February 14th is both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. What on earth do these two holidays have in common? One is about love and the other a reminder of our own mortality. Now there are a few of us with broken hearts that see the connection clearly. And some of us are concerned about when the time changes from eating chocolate to not eating chocolate!
Lent officially begins on Ash Wednesday. Some traditions encourage giving up something so that every time you want that thing, like chocolate or to swear, you don’t indulge. This serves as a reminder to instead pray to God. Some people make the choice to do something extra during the six weeks until Easter Sunday March 31, like adding in more scheduled prayer time, or committing to give away something to help others. Giving up or doing more, the six weeks of Lent provides an opportunity to focus on our faith.
As Christians we embrace all aspects of our lives, including our mortality and death, as we know that God is always with us. We know that our spirit or soul continues to live with God, even after our physical bodies stop to function. It’s the promise that we hold onto as we lose friends and loved ones. This same Christian promise offers consolation to them when we die.
I encourage all of us to use the season of Lent as an opportunity to focus on God’s great love for us. A love demonstrated by Godself as Jesus’ willingly offered his life for us, so we can live eternally with him.
A few Lenten opportunities for prayer are to join in Morning Prayer on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, online at 8:30, and to come worship mid-week Wednesdays in the Chapel at noon. There are also a variety of Internet and book-based prayers for the entire day. Lent is a good time to try a variety until you find what fits you best. A few of my favorites are Apps and Podcasts.
Apps:
- Pray As You Go: https://pray-as-you-go.org/
- d365: https://d365.org/
- The Daily Office from the Mission of St. Clare: https://www.missionstclare.com/english/
- Day by Day (also available in booklet form find them on the bookcase in the kitchen at church): https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/fdd
Podcasts:
- Morning Prayer from the Episcopal Church in Garrett County:
https://episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.podbean.com/category/morning-prayer/ - Morning Prayer (Forward Movement): https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/daily-readings
Praying throughout the day
At the heart of our Episcopal/Anglican Spirituality is praying throughout the day. “Praying the Hours” reminds us that God walks with us always. Scheduled prayer serves as a time to pause for prayer throughout each day. Praying at specific times of day is an ancient practice shared by many faith traditions. Ancient Christian monastics prayed at 7 fixed hours, in addition to gathering for Eucharist daily. Modern practice is usually 4 or 5 times a day. Thankfully waking in the middle of the night 3 times to pray isn’t required!
Our “Book of Common Prayer” contains forms of daily prayer for morning, noon, evening, compline, (before Bed) as well as devotions for individuals throughout the day. The purpose of prayer is responding to God with our thoughts and our actions, with or without words. Spoken, sung, and silent prayers offer a variety to communicate with God both privately and communally.
The Book of Common Prayer is both a collection of well written prayers, and serves as a scaffolding or template to design prayer. A variety of Christian sources and styles for Morning Prayer, as well as using different translations and paraphrased version of the Bible can open new pathways to hear, imagine, understand, and relate to the story of God’s people. Different sources and voices give us an opportunity to be surprised, drawn in, or discover God in a new way. All for the goal of deepen our relationship with God.
Annie+