Night Owl Prayers: A Prayerbook
By Robert W. Lee
With a foreword by the Very Rev. Gary R. Hall, President of Bloy House and 10th Dean of the Washington National Cathedral (2012-2015)
For too long prayerbooks have looked to the “normalcy” of the waking moments to guide and direct our prayer lives. But what about situations that do not fit into the daytime hours? Where do they fit into God’s desire to be in conversation with us?
God calls us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and sometimes we find ourselves eyes wide open when the sun isn’t up. Perhaps we are unable to sleep because of stress, insomnia, or work. Maybe we’re sitting at the hospital bed or at the shelter and we don’t know what’s next. Regardless of circumstance there is a call to engage God and seek God’s presence to be made plain in our lives.
Whether you are an insomniac or a 3rd shift worker, God is calling you to join with all the chorus of those praying no matter the hour. This prayerbook by the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Lee will serve as a regular guide for that nighttime endeavor.
Praise for Night Owl Prayers
“Of all the thoughtful, prayerful people I know, Rob Lee is uniquely qualified to conceive and write a book like this. His life and ministry have led him into engagement with a range of people many of us in ministry only read and hear about. Rob is at once theologically learned, pastorally sensitive, and committed to an inclusive vision of God’s liberating justice. The prayers on offer here reflect his personal authenticity and active compassion.”— From the foreword by the Very Rev. Gary R. Hall, President of Bloy House, The Episcopal Theological School at Los Angeles, and 10th Dean of the Washington National Cathedral (2012-2015)
Spiritually, what could be more daunting than the things that go bump in the night? What an illuminated idea Rob Lee had to devise prayers for us in those difficult nocturnal hours and moods, and what ingenious execution! Night Owl Prayers: A Prayerbook meets a profoundly undealt- with need for people who struggle in the dark, and might (with Lee’s able guidance) find comfort and hope in God’s presence in their darkest moments. A gift you’ll pull out your flashlight to read and pray at 3 a.m. — The Rev. Dr. James C. Howell, Senior Minister, Myers Park United Methodist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina
The ancient words of St Patrick’s Breastplate – Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me – become flesh in this honest book of ingenuous devotions. Rob Lee invites us all to join him in opening every aspect of our lives to Christ’s blessing and transformation. — The Rev. Dr. Samuel Wells, Vicar of St. Martin-in-the Fields, London and former Dean of Duke University Chapel
For all of us who suffer from insomnia—whether occa- sional or chronic—Night Owl Prayers is a godsend. This collection of brief meditations and honest prayers can help us “sabotage sleeplessness,” deriving something good (a heart reaching out to divine love) from something crummy (a night of tossing and turning in bed). — Brian McLaren, Public Theologian and Author