Book of the Month/July 2022

In case you can’t make out the subtitle on the cover there, it reads, “A Liturgy for Daily Worship.” This book, Be Thou My Vision, is a wonderful tool for family worship. Not only is it a tool, but it is an adjustable tool.

The first part of the book is made up of 31 daily liturgies (a month’s worth). Each daily reading has multiple parts, some of which can be dispensed with, depending on what you might be doing elsewhere.

Here are the parts: Call to Worship (a short passage of Scripture), Adoration (a prayer from one of our fathers in the faith—Ursinus, Augustine, Baxter, et al), Reading of the Law (a passage of Scripture, from, say, the 10 commandments, or the Sermon on the Mount, or something like that), Confession of Sin (again, a prayer from one of our church fathers), Assurance of Pardon (a scriptural promise), a Creed (this cycles through the Apostles, the Nicene, and the Athanasian, which is spread over three days), Praise (a scriptural passage of praise), Catechism (this refers to the second part of the book, which enables you to work through the Heidelberg or the Westminster Shorter, which are in the second section), Prayer for Illumination (again, a prayer from church history), Scripture Reading (you can use your own reading plan, or follow M’Cheyne’s plan in the back), Prayer of Intercession (again, a prayer from a notable saint in church history), and then you conclude with the Lord’s Prayer (which is the Lord’s Prayer).

Nancy and I have incorporated it into our morning devotions, and have worked through the month of readings two or three times now. This book is a robust workhorse devotional, is connected to the entire history of the church, and is also solidly Reformed. Jonathan Gibson, who put all of this together, deserves our hearty thanks. Really good stuff.