It's taken me much longer than I'd have liked to send a reading reminder for our next book, The "Book of Common Prayer": A Biography by Alan Jacobs. It's been in the Apostles Reads TBR book pile since Ryan Willers voted for it a few years ago. Now that he's officially the Rev. Ryan Willers, it's our clergy pick for 2024. (No one has ever had to work harder to get their reading request accepted! 😉)
Here's the official book summary:
How The Book of Common Prayer became one of the most influential works in the English language
While many of us are familiar with such famous words as "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here. . ." or "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," we may not know that they originated in The Book of Common Prayer, which first appeared in 1549. Like the words of the King James Bible and Shakespeare, the language of this prayer book has saturated English culture and letters. Here Alan Jacobs tells its story. He shows how The Book of Common Prayer--from its beginnings as a means of social and political control in the England of Henry VIII to its worldwide presence today--became a venerable work whose cadences express the heart of religious life for millions.
Details for our next discussion:
What: The "Book of Common Prayer": A Biography by Alan Jacobs and the first 25 poems in Joy: 100 Poems edited by Christian Wiman
When: Sunday, May 19, 4-6 pm
Who: Rev. Ryan Willers will be helping me co-lead this discussion
Where: The Willers' house
RSVP and please bring a snack to share: tamarahillmurphy@gmail.com
I'd especially love to invite our Anglican 1 cohort to join us for this discussion!
2024 Reading List with discussion dates
Please know that while I've done my best, there may need to be changes to either dates or titles as we get closer to each one.
All year: Joy: 100 Poems edited by Christian Wiman (We'll reflect on a portion of the poems each time we meet in 2024.
March 17, 4-6 pm - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (great for all ages!)
May 19 - The "Book of Common Prayer": A Biography by Alan Jacobs
July 28 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
September 29 - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (great for all ages!)
November 17 - Inferno from Dante's Divine Comedy
One small change to our schedule this year is that I've removed the liturgical season category for the titles and shifted to an every-other-month reading cadence. I certainly kept the church calendar in mind as I've ordered the titles, but I'm also looking forward to how our living out the church year informs our reading, no matter the title!