Hodder and Stoughton (Hardback)
ISBN 9 781399 805308
Price £14.99
167 pages
I enjoyed this book on what is perhaps the best-known prayer in the world.
Perhaps you are wondering if there is anything fresh that can be said about words that are so familiar. Well, the answer is “Yes!”
Stephen Cottrell takes a deep dive into this prayer and has taken time to let its well-known phrases shape his thinking about the practice of prayer. The author, correctly in my view, sees the prayer than Jesus taught us, as not only a shape of prayer for us to pray, but as a shaping prayer for our lives.
He quotes Tom Wright:
“Learning to follow Jesus is simply learning to pray the Lord’s Prayer.”
I pray the Lord’s Prayer every day and try to allow it to shape me that is what this book tries to do.
The author is a good writer, who in 13 brief chapters helpfully takes the reader for a journey through this prayer. Cottrell is also a great storyteller; this gift illuminates so much of what he has written.
The book is also backed with practical application for life, and its usefulness is further enhanced by the addition five weeks of questions to be used to read, study and pray this book with others.
John Woods is a writer and Bible teacher based in West Sussex. He is Director of Training at the School of Preachers in Riga, Latvia.
