Editor's Notes to the Reader

August / September / October 2008 Issue

TO THE READER:

We easily grow accustomed to the voices of people like ourselves, but people from other places and traditions can offer new insights, sometimes challenging assumptions we have not questioned. In the months to come, Forward Day by Day will occasionally feature such an author. Two appear in this issue. September's meditations are by a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, and October's meditations are by a Roman Catholic lay woman from Sri Lanka. August's author is an Episcopal priest writing his third set of Day by Day meditations.

The prayers at the back of this issue also come to us from beyond our own culture. All are written by African Christians. Their expressions of penitence, petition, thanksgiving, and praise are in terms which would not occur to most North American Christians but which can perhaps point us in new and helpful directions in our praying.

We are deeply grateful to the readers whose generous gifts support our ministry to overseas military bases, prisons, juvenile detention centers, hospitals, and convalescent homes. Hundreds of thousands of copies of Forward Day by Day are sent each year to the chaplains of such institutions, at no charge. Our mail often contains letters of appreciation from the soldiers, inmates, and patients who read those copies. Thanks to all who make this ministry possible.

--RHS