the view from the pulpit for hours.

I found myself in this beautiful place clutching this book I'd promised to review. I don't normal use much liturgy or written prayers when I lead worship, but decided to take Praying the Way for a trial run this Sunday morning, knowing after the service I could ask all of the congregation if it helped or hindered their encounter with Jesus. 

This is how it works: Terry Hinks has written prayers around various passages in the four Gospels. As I was preaching on John 4:1-42 (Jesus and the woman at the well) after the reading, I used the prayer based on that passage. Leading the prayer felt a little odd, but that could be put down to my lack of practice with this form of praying. The congregation though all seemed to appreciate the structure and pauses (which I put in), especially because it related to the reading and the sermon. 

I probably wouldn't have purchased this, but it is the kind of book that I will know I can dip into if needs be. If your church uses liturgical language you will like this a lot. If you don't, then it isn't a bad idea to have these resources around, and this is not a bad place to start. 
 

Keith is the minister at Maghull Baptist Church north of Liverpool