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Longing for God, in Psalm 27

We just prayed Psalm 27 the other day in the Daily Office and we’re going to hear it again at the Sunday Communion in another couple days, according to the lectionary in the 2019 Prayer Book.  So let’s take a quick look at this Psalm.

There are many different ways you can go about analyzing this Psalm and breaking it down into sections.  One reasonable method is to break it in half, noting that the first 8 verses speak about God, and the remaining 9 speak to God.  (This is using the Prayer Book’s versification, by the way.)  The first half is like the warm-up, preparing the way for the direct prayers of the second.

Another way of looking at this Psalm is to identify three cycles that each culminate with an expression of the longing for God.

  1. “Whom shall I fear?” we ask, and find sanctuary in God.
    Dwell with God and see his face (verses 4 & 5).
    This is an expression of trust.
  2. “Praise God who exalts me!” we proclaim, then prompt him to answer in return.
    Seek his face and be permitted to find him (verses 10 & 11).
    This is a picture of pro-active trust.
  3. False accusations come before us, and so we wait upon the Lord.
    See God’s goodness and be comforted (verses 16 & 17).
    These accusers are a picture of the opposite of trust.

Although there is a lot of material in this Psalm that puts it in the “Trust” and “Lament” categories, it gives ample opportunity for pure adoration.  If you’re of a pentecostal bent, this business about desiring “the fair beauty of the Lord” may be more natural to you; but if you tend to “hide” yourself in the liturgy, this sort of emotionalism may be tougher to swallow.  That is why the Psalter – and thus all good liturgy – is so important for a healthily balanced spirituality!  The corporate and individual expressions of piety are showcased together here so vividly.  This is a courage-filled prayer for help, and we must realize that at the ground of such courage we must find (or nurture) a deep and hearty and personal love for God.

Different personalities, and different traditions, often tend to gravitate toward one sort of spirituality and prayer style over others.  At its best, liturgy keeps us far better balanced than we ever would be, left to our own devices.  You may be the sort who “longs for God” in a personally-emotive kind of way – you yearn to be united with the lover of your soul.  In that case, Psalm 27 will have moments of brightness and beauty that you will quickly cherish.  But you may be the sort who “longs for God” in more abstract ways, like wanting see his justice prevail in a particular area in our culture, or desiring his truth to be made more fully known in your understanding of the Bible, or in the minds of nonbelievers that they may be saved.  In that case, Psalm 27 may strike you as awkwardly personal, maybe even exaggerated.  If that’s you, this is one of those psalms that will help you grow.

So pay special attention to this on Sunday morning, when it comes up, and see what more you can get out of it than you got the other day!  Or, if you’re in a parish that uses the traditional calendar, take the time to look up Psalm 27 on your own again.  The desire of all creation is to belong, and this should be all the more true for us as Christians, desiring to be with and behold our Lord God.

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ACNA Catechism, Old & New

Okay, it’s a bit silly to call anything from the ACNA “old”, but what I’m referring to here is the ACNA Catechism, To Be A Christian, which was originally published in 2014, but has just been re-released in a substantially revised form.  I guess we knew at the time that the catechism wasn’t “done” yet, but a lot of folks like myself forgot that the Catechesis Taskforce was still working on it, and were very surprised when this 2020 edition came out, with the fanfare of substantial changes.

When I asked around for a summary of the changes, I was disappointed – first by the lack of clear resources on the official website, and second by just how dismissive some people were regarding an honest inquiry.  But I put my grumpiness to work and made my own outline, identifying, question by question, where the 2014 Q&A’s ended up in the 2020 edition.

Check it out!  – ACNA catechism comparison

As you will see in that document, the two catechisms are in parallel columns to show the equivalency of each Q&A.  Occasional differences in phrasing are noted, but it should be understood that many of the Q&A’s have been edited, so when the old & new are lined up here, the implication is that they are essentially equivalent, not necessarily word-for-word matches.

Some sections are substantially restructured, most especially the part Concerning the Sacraments.  Not only has it been moved from ‘The Communion of Saints’ part of the Creed to the end of the Creed, but the order that the sacraments are addressed is also rearranged.  Similarly, a number of the Law & Gospel topics, and doctrines of salvation, have been filtered out of the Decalogue and collected at the introduction and ending of that Part of the Catechism.

