‘Daily Devotions’ minister to discuss book in Bangor Ain’t No Flies on Me

BANGOR – The Rev. Peter B. Panagore, author of “Two Minutes for God: Quick Fixes for the Spirit,” will discuss his book at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at Borders bookstore.

Panagore, 48, of East Boothbay is the host of the nation’s oldest continuous ecumenical show, “Daily Devotions.” It airs at 6 a.m. daily on WLBZ-TV 2 in Bangor and WCSH-TV 6 in Portland. It also is heard on radio stations and the Web.

“Daily Devotions” is produced by First Radio Parish Church of America, which was launched in 1926 on Portland’s WCSH-AM. It moved to television in the early 1950s and onto the Internet in the 1990s.

The 386-page book is a collection of the two-minute devotions that have aired since Panagore took over the program more than four years ago. He put it together at the suggestion of a college friend.

Each page of the paperback published by Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone Faith imprint contains one of the stories Panagore has used in a broadcast. The entries are not dated as they are in similar devotional books.

Every story in “Two Minutes for God” is followed by a short prayer and a thought for the day. Each entry is fewer than 300 words long. Scripture citings and other references are listed at the back of the book in a “Notes” section.

“My storytelling mentor would have to be Jesus,” Panagore said in a phone interview earlier this week. “The parables of Jesus can be brief or funny but they always get the point across. He did it in a way that wasn’t religious at all. If you really look at them, they’re about daily life then.”

So far, the book has been selling well, especially in Maine, he said. Plans also are in the works for subsequent editions.

Writing the short pieces is no less work than writing a 20-minute weekly sermon, Panagore said.

“I always figured it took one minute of researching, ruminating and writing to compose one minute of a sermon,” he said. “Now, I’m writing 227 words per piece and it might be two minutes per word. It can take as long as four hours to write each one. I usually write them a little longer, then cut. I take out the adjectives, which makes [the piece] less colorful but more powerful.”

The publisher’s target audience for the book, according to the minister, includes people who are regular churchgoers, people who consider themselves spiritual but “unchurched,” and readers who like to start the day off with something positive.

First Parish Radio Church of America has struggled to stay afloat. The organization weathered a financial crisis three years ago and still is not stable financially. Although the royalties from the sale of the book don’t go to the organization, its publication is helping to give First Parish more exposure to a broader segment of the population than “Daily Devotions” has reached previously.

Panagore is the fifth minister to broadcast daily messages since 1926. In 2003, he replaced the Rev. David Glusker, who retired after 18 years on the air. For 15 years before that, Panagore served as pastor at the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor UCC.

“What I’m trying to do with the book and the broadcasts,” Panagore said, “is to bring hope and inspiration into people’s live. I want to help them make a nonthreatening connection so they can see that it’s reasonable to spend two minutes with God a day.”