Posted Monday 1 October 2007
Some years ago I attended a weekend exploration of the early tradition of Christian Daily Prayer, writes Rev Canon Robin Paisley of St John’s, Dumfries.
The leader of our weekend told us about a cycling holiday on which he planned his route so that he would arrive each evening at a series of hostels so that he would have shelter overnight and the opportunity to wash, rest and prepare himself for the following day’s cycling. One evening he didn’t make it in time and as it was rather remote, he decided to cycle on through the night and include an extra detour he had thought he wouldn’t be able to manage.
As he cycled literally into the sunset, the beauty and rhythm of our created world became very real for him and all sorts of feelings, including ones of anxiety, welled up within him as night fell. When he stopped for rest at various stages in the night, the darkness was all engulfing as he switched off the lights on his bicycle and he felt very alone. Switching on these tiny lights, he continued into the night which gradually began to give way to the dawn and with it, new hope. He looked forward eagerly to the sunrise and the new day ahead, wondering both at what it would bring and at the power of the sun and its creator.
The pattern of Daily Prayer which the Christian Church has developed through the ages as its response to God, the creator of this daily cycle of our world, echoes many of the thoughts and feelings experienced by the cyclist. Morning and Evening Prayer, collections of Biblical texts which acknowledge our relationship with God, as revealed to us through Jesus Christ, provide a framework which spiritually refreshes us, assures us of God’s presence in difficult times and links us with others engaged in the same endeavour of knowing God more deeply.
The most recent version of our Church’s Daily Prayer (1990/2006) is particularly attuned not only to the daily rhythm of our lives but also the cycle of the church year. The prayers at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer illustrate the daily rhythm experienced by the cyclist:
Morning: God most Holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning ...
Evening: Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you ...
The changing themes - Anticipation, Incarnation, Returning to God, The Suffering Christ, New Life the Lord, New Life the Spirit, Ordinary Time, Festivals and Commendation - remind us of the story of salvation in Jesus Christ.
This Order of Daily Prayer is described on the Provincial website as being designed to allow Scripture to stimulate and to express worship of the God of whom Scripture speaks. A number of people meet with me in church to observe this rhythm and discuss the Bible readings set for the day. We find many blessings and challenges in the process.
For more information, and to obtain copies if they are not available in church locally, see the Scottish Episcopal Church website. Shorter versions of Morning and Evening Prayer are also available from the Provincial website. These simpler forms of morning and evening prayer are designed to encourage attentive prayer, either by groups or by individuals.
I encourage any Diocesan News Service readers who are unfamiliar with these patterns of Daily Prayer to try them.
Category: Thought for the Month
