Here are 100 books that Earth Prayers fans have personally recommended if you like
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The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. An ordained Lutheran minister since 2000, Leah has written five books, including three focusing on environment and faith. She has served as an anti-fracking and climate activist, community organizer, and advocate for environmental justice issues, She’s also the “EcoPreacher” blogger for Patheos.com. She has recently launched a partnership with the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development to create a monthly resource called EcoPreacher 1-2-3 for busy pastors wanting to address environmental issues in their sermons.
I appreciate that a secular environmental organization such as Sierra Club recognized the importance of turning to religious voices to help frame the environmental crisis and how we can respond from a faith perspective. There are thirty-two essays from a wide range of religious leaders, thinkers, activists, and teachers, some well-known and some you’ll be delighted to discover. These aren’t academic essays, but personal reflections on the beauty of Creation and how our religious traditions equip us for protecting this planet. It’s small enough to fit into your backpack so that you can read, meditate, and contemplate on your hike!
Religions worldwide celebrate creation’s gifts of beauty, abundance, and sustenance, and call on humankind to give thanks, practice compassion, seek justice, and be mindful of future generations. In Holy Ground, leaders from the world’s faith traditions, along with writers who hold the Earth sacred, share personal stories of coming to understand humankind’s unique power and responsibility to care for creation. In essays, sermons, and other short pieces written or gathered for this book, we hear from Pope Benedict XVI on the meeting of Heaven and Earth in the stable at Bethlehem, and from Wendell Berry on the Gospel of "abundant…
The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. An ordained Lutheran minister since 2000, Leah has written five books, including three focusing on environment and faith. She has served as an anti-fracking and climate activist, community organizer, and advocate for environmental justice issues, She’s also the “EcoPreacher” blogger for Patheos.com. She has recently launched a partnership with the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development to create a monthly resource called EcoPreacher 1-2-3 for busy pastors wanting to address environmental issues in their sermons.
Sally Bingham founded and served as president of Interfaith Power & Light, one of the most important interreligious organizations addressing climate and environmental crises. For this 2009 book, she invited twenty religious leaders from a myriad of traditions, including Buddhist, Evangelical Christian, Unitarian-Universalist, Muslim, and Judaism, to name a few. Though the book is more than a decade old, their reflections are timeless. And they give us a snapshot of what religious leaders were saying about ecology and faith at a time when environmental awareness was still struggling to gain traction.
Foremost religious leaders from diverse faith communities respond to the most controversial question of our time: Can we save the earth? The answer could hinge on the phenomenon of the fast-growing interfaith religious environmental movement. The author makes the case for environmental stewardship that cuts across old divisions of faith and politics. She presents 20 fellow religious leaders and eminent scholars (from rabbis to evangelicals to Catholics, Muslims and Buddhists) each contributing an original essay-chapter, with personal stories of awakening to the urgent need for environmental awareness and action. From all parts of the religious and political spectrum, they come…
The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. An ordained Lutheran minister since 2000, Leah has written five books, including three focusing on environment and faith. She has served as an anti-fracking and climate activist, community organizer, and advocate for environmental justice issues, She’s also the “EcoPreacher” blogger for Patheos.com. She has recently launched a partnership with the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development to create a monthly resource called EcoPreacher 1-2-3 for busy pastors wanting to address environmental issues in their sermons.
This is a perfect book to take on a hike in the woods, a walk along the beach, or a stroll down a country lane. The author combines his own poetic reflections with those of sages from many different religious traditions across the millennia. There are six sections and a set of readings for each day of the week. This book would be ideal for church camp devotionals, a Lenten devotional, or for your summer reading to get you centered and attentive to God’s Creation.
"My profession is always to be alert, to find God in nature," Henry David Thoreau wrote. Or as the Buddha once said, "If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand." Earth's Echo is a book for people who love nature and find spiritual meaning in it. Using brief excerpts from the work of nature writers as touchstones for meditation, the book leads the reader to reflect on the sacred reality of nature as found in different settings: the seashore, the river, the forest, the desert, and the mountain.…
Citizen Scientist begins with this extraordinary statement by the Keeper of Entomology at the London Museum of Natural History, “Study any obscure insect for a week and you will then know more than anyone else on the planet.”
As the author chases the obscure Western red-bellied tiger beetle across New…
The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. An ordained Lutheran minister since 2000, Leah has written five books, including three focusing on environment and faith. She has served as an anti-fracking and climate activist, community organizer, and advocate for environmental justice issues, She’s also the “EcoPreacher” blogger for Patheos.com. She has recently launched a partnership with the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development to create a monthly resource called EcoPreacher 1-2-3 for busy pastors wanting to address environmental issues in their sermons.
