Crosswalks: Prayers from a City Church

Janet McCreadie, formerly the editor of the Pelham Herald, is currently
a freelance editor and writer.

Worship in the 1990s requires a freshness of language and thought, of
concrete images, experience, and spirit. Such is the poetry of David R.
Allen, who invests his poetic prayers with inner-city-life realism and
in doing so makes them relevant to life as we know it. The prayers are
organized according to seasons of the church year and by type (approach,
thanksgiving, or eucharistic), and can be used by any
denomination—Catholic or Protestant—without offending the sensitive
ears of any or all who read them. This guide should wake up all those
congregations that have slept through years of prayers.