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New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

Used by permission from the Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. This prayer appears in “A Liturgy for Morning Prayer” in Upper Room Worshipbook.

The Awkward Season

Prayers for Lent

Pamela C. Hawkins • November 2009

BUY Print $7.99

It always lasts 40 days, but those 40 days occur on different dates from one year to the next. The 40 days occur immediately before Easter, but because Sundays are excluded from the count, the days of this season are not consecutive. Unlike other holy seasons, which typically begin on a Sunday, this one commences midweek. Believers approach it in a variety of ways.

Pamela Hawkins calls it “the awkward season.” Still, for all its curves and contours, Lent is rich with possibilities. While individual journeys through Lent may differ, they all lead to one destination—Easter.

The Awkward Season: Prayers for Lent offers Christian pilgrims a “prayer path” to follow through Lent. For each day of the week, prayers of invocation, confession, intercession, and thanksgiving are shaped around a theme prompted by the psalm for the day. A daily scripture reading is provided, but Hawkins welcomes readers to use a different passage if it comes to mind; this book, she reminds the reader, is designed to support rather than dictate a Lenten journey.

A finger labyrinth at the back of the book serves as an optional prayer tool for those who wish to try it and an order for Lenten praise and prayer provides a simple, beautiful way for groups who meet weekly to share this Lenten experience. Whether used individually or in a gathering, The Awkward Season will be a road map for the journey as you spend time with “the One who longs to be your companion in this season and always.”


Categories: Lent, Prayer
Pamela C. Hawkins is an author, artist, and pastor living in Nashville, Tennessee. She has written about the Christian spiritual life through prayers, liturgies, articles, small-group studies, and devotional books. At the heart of Hawkins’s ministry is a love for the gospel, a commitment to make God’s unconditional love extended to all people, and a desire to live a more prayerful life. Hawkins holds a Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, a Doctor of Ministry in Christian Spirituality from Columbia Theological School, and is a regular retreatant at the Benedictine community of St. Meinrad Archabbey.

ISBN: 978-0-8358-9997-0

Imprint: Upper Room

Pub Date: November 2009

Trim Size: 6.5 in (w) x 6.5 in (h) x in (d)

Page Count: 112

BISAC Categories: RELIGION / Holidays / Easter & Lent

BISAC1: REL034030

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The exquisite prayers, the orderly and consistent flow of the exercises, the skillful weaving of scripture, hymn, prayer and life events into a simple, creative, coherent and complete experience of prayerful living provides a clear road map for a new and exciting way to live the Lenten season.
—Rueben P. Job Author of *Three Simple Rules** and *A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God** Retired Bishop, The United Methodist Church