Michaelmas. Praying Daily.
Michaelmas
This Sunday is September 29th which, for over a thousand years has been celebrated as the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Since it so rarely falls on a Sunday I am excited that we will be able to celebrate it together this coming Sunday morning.
If you’d like to see what some of our medieval forebears had to say about this great feast, I encourage you to check out the following blogpost from one my personal favorites “A Clerk of Oxford” https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-selection-of-st-michaels.html
Praying Daily
Last week we had a lovely discussion of the Forward Movement “Inwardly Digest” book. In it the author, Derek Olsen, makes the case that there are three main parts of the “Book of Common Prayer” that form and shape us as Anglican/Episcopal Christians: 1. The Church Calendar, 2. The Daily Office, 3. The Holy Eucharist. Number 3, the Holy Eucharist is of course the central gathering point for us week in and week out on Sunday, the Day of Resurrection. Number 1, is what draws our attention to both the different seasons of the Church Year as well as major feasts, like St. Michael’s this coming Sunday.
It’s number 2, that typically gets the short shrift. The Daily Office, or Daily Morning and Evening Prayer are right there in the beginning of the “Book of Common Prayer,” but they’re not used all that much any more by the vast majority of Episcopalians. To be fair, praying Morning and Evening Prayer all by yourself, takes quite a bit of effort, especially if no one ever taught you how to do so. Once you get the hang of it, it will only take you about 20 minutes or so, but if you don’t already have the habit of prayer built into your daily schedule it will feel very difficult to do so.
So while I think it ought to be the goal of every Episcopalian to work up to praying Morning and Evening Prayer every day, it’s a bit more prudent and more likely to stick if you take incremental steps, slowly working your way up to it.
Before I lay out a possible progression of steps that will help you get to the full daily Morning and Evening Prayer found in the BCP, I will say that I am always available to talk with you about your prayer life and offer suggestions for you and your particular life circumstances. Sometimes the Church uses the fancy phrase “Spiritual Direction” to describe this, but all it really is, is having a conversation about your relationship with God and your prayer life, and seeing how you might deepen that relationship.
(In the “Inwardly Digest” book, Olsen repeatedly compares being a Christian to being a runner. He says a true runner not only runs every day, even those days they don’t feel like it, but they also run with intention, and have a coach who helps them in their planning. So I am here as a spiritual coach, free of charge!)
Step One: Find one spot in your daily routine that you can regularly and reliably have even just a few minutes for prayer. Ideally this is in the morning, before you begin the bulk of the days tasks. It might be first thing in the morning, even before you get dressed and have breakfast. Maybe it’s after the kids have left for school and you have a moment to yourself. Or maybe it can take place during your morning commute, or walking the dog. Whatever it is, make sure that it is regular fixture in your daily routine.
Step Two: After you’ve identified that time, put it in your calendar as your daily prayer time, and every day, at that time, simply pray the Lord’s Prayer. If you feel so led, you can offer your own prayers of Thanksgiving and Petition (or as we call them with the kids: Please and Thank you prayers.) And that’s it. At this point you simply want to build the habit of praying each and every day at the same time.
Step Three: After you’ve built this new habit into your daily routine for perhaps a month or so, this is where it would be helpful to have a coach/spiritual director (please don’t hesitate to reach out!). Everyone’s life is different, but at this point you’d want to begin to incorporate more elements from the Daily Office in the BCP. Or, you may simply want to begin using podcast or mobile phone app that helps you pray the office: Click here for Forward Movement’s iPhone app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forward-day-by-day/id561455965
Here for their “Morning at the Office” daily podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-morning-at-the-office-an-episcopal-morning-prayer-podcast/id1488383775
And here for their webpage with lots of prayer resources: https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/home
Next Steps: eventually praying the full Morning Prayer office each and everyday, and eventually adding in Evening Prayer too, as your life circumstances allow. My focus in these suggestions has been Morning Prayer because for most people that is when they have an opportunity to spend some time in prayer, and it also is just an amazing way to prepare for the rest of the day.
I know this has been a long email, and so I’ll wrap it up here. I’ll simply say one last time, that a big part of the reason why churches have clergy is so that they can be of assistance in your continued growing in your relationship with God. So please let me know if you’d like to chat!
See you in Church!
Peace,
Fr Adler+
p.s. Please fill out the following form to let us know if you are interested in participating in the parish retreat April 4-6, 2025 at the DeKoven Center in Racine, WI. Families are welcome, and the DeKoven center is handicapped accessible.
Please click on the following link and fill out the survey letting us know if you can join us! https://forms.gle/kFUSfEGtbWgW2rh78. If filling out forms isn’t your thing, then please simply email the office office@stdavidsglenview.org.
“Dominion” Extra Credit
Last week we simply talked about the scope of the book “Dominion” by Tom Holland, and I also mentioned that this book has had quite an impact on those who have read it, a number of people citing it as one of the primary reasons for a return to the faith. But it’s also had a person impact on the author. Tom Holland has said that while he considered himself to be broadly agnostic before writing this book, he has felt the tug to go back to church in the years since completing it. There are lots of podcasts/videos out there where you can hear his story, but here is one you can check out. It’s a discussion led by Justin Brierly, who wrote “The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God” that I encouraged everyone to read a number of moths back. Enjoy!
Here is the part of the video that begins with Tom Holland talking about his personal faith: https://youtu.be/LdX2RuIBesk?si=hw8RswjXY2kbR25b&t=1614