Michael Morwood’s previous book of prayers, Praying a New Story, received wide acclaim. Awarding the book among the Best Spiritual Books in 2004, Spirituality & Health Magazine commented, “Invigorating, poetic and imaginative… the perfect resource for small groups interested in exploring new avenues of devotion and spiritual practice.”

Morwood goes beyond “devotion and spiritual practice” in Prayers for Progressive Christians, A New Template. In the first part of the book he summaries the key theological shifts that necessitate changes to liturgical, group and personal prayer. In the second part he demonstrates how these major shifts in theological thinking can be incorporated into a new template for meaningful, contemporary prayer.
 
Part One: Praying What We Now Believe
Why Prayer Should Change
God
Revelation
The Purpose of Life
Jesus
The kingdom of God
Liturgy
Christ
Religion
Prayer
General Principles For Composing Prayers
 
Part Two: Prayers
The Gift You Are    Think of Yourself As a Gift of the Universe</em
The Flower That Shattered the Stone    Trusting the power within us
All Is One   Everything and everyone is connected
Personifying the Great Mystery    Pointers to the beyond
Come on Home     What lies at the heart of our being?
Embedded Wisdom     We know the path to progress
Advent     What are we longing and hoping for?
Christmas    Who is this child for us?
New Year     Moving beyond our comfort zone
First and Foremost    Working for a better world
Light    Let your own light shine
Human Like Us    Being fully human is more than enough
The Cost     Paying a price for what is right
Perseverance     Standing firm in the face of opposition
Ash Wednesday    From stardust to human
The Power of Story    Giving thanks for storytellers
Palm Sunday    What “following Jesus” really means
Holy Thursday    A human story of hope and trust
Good Friday     Let us not lose sight of Jesus who leads us in our faith
Easter    The seasons of life
Being God-Conscious    Becoming more mindful
Pentecost    Celebrating the “Spirit” in everyone
Nella Fantasia    Our shared human longing for the world
Forgiveness Prayer    Drawing strength from within.
Baptism    Celebrating the wonder of new life
Wedding    The wonder of human love
Death     Living on beyond death
Suicide    Funeral reflection and prayer
Prayer and Children     Deepening Awareness of the Great Mystery
Prayer of Petition    One with everyone and everything
Sickness and dying    Prayers with the sick; prayers with the dying
Facing Reality    A reflection on progressive religious thinking
 
About the Author
 
With over 40 years’ experience as a sought-after retreat leader and educator, Michael Morwood is well known around the world. Bishop John Shelby Spong writes: “Michael Morwood…is raising the right and obvious questions that all Christians must face. He provides fresh and perceptive possibilities for a modern and relevant faith.” With a dozen books to his name (two of which were banned before he resigned from the Catholic priesthood), Morwood brings an extensive background in spirituality to what he sees as the urgent need to reshape Christian thinking for a new millennium.