Sunday Book Review

Got this from the Oxford University Press coming out in November

The Night Offices
Prayers for the Hours from Sunset to Sunrise
Phyllis Tickle

Phyllis Tickle's inspirational trilogy The Divine Hours ™ was the first major literary and liturgical reworking of the sixth-century Benedictine Rule of fixed-hour prayer--an age-old discipline of saying prayers at certain times of the day. This highly regarded trilogy has become one of America's best-loved and most frequently consulted manuals for observing this ancient form of Christian worship. Now, in The Night Offices , Tickle offers the perfect complement to The Divine Hours ™, bringing together prayers, psalms, hymn texts, religious poetry and other readings not included in the original trilogy, covering the offices for the hours from late evening (Compline) to early morning (Prime). Fans of the Divine Hours ™ will recognize Tickle's simple, elegant format, her use of a modern calendar rather than a liturgical one, and the single ribbon in the binding, to track one's progress through the year. As in the trilogy, Tickle makes primary use of the Book of Common Prayer and the writings of the Church Fathers, and she draws all the scriptural readings from the Revised Standard Version . The book includes a set of Matins, Lauds, and Prime specific to each day of the week and varied only by month. Thus, the Monday reading for January would be used every Monday in January, but Monday in February would have new offices for it. The cumulative total, being 84 Matins, 84 Lauds, and 84 Prime (252 offices), fits neatly into a single, nightstand edition, a small, compact book that can be comfortably held in the hand.Easy to use, poetically rich, with a superb sampling of devotional works, The Night Offices will be welcomed by a broad readership, Christian and non-Christian alike.

This sounded wonderful to me and I may buy it along with:
Christmastide:
Prayers for Advent Through Epiphany from The Divine Hours
by Phyllis Tickle
Publisher's Weekly said Tickle, a prolific author and contributing editor for PW, makes her marvelous trilogy The Divine Hours accessible to novice readers unaccustomed to the ancient church tradition of fixed-hour prayer. Beginning with the first Sunday in Advent and continuing through the 12 days of Christmas through Epiphany, this manual includes daily offices for morning, noon and vespers. The times of each office are flexible; late risers will be thrilled to see that the morning liturgy can be accomplished anytime between 6 and 9 a.m. There are readings, hymns and psalms for each day, as well as a prayer appointed for each week. The manual is intended for individual use, but can be adapted for "those blessed occasions in our lives when the office can be kept in company with others."

These both sound like valuable tools for prayer. I don't think I could go wrong!
The OUP has an interesting website too. Click on the title of this blog and go there.

Also an update on my baby pigeons. They are now spending their days out in the coop with the big pigeons and doing very well. They aren't flying yet so they aren't getting as much water as I would like them to have. I have three different containers of water but they haven't figured out yet how to get to any of them. So I go out and hand them to the water dish and make sure they drink. I sure wish they could get there themselves. They are smart birds but seem pretty scared yet and so aren't exploring their world. I know they will and the other birds will teach them how eventually. I am just bringing them along until they figure out everything! Otherwise they seem to be pretty happy. Feathers look good and their crops are always full!

Well, talk with you soon,
Lynda