The Second Intercessions Handbook Reissue

Over 12,000 copies of this book have sold since publication in 2004. Containing completely new material, this user-friendly sequel to the bestselling Intercessions Handbook is for individuals and groups involved in the vital task of leading prayers in public worship. Easy to adapt to particular situations and with a wealth of creative suggestions for enlivening the prayers, The Second Intercessions Handbook covers: mainstream public worship festivals and special events, informal worship and worship for small groups, intercessions with children and young people, and personal intercession.

Containing completely new material, this user-friendly sequel to the bestselling Intercessions Handbook is for individuals and groups involved in the vital task of leading prayers in public worship. The Second Intercessions Handbook is easy to adapt to particular situations and includes a wealth of creative suggestions for enlivening prayers.

More creative ideas for public and private prayer This is a follow-up to John Pritchard's Intercessions Handbook, which has sold over 12,000 copies since it was published six years ago. It contains all new material, so will sell in addition to the original - it is not intended as a replacement. It will cover intercessions for: mainstream public worship festivals and special occassions informal worship and small groups children and young people and personal prayer.

The bestselling Intercessions Handbook is designed for use in a wide range of formal and informal settings. In two introductory chapters, John Pritchard considers the importance and challenges of the vital task of intercession. He then offers practical examples of intercessions in traditional services, all-age worship, small groups and personal devotions. Material for seasons, major festivals and special events is also included.

Compelled by the belief that a large number of Christians want to come to God with others’ needs, John Pritchard has created this follow-up to his hugely successful volumes, The Intercessions Handbook and The Second Intercessions Handbook. In a gentle, accessible, style he offers ‘starter’ ideas and introductory material to help those who lead intercessions in public worship and small groups, and aims to open the reader’s imagination to enrich their own style of praying. Everyday language, images and experiences are used in each of the three main sections. The first, looking at intercessions in mainstream worship, offers prayers for each of the 12 months for major festivals and their seasons for special days like Mothering Sunday on themes such as light, storms and fear The second section provides intercessions for use in informal worship and small groups, while the third, focusing on personal payers, includes a section for extroverts. Praise for The Intercessions Handbook: ‘A wake-up call to all those who . . . need to find encouragement, freshness, balance and perseverance in this work of grace.’ Methodist Recorder

The Book of Common Prayer is a remarkable book, a sacred book in more than one sense. It is primarily a liturgical text, meant to be used in corporate worship, and at the same time a literary landmark, a cultural icon, and a focus of identity for Anglican Christianity. This brief, accessible account of the Prayer Book, as it is often called, describes the contents of the classical version of the text, with special emphasis on the services for which it has been used most frequently since it was issued in 1662. Charles Hefling also examines the historical and theological context of the Prayer Book's origins, the changes it has undergone, the controversies it has touched off, and its reception in England, Scotland, and America. Readers are introduced to the political as well as the spiritual influence of the Book of Common Prayer, and to its enduring place in English-speaking religion.

Bibliographers have been notoriously 'hesitant to deal with liturgies', and this volume bridges an important gap with its authoritative examination of how the Book of Common Prayer came into being. The first edition of 1549, the first Grafton edition of 1552 and the first quarto edition of 1559 are now correctly identified, while Peter W. M. Blayney shows that the first two editions of 1559 were probably finished on the same day. Through relentless scrutiny of the evidence, he reveals that the contents of the 1549 version continued to evolve both during and after the printing of the first edition, and that changes were still being made to the Elizabethan revision weeks after the Act of Uniformity was passed. His bold reconstruction is transformative for the early Anglican liturgy, and thus for the wider history of the Church of England. This major, revisionist work is a remarkable book about a remarkable book.