Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (v. 1) (The Hallowing of Time: Daily Prayer Resource)

The first of three volumes designed to enable lay people to worship daily in an ordered and time-effective way, containing daily worship material for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany and weekend readings from non-scriptural sources such as Martin Luther King.

At last Volume III completes the set of THE HALLOWING OF TIME by Carol Wilkinson. Anyone who has used Volume I - Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and Volume II - Lent, Holy Week, Easter will welcome this further liturgical resource prayer-book which completes the cycle of the Church's Year.

I have used all three volumes and appreciate the wealth of what is offered. Thanks are due to the author who has opened up a prayer-patter from many people, and given a resource of such variety that its use will touch countless others outside the readership. Elizabeth P. Lloyd, member of the Pastoral Liturgy Committee of the Bishops' (Conference in LITURGY Vol 22 No 1 October 1999.)

THE HALLOWING OF TIME is an ecumenical prayer resource, it has been written by a lay person for lay people who wish to have some order in their devotional lives, but feel drawn to a pattern of prayer differing from the daily offices.

A form of worship is provided for each day centred upon a weekly theme. Readings are taken from Scripture on weekdays and from other Christian sources on Saturday and Sunday. (A three-year lectionary for a second reading and psalms is also given.)

All three volumes provide a most useful worship resource for all manner of occasions, worship with small groups, one-off services for specific meetings, conferences or school assembly. Forms of reconciliation and intercession are suggested for each week to be used as the reader wishes.

Carol Wilkinson is a true liturgist. (She is the Secretary of the Society for Liturgical Study). Her material and the constructive way in which it is presented in these volumes is most helpful for people who are seeking for a pattern of daily prayer somewhere between a formal office and home-made prayer. It has been highly commended by people who are tyring to sustain their spiritual life in an every increasing bustle and business of daily life in the world today. Writing in his Foreword to Volume II, Kenneth Stevenson, the Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth, comments that "there is always more to ponder, more to celebrate, more to discern of God's truth" and describes Carol's material as "rooted in the liturgical tradition, but not limited by it".

She understands the pressure of the business world, which seems far removed from anything spiritual, and offers an easy way in which to balance the hassle of daily living with the strength and calm of a prayer-life.

The whole trilogy is founded firmly in prayer, and consequently has something for everyone who is seeking harmony and peace in their daily living. There is such a variety of material offered that even the most cursory use and dipping into the books have proved helpful and beneficial to those who have used it already.

Another aspect of these volumes which is most useful and satisfying is that, while offering a more relaxed approach to daily prayer, the form, patter and themes of the material offered is 'in tandem' with the Seasons of the Church's Year, thus giving those who pray through it an opportunity to be a vital part of the prayer of the Faithful, and link with so many of the saints of centuries past, as well as those who are living out their commitment today, through their writings, both factual and poetic.

I have used all three volumes and appreciate the wealth of what is offered. Thanks are due to the author who has opened up a prayer-pattern for many people, and given a resource of such variety that its use will touch countless others outside the readership.