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A review by readsewknit
Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human by Cole Arthur Riley
4.0
Cole Arthur Riley writes with such deepness and heart, cutting away chaff to leave genuinely impactful lessons.
The first half of BLACK LITURGIES offers liturgies grouped by story (touching on place, wonder, lament, doubt, rage, secrets, and more), and the second half offers blessings grouped around time (both time of day -- such as dawn and dusk -- and time of liturgical year -- such as Pentecost, Lent, and Kwanzaa). To close, the book contains longer liturgies which can be adapted for communal use, plus a framework for drafting your own liturgies.
Riley follows a formula for each chapter: she opens with quotes from black artists and authors, pens a letter, then a poem and specific prayers for the chapter's theme follow, for it to close with breath prayers, a confession, forgiveness, a benediction, and questions for contemplation.
This book helps illustrate intersectionality; this book is not meant specifically for me, but it still connects. As a woman, a people pleaser, a perfectionist, time and again this book offered a release from those pressures. Riley's vulnerability helps model what it is to be genuine in our faith and our community. This is a book I would welcome on my shelves, to flip through to locate just the blessing needed for specific instances.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)
The first half of BLACK LITURGIES offers liturgies grouped by story (touching on place, wonder, lament, doubt, rage, secrets, and more), and the second half offers blessings grouped around time (both time of day -- such as dawn and dusk -- and time of liturgical year -- such as Pentecost, Lent, and Kwanzaa). To close, the book contains longer liturgies which can be adapted for communal use, plus a framework for drafting your own liturgies.
Riley follows a formula for each chapter: she opens with quotes from black artists and authors, pens a letter, then a poem and specific prayers for the chapter's theme follow, for it to close with breath prayers, a confession, forgiveness, a benediction, and questions for contemplation.
This book helps illustrate intersectionality; this book is not meant specifically for me, but it still connects. As a woman, a people pleaser, a perfectionist, time and again this book offered a release from those pressures. Riley's vulnerability helps model what it is to be genuine in our faith and our community. This is a book I would welcome on my shelves, to flip through to locate just the blessing needed for specific instances.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)