Also, if I’m not mistaken, the terrible alphabetized index of the 2014 edition has been replaced with a biblical-ordered index.

I know this isn’t a liturgy post, exactly, but catechesis and liturgy are the closest of relatives, so I thought it best to share this resource with you all, here.

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The Daily Office is a pastoral work!

In the 1662 Prayer Book, it is stipulated that “all the priests and deacons shall be bound to say daily” the Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer.  Sadly, this instruction was not preserved in the American Prayer Book tradition, and so we have the situation today where we have many clergymen who pray the Offices only sparsely at best.  A challenge and correction to this mentality can be found in the writings of John Cosin, one of the “Caroline Divines”, who survived the Puritan Interregnum and was then Bishop of Durham from 1660 until his death in 1672.  Commenting on this rubric he wrote:

So that we are also bound, as all priests are in the Church of Rome, daily to repeat and say the public prayers of the Church.  And it is a precept the most useful and necessary, of any other that belong to the ministers of God, and such as have cure of other men’s souls, would men regard it, and practise it a little more than they do among us.

We are all for preaching now; and for attending the service and prayers appointed by the Church for God’s worship, and the good of all men, we think that too mean an office for us; and therefore, as if it were not worth our labour, we commonly hire others under us to do it, more to satisfy the law, than to be answerable to our duties.  Here it is a command that binds us every day to say the morning and evening prayer; how many are the men that are noted to do it?  It is well they have a back door for an excuse to come out at here: for, good men ! they are so belaboured with studying of divinity, and preaching the word, that they have no leisure to read these same common prayers; as if this were not the chief part of their office and charge committed unto them.

Certainly, the people whose souls they have care of, reap as great benefit, and more too, by these prayers, which their pastors are daily to make unto God for them, either privately or publicly, as they can do by their preaching: for God is more respective to the prayers which they make for the people, than ever the people are to the sermons which which they make to them.…

… Therefore Samuel [the Prophet] professes it openly, to the shame of all others, that he should sin no less in neglecting to pray for the people, than he should in leaving off to teach them the right way of God’s commandments; both which are needful, but to them that are already converted, prayer is more necessary than preaching.  However we are to remember, that we which are priests are called “angeli Domini“* and it is the angel’s office, not only to descend to the people and teach them God’s will, but to ascend also to the presence of God to make intercession for the people, and to carry up the daily prayers of the Church in their behalf, as here they are bound to do.

* see Malachi 2:7, Revelation 2:1, 2:8, 2:12, etc.

This is from John Cosin’s “Notes and Collections” in an interleaved Book of Common Prayer.  The bold is mine for emphasis.

For some this may be a revolutionary way of looking at the Daily Office.  For others this may just be an excellent reminder and encouragement of the gravity of the duty of a priest or deacon.

So if you’re a priest or a deacon, especially if you’re a rector or vicar, or especially especially if you’re a bishop, see that you battle to overcome the apathy of our age and the quiet scorn that we cast at the Church and her Prayer Book every time we choose our own prayers in place of that which has been set forth by authority.  The people need our prayers!  And the prayers that we have are, indeed a divine office.

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Learning the Daily Office – part 4 of 12

So you’ve heard about the Daily Office, specifically the Anglican tradition of daily prayer and scripture reading, and you want to enter into this beautiful and formative tradition?  Great, grab a prayer book and go!  Except, maybe someone already said that and you don’t know where to start… or worse, you did try it and it was just too much?  The length of the Office was overwhelming and the contents too complicated to navigate when you’ve got no experience with liturgy.  We understand, we’ve all been at that place before!  Some just don’t remember it as well as others.

Diving into the full Prayer Book life of worship doesn’t work for everyone; sometimes you have to work your way up toward that discipline, adding one piece at a time as you grow comfortable with each feature and learn how to “do” them all.  This post series is basically a twelve-step program to help you advance in the life of disciplined prayer from zero to super-Anglican.  The pace is up to you – the goal of this sort of spiritual discipline is consistency, not “how much” you do.

Step One: Pray a Psalm followed by the Lord’s Prayer.
Step Two: Add a Scripture Reading
Step Three: Add more Psalms and Lessons

Step Four: Add the Apostles’ Creed

This is a small step, logistically speaking, but it’s a milestone in your development of the discipline of the Daily Office.  This is your first not-from-the-Bible ingredient in your prayer life, and this may be especially foreign or challenging for you depending upon your background.

