First exclusively Episcopal prayer book for youth
This prayer book designed for teens draws on the Book of Common Prayer, the Bible, and events that occur in their daily lives. This creative compilation of over 100 original prayers offers simple and insightful instruction about prayer. It offers a wealth of diverse prayers on all manner of topics from prayers for the days of the week, to seasons of the year. Youth will find prayers to celebrate personal achievements and to address obstacles to grace and faith.
The structure of the book will be in three parts:
Common Prayer, including Morning Prayer, Compline, and Prayers of the People. Evening Prayer will not be included because most teens are busy with homework, sports and other extracurricular programs at that time. Compline is a popular liturgy at retreats for youth.
Kinds of Prayer: Traditional and original prayers of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, penitence, oblation, intercession and petition.
Personal Prayer: Divided into categories: Faith, Through the Day, Through the Year, Self, Milestones, Friends and Family, School and Work, Community and Work. Prayers include Confirmation, obtaining a driver’s license, death of a friend, graduation, argument with a parent, moving, going to camp, table graces, seasons of the Church year, homelessness, joy, thoughts of suicide, reconciliation.
A prayer and scripture index are also inclued.
"Call On Me is an excellent resource both for those who are new to The Book of Common Prayer and those who have lived with the BCP their entire lives. I am reminded of why we do what we do in liturgy – thanks for the refresher! Call On Me marks the rhythm of our days – those sacred moments, the everyday moments, and everything in between. The prayers are beautifully written and created with much care and concern for our young people. I am thankful that families and teens have this “gold mine” of prayers at their fingertips. Call On Me is the book I always wanted and needed as a youth minister!"
—Sara Bailey, Director of Youth Ministries at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro, NC and Lead Consultant for Youth Ministry Architects.
"Call on Me belongs on the bookshelf of every youth, parent, youth minister and clergy of the Church. It is a rich resource for personal devotion, corporate worship and formation purposes. Praying does shape believing. This book will be instrumental in deepening the faith of all those who use it."
—The Rt. Rev. Brian Prior, Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota
"Jenifer and Sharon know the beauty and transforming power of prayer, and it shows. Call on Me invites and guides young readers to engage with God in and around the events of their everyday lives. The frank teaching and prayers, written in the first-person and often drawn from ancient mystics, meet the challenge of finding a relevant rhetoric for timeless truths. These prayers are intimate, searching, and vulnerable. Carefully chosen Biblical texts introduce each prayer, blending traditional wisdom with contemporary insight, and creating a rhythm that is at once familiar and refreshing. There’s nothing patronizing, prescriptive, or judgmental about this book. Much like a GPS it will get readers where they need to go—into the heart of God—but there are many routes (and potential detours) from which to choose. Prayer is an epic adventure and Call on Me points young Christian readers toward a lifetime of hope and discovery. I can imagine giving the book to my godchildren, and soon developing a texting shorthand to exchange just the right prayer at just the right time."
—Lisa Kimball, Ph.D., Director of the Center for the Ministry of Teaching and Professor of Christian Formation and Congregational Leadership, Virginia Theological Seminary
