In a world governed by speed, productivity, and distraction, many Christians (us!) long for something steadier—a way of prayer that can hold the whole of life. We rush to work, share coffee with friends, collapse into bed at day’s end, and hope, somehow, to sense God’s presence in it all. Yet prayer can often feel elusive, as though God were distant rather than near.
In this live conversation, Julie Lane-Gay reflected on her award-winning book The Riches of Your Grace: Living in the Book of Common Prayer and invited us into a deeper way of inhabiting time, prayer, and grace through the Book of Common Prayer. Rather than offering a history or technical guide, Lane-Gay shared how the Prayer Book quietly forms us—shaping our hearts, ordering our days, and anchoring ordinary Christian life in Christ.
Drawing on personal stories, insight, and lived practice (which she writes about ever so beautifully), Julie explored how liturgical prayer resists cultural hurry, re-forms our desires, and roots us in God’s larger story. Along the way, the conversation touched on formation, community, catechesis, the church calendar, and why praying with the Church—across time and place—mattered now more than ever. Hosted by Radix editor Matthew Steem, this event featured Julie Lane-Gay in conversation about a way of prayer that was slow, communal, and profoundly hopeful.
Julie Lane-Gay is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Fine Gardening, Faith Today, Anglican Planet, and The Englewood Review of Books. She teaches occasional courses at Regent College and serves as editor of the college’s journal, CRUX. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband, Craig, and is active in her local Anglican church.
Names mentioned:
Laurel Gasque, Luci Shaw, Sharon Gallagher, Leslie Newbigin, Eugene Peterson, James K. A. Smith, Tim Keller, J. I. Packer, Sam Bray, Drew Keane, Tish Harrison Warren, Marion Hatchett, Henry Ives Bailey, N. T. Wright, Derek Kidner, Craig Barnes, Marilyn McEntyre, Alan Jacobs, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, Christine Aroney-Sine, Tom Sine, Thomas Cranmer, Ian Punnett
Books mentioned:
You Are What You Love (James K. A. Smith)
How to Use the Book of Common Prayer: A Guide to Anglican Liturgy (Samuel L. Bray & Drew Nathaniel Keane)
Liturgy of the Ordinary (Tish Harrison Warren)
Prayer in the Night (Tish Harrison Warren)
The Case for the Psalms (N. T. Wright)
Commentary on the Prayer Book (Marion J. Hatchett)
Psalms: vol 1 & 2 (Derek Kidner)
How to Pray When You’re Pissed at God: Or Anyone Else for That Matter (Ian Punnett)
When Poets Pray (Marilyn McEntyre)Start with a Word: On the Craft and Adventure of Writing (Marilyn McEntyre)