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'So what are we about as pastoral pray-ers? We are about bringing ourselves individually and as a faith community into right relationship with God...'

What about a 'Revised Common Lectionary' based book of pastoral prayers for clergy and lay leaders that provides responsive prayers for each Sunday of the year, including propers? David gets asked this question often when people recognize him as the author of the three volumes of 'Prayers to Share.' So, acknowledging that the pastoral prayer is often overlooked and undervalued, and that clergy and lay leaders may be hard-pressed for time to compose a fresh pastoral prayer each week, he has put together a unique and comprehensive collection of prayers that can be adapted to present circumstances and used in a variety of settings.

The prayers are responsive, written for one or two leaders and a congregational response. They all allow for the inclusion of local and worldwide current events, and individual and congregational concerns. David usually uses the weekly Gospel reading as the broad theme for the prayers and divides them into four easily identified sections: world suffering church ourselves

The 'how to use' section covers preparing to offer pastoral prayer, and offers 12 ways to 'do' pastoral prayer, such as: two leader congregational response using people and objects to dramatize a theme using part of a hymn for a lead or a response using silence for effect

About the author:
David Sparks has served for thirty years with the United Church of Canada, mostly in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and was for five years a minister in the United Reformed Church of England and Wales. For the best part of that time he has been writing prayers and hymns for public worship. Sparks has led workshops on various aspects of public prayer, and has been a workshop leader at Worship Matters, the national gathering of worship leaders. David has retired, with wife Kathy, to Summerland, British Columbia, and is currently serving the United Church congregation of Okanagan Falls near Penticton.