Dear Reader,
The week leading up to Father’s Day seems a fitting time to spend a few moments recalling the prayers in Jan Karon’s Mitford series. Readers around the world have come to love Father Tim and his Mitford parishioners. Bathed in Prayer: Father Tim’s Prayers, Sermons, and Reflections from the Mitford Series is a standalone book that brings prayers from the series together under one cover.
In the book’s Introduction, Jan Karon writes:
I have cared a lot for Father Tim and for his many prayers and consolations not only to parishioners but to me. He drove me to prayer of my own when the time came for him to preach and I was the one to write the sermon, or when he needed to pray in a critical situation and I had to configure that prayer. I never took his job lightly, nor did he.
Each prayer is preceded by a quick recap of what was happening in the series. My favorite section is the one where we remember Father Tim’s ill-fated fishing trip. What an entertaining passage! As an introduction to this section, Jan Karon writes: Cynthia has given her husband the gift of a deep-sea fishing experience. He goes, of course, but I can assure you that he will not do this again.
The prayers in this book are as varied as the characters who utter them: quick, lengthy, heartfelt, obligatory, considered, impulsive.
Reader, what are you praying for today? Consider reaching for Bathed in Prayer when you’re looking for more inspiration.
Here with you,
Laura
P.S. Are you new to Mitford? Click here to read my review of To Be Where You Are (#14).