This is an ideal book for a church camping retreat, youth group devotions, or an Earth Care team looking for ready-made readings and prayers to orient and ground their work. There are four weeks of devotions with readings for morning, midday, and evening each of the seven days. So there are actually 84 options to choose from! Each day includes hymns, scripture readings, reflections, and prayers. Though this is not an interfaith book per se, the author includes “Another Voice” reflections from a wide range of Christian ecumenical voices.
Do something for the environment - pray. The icecaps are melting. The air we breathe and water we drink are polluted. Forests are being cleared of oxygen-making trees and ecosystem-integral wildlife. Our daily lives impact our earth - mostly leaving negative footprints. The environmental challenges we face are real and almost out of control. We're free to enjoy the earth's bounty and beauty, but that privilege brings responsibility. How are Christians to respond as stewards of God's creation? Explore through prayer the interconnecting love that binds God, humankind and creation - forming a sacred trust. Hamilton-Poore found himself thinking about…
My life was turned upside down because of a devastating divorce, becoming an empty nester, and my job as a theology professor ending. The identity crisis was real because the doing that gave me purpose was gone, yet God had a lesson and a purpose. I realized that what was left was more than what left me, and I understand that the key to resilience is your spiritual foundation. I believe the crown you wear is the treasure; elevation begins head first. Today, I empower women to live life confidently, on their terms, with peace and financial security. I help women reframe their stories, reinvent themselves, and reimagine their future.
I enjoy prayer and its importance in elevating me above circumstances. As I faced the difficulties of marriage, this book gave me hope and a way of positively moving forward. The depth of understanding of a husband's issues allows for prayer on a different level. Each chapter gave more insight as you prayed for your husband and yourself.
I never underestimate the power of prayer to change people, circumstances, and especially you. This book redirects your efforts to release the burdens and see your spouse and your situation differently.
Today's challenges can make a fulfilling marriage seem like an impossible dream. Yet God delights in doing the impossible if only we would ask! Stormie Omartian shares how God can strengthen your marriage as you pray for your husband concerning key areas in his life, including...
his spiritual walk
his emotions
his role as a leader
his security in work
his physical protection
his faith and his future
You will be encouraged by Stormie's own experiences, along with the Bible verses and sample prayers included in…
I am passionate about writing, reading, and recommending books that help people understand how to improve their relationship to God and to others. Verbal advice only goes so far. The wonder of books is that they contain the wisdom of years and lived experience that can encourage and equip readers long after the writers are gone. In addition to being an author of Christian living books, I have a graduate degree in biblical studies as well as decades of experience in adult education, public relations, and ministry to women. I also speak internationally on spiritual living.
There are plenty of books on prayer. Lots and lots of them. But I have never read one prior to this that helped me understand conversing with God in ways that come so naturally to me. In Praying Personalities, Janet Holm McHenry skillfully helps readers understand what Jesus taught and practiced when it comes to prayer, while providing tools to help everyone discover the prayer styles that work best for them.
I am recommending this invaluable resource to all those longing for a richer, more meaningful life of prayer.
Discover the particular way God designed you to connect with prayer You should pray in the morning. You should write out your prayers. You should make prayer lists and pray through them every day. You should pray with others or out loud. We've all heard the "you shoulds" of prayer from pulpits, presenters, and well-meaning friends. But when none of these ways to pray feel natural, what's next? Janet Holm McHenry has studied prayer extensively, and the one thing she knows for sure is that there's no one-size-fits-all way to pray. Instead, there are different styles of prayer--and by discovering…
Everybody knows that all animals—bats, bears, sharks, ponies, and people—start out as a single cell: the fertilized egg. But how does something no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence give rise to the remarkable complexity of each of these creatures?
I am an ordained minister with over 10 years of experience serving as a pastor in both the hospital and church settings. I’m also a mom of three children, ages 2, 5, and 7. I routinely get asked for resources to help raise children in the Christian faith. As both a pastor and a mother, I am a strong advocate for teaching children a theology they won’t have to heal from. All the books I recommend are progressive, inclusive, and diverse. I’ve done extensive research when it comes to faith-based literature, and I’m passionate about finding the best books to recommend to families.
Not every person prays the same. It’s not helpful to teach children that the only way to pray is with eyes closed, heads bowed, and words uttered.
Children are all different – they learn different, and they express themselves different. This book teaches kids that you can pray in a number of different ways, especially the ones that come most naturally to you. Prayer can be done in word, dance, song, service, and so on. If you want to teach your kids about prayer, this is an excellent resource.
When words are hard to find, prayer blooms in unexpected ways.