As Anglicans we emphasize our adherence to creedal orthodoxy; that is, we look to the great Creeds (in our case three of them) to summarize the dogmas of the Christian faith – dogma being that which must be believed.  When we include a Creed in a worship service, it is for multiple reasons.

  1. It is a formation tool, helping us to internalize the basics of the faith.
  2. It is a teaching tool, helping us to understand what we read in the Bible.
  3. It is a particular form of prayer: a confession of faith.

Although none of the Psalms literally say “I believe ___”, there are many confessions of faith found within the psalms – proclaiming God’s goodness, or mercy, or love.  The reciting of a Creed is a development of that form of prayer, stating more explicitly a number of key points of doctrine regarding God, the person of Jesus, the Gospel, the Holy Spirit, and the Church.

Furthermore, we use the Apostles’ Creed in the Daily Office not only because it’s the shortest creed but because it was historically associated with the rite of holy baptism – this Creed (as best we can tell) was formed as the summary of the faith that was proclaimed in the Early Church when someone was getting baptized.  So as we confess our faith with this creed in Morning and Evening Prayer we are essentially re-affirming our baptismal vows, recommitting ourselves to God and his Church and his Gospel.

It’s a small thing to add, but it’s a major addition to take in!

The Apostles’ Creed can be found on page 20 of the Prayer Book, shortly before the Lord’s Prayer in the liturgy.  For now, you will be now praying the Creed immediately before the Lord’s Prayer.  Some wise logistics, as a result, should be that you make a point of saving one of appointed Psalms to follow the first Lesson and a second Psalm to follow the second Lesson, in order to separate the Bible-reading from the Creed-reciting.  Not every morning and evening will provide enough Psalms to accomplish this, so don’t sweat it if you run out.  This isn’t the end of the road, after all, and the next step in this series will “solve” that problem anyway.

Summary

Your Morning & Evening Offices are now looking like this:

  1. Psalm(s) to pray
  2. Old Testament Lesson (occasionally the first lesson is from the NT instead)
  3. Psalm to pray
  4. New Testament Lesson
  5. Psalm to pray (usually)
  6. The Apostles’ Creed (consider standing up for this!)
  7. The Lord’s Prayer

The length of time to do all this is still probably about five minutes, maybe as many as ten if the readings are particularly long and you’re reading them out loud.   Same with the Psalms – praying them means reading them aloud – and sometimes they can be a little lengthy too.

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Planning Prayers & Readings Review 2/3

On Monday, most weeks these days, we’re looking at the liturgical schedule to highlight the propers, prayers and scripture readings, that we’re holding in common according to the 2019 Prayer Book.

The Propers

Yesterday was the feast of the Presentation, so it’d be a good idea (assuming you celebrated that holy day) to make a point of observing Epiphany 4 on a weekday Communion service if you have one this week.

Among the three optional commemorations this week, I would particularly highlight Cornelius the Centurion as worthy of observance (on Tuesday the 4th), as he is a New Testament character.  Although the generic “For a Saint” propers should be used, it may be a good idea to substitute out the Epistle lesson for Acts 10, in which Cornelius actually appears.

Even if you celebrated the Presentation on Sunday, the Collect for Epiphany IV is the Collect of the Day throughout this week in Morning & Evening Prayer.

Readings Review

Last week: Genesis 25-31, John 13-16, Jeremiah 25-31, 1 Corinthians 10-15:34
This week: Genesis 32-38, John 17-20, Jeremiah 32-38, 1 Cor. 15-16, 2 Cor.1-6

Let me remind you of this lovely resource to highlight the readings coming up: https://ctrnorthshore.org/the-daily-office-vlog-week-of-2-2/

As this week unfolds we reach the ‘historical narrative’ chapters of the book of Jeremiah.  You may recall in the case of Isaiah that his book also has some stories about half-way through, separating some earlier from later writings that tend to take on different tones and emphases.  Unfortunately that is not really the case with Jeremiah, or at least, it’s not quite so clear-cut.  As we will read in chapter 36, Jeremiah’s earliest prophetic writings were destroyed by King Jehoiakim, necessitating a rewrite by Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch.  That incident is probably the beginning of the confused and confusing manuscript history of the book of Jeremiah – you can read more about the book here and here.  It’s also important to note that the Greek and Hebrew versions of Jeremiah are unusually different: entire chapters are relocated, and sometimes added or subtracted, when you compare the two manuscript traditions.

