The prayer that Jesus Christ is said to have taught his disciples may be the first one Christians learn as toddlers and the last one to linger as memory fades. Kisly, founding publisher of Tricycle
and author of Ordinary Graces
and Watch and Pray
, offers this slender but insightful volume as an aid for those drawn to focus on the prayer in an intense and disciplined manner. Reminding her readers that sometimes the words can become rote and routine, Kisly urges them to view the prayer as a way of developing a closer relationship with God. Where some spirituality writers would include personal anecdotes or evocative stories, Kisly encourages readers to practice self-examination anew each time they begin to pray. Her essays on each phrase of the Lord's Prayer invite the reader to use meditative techniques, like conscious breathing and posture, to cultivate attentiveness to God's presence. As a further spur to contemplation, Kisly includes reflections on the Lord's Prayer from Christian writers, from the 12th-century saint Francis of Assisi to contemporary author Lauren Winner. She concludes the book with suggestions for accompanying the prayer with body movements drawn from ancient Christian postures. The author's austere and sometime imperative style is not for everyone, but there is a wealth of possibilities here for those interested in moving from reciting the Lord's Prayer to using it as a foundation for the practice of prayer. (May)
