Review: Eighth Day Prayers (Volume 1)
Sally Breedlove, Willa Kane, Madison Perry, and Alysia Yates. Eighth Day Prayers (Volume 1): Daily Hope for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Forefront Books, 2024. 220 pp.
Devotionals for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany are myriad. They come in all shapes and sizes. Many such devotionals compile excerpts from Christian writers, pastors, and theologians throughout history (my favorite in this regard is Watch for the Light). Some are poetic reflections (Malcolm Guite’s Waiting on the Word executes this beautifully). Enter Forefront Books’ new volume, Eighth Day Prayers (Volume 1): Daily Hope for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. This new devotional takes the focus on Christ’s incarnation deep into the heart, inviting us to a place of deep spiritual reflection in God’s presence as we enter the darkest yet most hopeful time of the year.
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The Structure of the Book
The authors plan this volume as one of three. The first covers the Incarnation Cycle of the Church Year: Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. The second will cover the Paschal Cycle: Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. Finally, the third volume will cover Ordinary Time.
The book exists in a series of short devotions. The lead writers (Breedlove, Kane, Perry, and Yates) contribute alongside numerous others. Indeed, the four listed might just as well be listed as compilers, with the brilliant contributions of other writers seemingly making up a large portion of the volume. Each devotion averages two pages. It’s bite-size but substantial.
Each Incarnation season—Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany—features a short chapter introducing it and highlighting its significance and themes. Then, as readers move through each devotion, the authors present a selection of scripture, followed by a reflection. The reflection ends with an invitation, “As you pray…” with a matter to contemplate in the presence of the Lord. Finally, each devotion offers up a prayer itself. Sometimes, these prayers are from scripture, sometimes from poetry or other historical sources, and quite often, from the Book of Common Prayer.
An Invitation to Contemplation
It quickly becomes clear that the writers of this book are immersed in the ancient Christian contemplative tradition. Indeed, more than a few contributors are practicing spiritual directors, and it shows. In the introduction, the Rev. Madison Perry paints a vivid picture of God’s invitation through the Gospel, inviting us to
…a banquet, to feast in the halls of Zion and dwell forever in the kingdom of God. At this table lies nothing less than everything, no matter what you have lost or suffered, or even what you have inflicted on the world around you.
He ends by offering the hope,
As you immerse yourself in the word of God, open yourself to his Spirit, and orient yourself within the life of Jesus, we pray that you will move into a new and richer reality.
Immediately after, the book features a short chapter, “Entering In,” by the Rev. Dr. Steve Macchia, president of the contemplative spirituality-focused ministry Leadership Transformations. In it, he briefly explains the practice of Lectio Divina, how this book invites us to engage in such a prayerful meditation on scripture, and how “When Bible reading becomes prayer, you know you’ve touched a nerve the Spirit is inviting you to consider.” With the scene now set, the book begins to walk us through the Church Year.
A New Way of Keeping Time
The authors and compilers understand these seasons well. Most of these authors are deeply embedded in the Anglican tradition and the contemplative stream of spirituality within it, particularly in our intentional, counter-cultural timekeeping. In the Rev. Steven E. Breedlove’s chapter, “Introduction to the Christian Year” preceding the devotions, he explains the book’s title:
The six days of creation are endowed with beauty, meaning, and purpose, leading us to the seventh day of divine rest. But what of the eighth day? For Christians, the eighth day is the day of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead—Easter—on the first day after the Jewish Sabbath. The eighth day marks a new way of keeping time shaped by the inbreaking of a new creation.
Time tells a story. And the way we tell time inscribes that story in us. As Christians we are eighth day people… We have titled this book Eighth Day Prayers as an invitation to a new way of keeping time, one rooted in the rhythm of creation that nonetheless draws us on toward new creation.
Aligned with this different way of keeping time, the book features dates at the beginning of each chapter as to when those should be read. For those with changeable dates, the days are given through 2034. If you’re still using this book by then, I trust you’ll have become acquainted enough with the Church Calendar to keep going.
As this book guides us through these seasons, it invites us to “notice how your response to Scripture and your prayers change as you hold in mind what season it is.” This is a hallmark of our Anglican tradition—whose liturgy and prayers subtly change from season to season—which makes Eighth Day Prayers a perfect companion for praying through the Church Year in an Anglican way.
Assessment
From a bird’s-eye view, this devotional breaks little new ground. The formatting of each devotion is similar to that of many other devotionals for this time of year. None would take more than three minutes to read. Yet, within this typical framework, a focus on noticing God’s presence within the season emerges. The invitation to prayerfully contemplate at the end of each devotion ushers us in to not only notice God, which it does, but to consciously be present with him.
I do sometimes wish these reflections were longer. And yet, while a more long-form devotional like Watch for the Light might be the pick for someone who likes to read a substantial 10-minute chapter each night of the season, Eighth Day Prayers is the perfect accompaniment to your Morning or Evening Prayer offices. It works splendidly as both a meditation upon scripture by the writers and an invitation for the reader’s own time of Lectio Divina. It invites us into a time of prayer. These devotions are brief. And yet they cause is to ponder the deep things of God. I heartily recommend this volume of Eight Day Prayers to guide you into a more prayerful Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.
Overall Rating: 5/5
Disclaimer: I have a relationship with several of this book’s contributors. I am a student in Leadership Transformations’ Selah Certificate in Spiritual Direction Anglican Cohort, of which Sally Breedlove is associate director and contributors Nathan Baxter and Tamara Hill Murphy are faculty, with Baxter being my supervisor; Steve Macchia is the president of Leadership Transformations. Art Going has been a friend and mentor in my life for many years. Sally’s husband, Steven A. Breedlove, is Bishop Emeritus of my diocese and is a contributor to this book, as is their son, Steven E. Breedlove, who is also a priest in my diocese. Nonetheless, I have tried to be as fair and honest as possible in my review, for which I received a free copy of the book.
Photo by Jacob Davis.
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