Sparrow wakes each morning, ready to sing a prayer of thanksgiving. But not today. Today his words get tangled and knotted in his beak like old yarn and straw. He feels sad and gray, and he's not sure why. So Sparrow decides to ask his friends Turtle, Mousie, and Buck for advice on how to pray. Each friend shows Sparrow a different way to pray without words, through generosity, art, and movement. As the day ends, Sparrow meditates on a rose aglow in the evening light and has an…
As a painfully shy child, I found friendship, adventure and ultimately my own voice reading about—and spending time with—animals. Animals felt safer to talk to than people, and they gave me the gift of their presence and time to practice communication. Overtime, I conquered my extreme shyness, obtained a Masters degree in counseling, and, eventually, began writing about the many ways animals can help people. There is no denying the role that animals—and books about animals—have played in my life. And by sharing this list, I hope to help others find that same comfort and inspiration.
While this book isn’t technically about animals, I read it every morning with my golden retriever, Gracie, curled up at my feet, so I can’t help but include this one in the list. My time reading this powerful devotional book—with Gracie at my feet—became such a beautiful picture of what it means to lay my every fear, anxiety, and worry at Jesus’ feet and trust him to steady me and hold me through the hard seasons.
If you have ever wrestled with anxiety or found your heart so gripped by fear it was hard to take a deep breath, then this is the book for you! And if possible, have an animal beside you while you soak in the hope found in its pages.
Find hope amid anxiety through the spiritual practice of breath prayer in this beautifully illustrated and practical guide to connecting body, mind, and spirit during times of stress.
Breath as Prayer will lead you through the practice and the proven health benefits of Christian breath prayer: intentional prayers centered around Scripture that focus our minds on Christ as we calm our bodies through breathing.
Breath as Prayer offers:
More than 80 breath prayers focused on Scripture, along with brief meditations
Gorgeous original full-color illustrations
A quick-start how-to guide to refer to as needed
Guidance on how to implement a breath…
I’m often introduced as a “prayer expert” but I’m not. I’m just someone who’s found herself praying a lot—for my family, my friends, and even sometimes complete strangers. And while there are all sorts of ways we can pray, I like praying the Scriptures—taking the actual words of the Bible and using them to shape our perspective as well as our prayers. Not only has that approach made my conversations with God more diverse and creative, but it has made them more powerful. Plus, praying this way has equipped me to trust God and experience freedom from worry or fear—even when things don’t happen the way, or in the timing, that I want them to.
Prayer isn’t just for grown-ups, and Nancy Guthrie invites children to experience the joy and peace that come with talking to God in her book, What Every Child Should Know about Prayer. With child-friendly language and inviting illustrations, each page in this book helps kids (and adults!) know how and why we should pray, whether we’re asking God to do something, telling him how we feel, or giving thanks for all the ways God shows us his love. As a fan of Bible-based prayers, I love the fact that every one of the lessons Guthrie teaches is rooted in Scripture, and I appreciate the simple—but oh-so-powerful—prayers she provides. I can’t wait to share this treasure with my grandchildren!
Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks…
For my first 18 years, I slept in the same room (opposite my parents) in the same house (116 Monticello Avenue) in the same city (Piedmont) in the same state (CA) in the same country (USA), but soon after leaving for college in Evanston, IL, I pined for elsewhere and ended up peripatetic. That peripateticness plagued me, as a woman/wife/mother. While growing our family, my French husband and I moved: Israel to France to California to New York to Israel to New York to Israel. Finally, in my early fifties, I understood home is more about who you are than where you live.
In 102 brief numbered chapters, Dani Shapiro goes on a journey to examine her belief system.
Raised as an only child in a religious Jewish house, she fled to find herself. Decades later—after losing her father, being left alone to deal with her mother, and facing her infant son’s life-threatening illness—she wrestled with existential questions.
Like a spiritual investigator, she searched for answers, jumping from one house of faith and experience to another, from her childhood synagogue to her meditation teacher. In my early 50s, I, too, woke up and wondered if my inherited religion served me.
For my half-century birthday, my husband and I checked into a French Benedictine Monastery in Abu Gosh near Jerusalem, where a nun asked our religious affiliation. Born Jewish, I said, but questioning.
“Devotion’s biggest triumph is its voice: funny and unpretentious, concrete and earthy—appealing to skeptics and believers alike. This is a gripping, beautiful story.” — Jennifer Egan, author of The Keep
“I was immensely moved by this elegant book.” — Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
Dani Shapiro, the acclaimed author of the novel Black and White and the bestselling memoir Slow Motion, is back with Devotion: a searching and timeless new memoir that examines the fundamental questions that wake women in the middle of the night, and grapples with the ways faith, prayer, and devotion affect everyday life. Devotion…
