Mary Harwell Sayler's Blog: In a Christian Writer's Life, page 12

December 11, 2019

Bible Prayers: Bible Prayer to Prepare the Way for Christ

Bible Prayers: Bible Prayer to Prepare the Way for Christ
In this prayer from the Bible, the Jewish priest Zechariah praised God and prophesied over his son John, who was to prepare the way for the coming of Christ.
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Published on December 11, 2019 09:26

December 5, 2019

Poetry Editor: Blank Verse Versus Free Verse

Poetry Editor: Blank Verse Versus Free Verse
Blank verse and free verse are two entirely different forms but have one big thing in common: No end-line rhymes!
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Published on December 05, 2019 12:03

December 4, 2019

Bible Prayers: A Bible prayer to begin Advent

Bible Prayers: A Bible prayer to begin Advent

These prayers of the Apostle Paul call us to prepare the way for Christ Jesus to come into our lives more fully this Advent.
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Published on December 04, 2019 08:20

November 27, 2019

Bible Prayers: Bible Prayers: Thanksgiving to God

Bible Prayers: Bible Prayers: Thanksgiving to God

Thanksgiving reminds us to count our blessings and thank God for our families, friends, church, and country. It’s also an ideal time to pray these Bible prayers:
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Published on November 27, 2019 10:00

November 23, 2019

Bible Prayers: Jacob’s vow: making a deal with God

Bible Prayers: Jacob’s vow: making a deal with God: In times of uncertainty or doubt, many of us have prayed, “Lord, IF You will ___(fill in the blank), THEN I will ___(fill in the blank.)” Jacob did this too as the Bible prayers in this post show.
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Published on November 23, 2019 08:48

November 22, 2019

Poetry Editor: New poetry column on Interlitq!

Poetry Editor: New poetry column on Interlitq!: If you'd like to discuss poets who make us better -- as people and as poets -- check out my new column.
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Published on November 22, 2019 00:29

November 18, 2019

Bible Prayers: A servant’s prayer

Bible Prayers: A servant’s prayer

As servants of God, we can relate to and pray with this Bible prayer by a trusted servant of Abraham.
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Published on November 18, 2019 11:15

November 13, 2019

Poetry Editor: Now where did I put that poem?

Poetry Editor: Now where did I put that poem?: Keeping track of your poems is easy at first, but as your work grows, it’s hard to remember every title, much less where it was last seen! This post should help.
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Published on November 13, 2019 03:40

November 12, 2019

How public is the public domain?


After publishing the Book of Bible Prayers , which I’d collected from many translations of the Bible and prayerfully paraphrased (prayer-a-phrased) into everyday English, I became aware of the need for another version of the prayer book in KJV only. For many people, the King James Version is the only Bible to read.
Since King James of England commissioned the KJV translation in 1604 (published in 1611), we’ve been assured in recent decades that this beloved version is in the public domain and, therefore, can be quoted as much as we like as long as we identify the source. That’s almost true! But we’ll get back to that.
Contemporary translations have usually been commissioned, too, often by a Bible society or a Bible publisher, who holds the copyright. Generally, you can quote X number of verses (usually 250, but sometimes 500) without having to get the publisher’s permission. (The front matter of the edition will specify.)  Then you just have to acknowledge the copyright date and publishing company in your credits or on your title page.
I didn’t need to obtain permission with the Book of Bible Prayers because the text is an original compilation in my paraphrase with the exception of the Lord’s Prayer from the Gospel of Matthew, which I quoted and acknowledged as being from the KJV. However, the KJV version of the book having those same Bible prayers turned out to be another matter!
Come to find out, the KJV is indeed in the public domain – in the United States! If, though, your work profusely quotes the King James Version, as the Book of KJV Prayers does, for publication in the United Kingdom, guess what! You have to get permission from the crown!
After King James commissioned this translation into English, the British crown continued to renew the copyright as needed over the next 400 years! So, to avoid getting in trouble with the queen, the Book of KJV Prayers will be available in the United States only. Lord willing, I’ll occasionally post prayers from that book on the Bible Prayers site – but with an acknowledgement, of course.

Mary Sayler, ©2019


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Published on November 12, 2019 08:30

November 5, 2019

Bible Prayers: The prayer of Hagar: God sees!

Bible Prayers: The prayer of Hagar: God sees!: Realizing she was not alone and the Lord was with her in the wilderness, Hagar expressed joy and relief in this brief prayer that speaks for us too.  
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Published on November 05, 2019 10:44

In a Christian Writer's Life

Mary Harwell Sayler
Discusses the Bible, Christianity, the church in all of its parts as the Body of Christ, and the work and play of a Christian writer. For discussions on poetry, see my blog the Poetry Editor & Poetry ...more
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