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 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 Year Two from Advent through Holy Week, Crafton's writings complement perfectly the morning, noon, evening, and nighttime prayers that are the Daily Offices.