Beautifully written meditations on fifteen well-chosen words
In
What's in a Phrase?
— winner of the 2015
Christianity Today
Book Award in Spirituality — Marilyn McEntyre showed readers how brief scriptural phrases can evoke and invite. In
Word by Word
McEntyre invites readers to dwell intentionally with single words — remembering their biblical and literary contexts, considering the personal associations they bring up, and allowing them to become a focus for prayer and meditation.
McEntyre has thoughtfully chosen fifteen words (see below), and she gives each word a week, guiding readers in examining the word from seven different angles throughout the week. She draws on the spiritual practices of
lectio divina
and centering prayer as she encourages readers to allow these small words to help them pause and hear the voice of the Spirit. "I invite you to discover," says McEntyre in her intro-duction, "how words may become little fountains of grace. How a single word may, if you hold it for a while, become a prayer."
Listen
Receive
Enjoy
Let Go
Watch
Accept
Resist
Allow
Be Still
Follow
Rejoice
Ask
Dare
Leave
Welcome