Book: Prayers and Litanies for the Christian Seasons

Ron Rienstra

Sharlande Sledge. Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc. 1999. 144 pp. $16.00. 1-800-747-3016; www.helwys.com.

The prayers and litanies in this book, according to Barbara Brown Taylor’s back cover copy, are “biblically sound, theologically deep, and spiritually fresh.” I found them so, and also found them enjoyable to read—also to read aloud. Sledge has a fine sense for how words sound when they’re spoken. There is a fresh, open feeling to these worship aids. They have form without formality, and the diction is sophisticated but not cerebral. Worship planners will also appreciate the helpful arrangement of material, organized first by season (Advent, Christmas, and so on) and then by appropriate theme (the last six prayers in the Epiphany season are Reconciliation, Revelation, Seeking, Water, Winter, Wonder).

Rev. Dr. Ron Rienstra has been a regular contributor to Reformed Worship over the years. He is the director of worship life and professor of preaching and worship arts at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America , author of Church at Church, and coauthor with his wife, Debra, of Worship Words: Discipling Language for Faithful Ministry. Together they have three grown children, a multiplicity of living-room instruments, and a tame backyard they are slowly rewilding.