Praying with the Book of Common Prayer…Showcase for Scripture

One of my goals and desires this year is to spend time worshipping and praying with the various prayer books. I am using the book, Praying with the Church by Scot McKnight, as my introduction guide in exploring these prayer books (See post below). I am beginning with The Book of Common Prayer, which comes from the Anglican Church and dates back to 1549. The first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer wrote this prayer book to provide an orderly way of praying and reading Scripture. The Morning and Evening Prayers and other liturgies are deeply rooted in the rhythms and traditions of Jesus, which includes the Psalms, Scriptures, and the Lord’s Prayer.

At the time it was originally written in the 16th century most people did not own or read the Bible for themselves. So, one of the goals was to bring people to read scripture for themselves. Through the prayer book, Cranmer brought every church in England to the Bible daily through morning and evening prayers. As I have been praying with the BCP this past month, I have noticed that the prayers, collects, and canticles are written in the plural, using “us” and “we.” They are designed to be prayed together, in a community of faith. While I have been using Morning Prayers privately, I am reminded that I join with other saints, past and present, around the world who pray these same prayers. Hence, the “Common” in The Book of Common Prayer.

The BCP has gone through several revisions since the 16th century. There is an English Anglican version and a U.S. Episcopal version. The prayer book itself is a little complicated to navigate at first. It requires a lot of bookmarks to reference back and forth through the readings and prayers. Thankfully, for those of us new to the BCP there are some web sites that simplify it and pull it all together. I have especially found this Daily Office prayer site helpful….I have also added the link to my sidebar. http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

The Morning Prayers can take awhile, so I select to meditate and pray just some of the scriptures and prayers. I am now focusing on the Psalm and Gospel readings of the day. I am still exploring and familiarizing myself with the many prayers and collects. I am finding them more and more meaningful as they grow more familiar and instill in my mind and heart. I plan to continue in the BCP up until Ash Wednesday. Then I will continue my journey in exploring the prayer books with The Divine Hours during Lent and Eastertide.

N.T. Wright says of the BCP, “that of the Anglican Communion, the regular offices of Morning and Evening Prayer are, in all kinds of ways, ‘showcases for scripture.’ That is, they do with scripture (by use of prayer, music, and response) what a well-organized exhibition does with a great work of art: They prepare us for it, they enable us to appreciate it fully, and they give us and opportunity to meditate further on it.”

Showcase for Scripture! I love that illustration for the BCP and other liturgy!

Collect of the Day: Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Today’s Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer:
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Today’s Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

We are in now in the season of Epiphany until Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (2/25).
For more on Epiphany click here –
http://www.crivoice.org/cyepiph.html

For a meaningful liturgy for Epiphany click here - http://godspace.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/liturgy-for-epiphany-2/

praying with the church in 2009

I started off the year with the book, Praying with the Church by Scot McKnight. It is always cool how God brings just the right book right when I need it! Some of you have followed my journey in exploring and learning more about the seasons and liturgy of the church calendar. For someone who did not grow up in a liturgical church tradition, I have found it refreshing and meaningful to my personal rhythm of spirituality and abiding with God these past few years. It has also been cool to share in some of these rhythms with my friends and communities in SoCal, Buenos Aires, and around the world via cyberspace. I am beginning to recognize how the church calendar and seasons have provided a routine and consistency in my inner life of worship, reflection, and meditation during a period of change and inconsistency in my external circumstances. It has provided a space of comfort and rest.

Praying with the church in 2009 seems to be the next step in this journey. In his book, Scot McKnight recognizes two types of prayer in Scripture. There are spontaneous individual prayers and communal prayers. McKnight says, “Prayer is both small and private and quiet and all alone, and prayer is public and verbal and with others and in the open. We may seek individual prayer, but the individual needs to be encompassed by the Church in prayer. We need both the personal and communal – both are good, both are spiritually formative.”

He goes on to say, “We are invited to let our personal prayers be engulfed and enlarged by our prayers of the Church. We are invited to pray both in the church and with the church…Praying with the Church involves allowing our prayer lives to be adjusted to the sacred rhythms of the Church’s tradition and invites us to use the words of the Bible and the Church.”

The book goes on to highlight the daily sacred rhythms of communal prayer found in the history of the Israelites, the Psalms, and in the life of Jesus. It then summarizes and describes a few of the primary historical prayer books of the Church, including A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers, The Liturgy of the Hours, and The Book of Common Prayer. There is also a chapter on praying with the The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle, which is a newer prayer book. Scot McKnight’s blog, Jesus Creed, includes a Blogroll on the sidebar of Daily Prayers from various prayer books online if you want to check it out (http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/).

I plan to take my time in this book as a guide in exploring and experiencing these various prayer books over the coming year. I started with The Book of Common Prayer, which I will blog more about next time.

back in la boca hood!

I have now been back in Buenos Aires for almost two weeks. I still can’t get over how fast the weeks zoom by! Beside all my heavy bags, I also brought back a cold/flu bug from California that slowed me down for about a week. Thankfully, I stocked up on more Dayquil and Nyquil to take the edge off and get me through the days and nights. I am now feeling a lot better!

My first week back included a couple days away on retreat with our WMF community. There is a retreat center about an hour outside the city that rents out a large three bedroom apartment. It was a perfect spot for us all to be together, especially with the kids. Lots of open outdoor space to enjoy the summer sun (and big trees and gazebos to enjoy the summer shade!). It was good to be back with the Dean and Forcatto families and catch-up on life together! In addition to just hanging out and sharing meals together, our time included space for individual solitude with God one afternoon, as well as good conversations about the year ahead. It was a great way to kick-off the new year together!

This past week has included regrouping and reconnecting. It was great to reconnect with our friends at the train station (Retiro). Summertime is a slower pace here in Buenos Aires, so the vibe is a little more low key. I also had a good week catching up, reviewing Spanish, and making plans for the new year.

I will start back with my Spanish tutor this week ahead before the more intensive month-long class in February.

We recently posted our community prayer requests for January, if you would like to join us in prayer! Click here...January Prayer Requests

happy 2009!

Where did the time go?! Time with family and friends in California was sweet! Lots of fun and memories shared! Tomorrow I head back home to summertime in Buenos Aires. Looking forward to sweet reunions with community and friends there!

Hopefully, the new year will bring my blogging groove back!