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Love is Grace. You can't earn it. But you can always find it when you need it. The tried-and-true way to grace is through prayer—even through a simple "saying grace" before dinner. Yet in spite of hundreds of traditions and teachings about prayer, millions of people worldwide are unsure how to pray, or afraid they'll do it wrong, or worried that they won't be heard.
Writing in the beautiful, honest, personal narrative style of her previous two books, Braestrup explains the many ways we can pray, including where and when to pray, individually and as a family. She includes numerous examples of prayers to draw from—beginning with grace, a brief prayer of thanks. Braestrup offers listeners prayers for situations in which their own words might fail them—from grief and loss to a request for assistance from God—and offers suggestions for making prayers more meaningful and satisfying. And she invites listeners to explore forms of prayer that extend into the wider community, including prayer for those whom we don't like and with whom we may disagree.
Written with the insight and warmth that moved and inspired readers of Here If You Need Me, Beginner's Grace is sure to become a spiritual touchstone for people of all faiths.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 2, 2010 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781400199839
- File size: 252972 KB
- Duration: 08:47:01
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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The tone of this book, by the author of HERE IF YOU NEED ME, is conversational and far from preachy. Narrator Susan Ericksen exactly matches it, offering a warm, breezy reading that engages listeners. The author uses humor often, and the listener can almost hear Ericksen smiling as she reads those passages. Kate Braestrup, a Unitarian Universalist minister, is chaplain to the Maine Warden Service and draws on her professional as well as personal experiences to illustrate her points. She explores a variety of situations and offers examples of appropriate prayers. Overall, though, the book is more of an invitation to prayer than a how-to. She includes numerous examples of prayers to draw from, offering listeners prayers for situations in their own lives, such as grace and thankfulness, grief and loss, and pleas for assistance. R.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from October 18, 2010
Braestrup (Here If You Need Me), a Unitarian Universalist minister who serves as chaplain to the Maine Warden Service, graciously escorts true prayer into real life. In her fourth book, Braestrup approaches prayer from 24 angles, including from the threshold, in mixed company, for enemies, before service, and with laughter. She presents prayers in lyrics or without words. She understands that prayers can be posture and presence but never formulaic: "They need not be factual, but they must be true." Braestrup's voice registers in a wide range—from scholarly to deliciously earthy (she declares God a "noodge") to motherly—as she plaits a story strand about herself with a good hank of biblical exegesis, then finishes with personal ribbons, drawing material from her family (familiar from her memoir) and her friends in ministry and law enforcement. Some disquisitions, like the one on sleep, dull when compared to richer, exemplary narratives, such as her teasing chapter on hypocrisy. By often returning to her theme of empathy and consciousness, Braestrup remains a persuasive pastor, praying right through the amen.
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