Let Us Bless the Lord, Year One: Advent through Holy Week: Meditations for the Daily Office

Popular author, retreat leader, and priest Barbara Crafton rises early each morning, lights a candle, opens her Book of Common Prayer, and reads the morning office—the ancient Christian service that praises God at the beginning of a new day. When she is done, Crafton usually sits down at her computer and sends out an e-mail that says simply, "Let us bless the Lord," the traditional closing line of the morning prayer service. Her devoted readers reply, "Thanks be to God.” Crafton communicates with thousands of subscribers to her daily e-mail meditations. They—and others who say the Daily Offices—will treasure this collection of brief meditations. Based on the assigned biblical texts for each day of the Church year, Crafton’s writings complement perfectly the morning, noon, evening, and nighttime prayers that are the Daily Offices. Crafton brings her trademark humor, pathos, and marvelous storytelling ability to Let Us Bless the Lord, as she shows contemporary readers how texts written centuries ago still speak clearly to us today. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is an Episcopal priest and popular preacher, retreat leader, and writer. Her articles and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Reader's Digest, Family Circle, Glamour, Episcopal Life, and other publications. She is the author of many books, including Let Every Heart Prepare, Some Things You Just Have to Live With, Meditations on the Psalms, The Sewing Room, and others available from Morehouse Publishing. She lives in New Jersey.