Meanwhile in Genesis we are wrapping up the Jacob stories and heading into the last major “Genesis Story” of the book: Joseph and the rest of the twelve tribes of Israel.  But before we get there, we find three little “interruptions”:

  1. the story of Dinah (ch. 34)
  2. the Genesis of Esau/Edom (ch. 36)
  3. the story of Tamar (ch. 38)

Dinah is the only named daughter of Jacob, and she is unpleasantly married off to the local gentiles, much to her brothers’ chagrin.  The enmity that springs up between Jacob’s clan and the local tribes is but the beginning of strife that continues to this day, really.

Esau is named here the ancestor of Edom, one of the neighboring kingdoms that would be a thorn in Israel’s side for centuries to come.  They’re even identified (and cursed) for their cheering on the Babylonians when Jerusalem was finally sacked in 586 BC.  But their ancient ancestry is named and honored here because they are a ‘brother nation’ to Israel, and thus they foreshadow the redemption of the Gentiles that the prophets would eventually proclaim, and the Church would finally realize in her own growth and ministry.

Tamar, finally, is the wife of Judah’s firstborn, Er; but Er is struck down by the Lord for his wickedness, so the expectation was that Tamar should be married to Judah’s next son.  This foreshadows the levirate marriage laws that would be enshrined in the Law of Moses, and would go on to be a central point to the story of Ruth.  Judah, however, fails to get Tamar a new husband, so she disguises herself and has a child by Judah herself.  Judah accepts his guilt when he is later called out for this act, and Tamar is vindicated.

These are “interruptions” to the larger stories of Isaac & Jacob and Joseph, but they’re also important entries in their own right.  Not only do two of these stories bring important women to the spotlight (which is relatively unusual in ancient writing) but they also give us deeper insight into the moral shortcomings and failings of God’s people.  This may be the chosen family, the line of promise, but they are still as fallible as any other.  Their elect status is not due to their own works or earnings or deservings, but entirely to God’s grace.  Let that be an important reminder to us, too, who rejoice in our calling unto salvation – God called pulled us out of the mire, not rewarded us for our prior righteousness!

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Filling in the blank: 1 Esdras

One of the interesting features of Anglican liturgical tradition is that one of our foundational documents (the 39 Articles of Religion) lists the canonical books of the Bible along with “the other books which the church doth read…” yet some of those other books are not actually covered in our lectionaries.  One such book is 1 Esdras.

You can learn more about this modest little book in some previous posts here, and even a video: The Least-read book of the Bible?

I bring it up now because in this Customary’s Supplemental Midday Prayer Lectionary we are starting in on 1 Esdras today.  If you’ve never read this book before and want to catch up on what you’ve been missing, now’s your chance to read a long, bit by bit, during Midday Prayer.  It’s only 9 chapters long, but several of them are quite lengthy so it’s spread out through 3 weeks so you don’t have to get drowned in too many long readings.

Though, if you’re already familiar with 2 Chronicles and Ezra, then you’ll already be familiar with the majority of this book!

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Commemorating King Charles the Martyr

January 30th is the commemoration of King Charles the Martyr.  In the 1662 Prayer Book (though later removed) this day was one of special devotion and fasting.  A particular set of Collects, Scripture readings, Psalms, both for the Daily Offices and the Communion of the Day, and even a unique anthem in place of the usual Invitatory Psalm was prescribed.  I suppose it was deemed to nationalistic or something, as it has since disappeared from that book.  And with its heavy pro-monarchy language, it’s no wonder that it didn’t proliferate even into the “black letter day” commemorations of the American Prayer Book until (as far as I know) 2019.

I have written about the Martyrdom of Charles I before, once on my pastor’s blog and once on here last year, and I commend those to you if you want or need an introduction to his commemoration from an historical perspective.  You can also get it straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were, and check out the actual 1662 prayer book material.  Just scroll to the bottom and click on “Form of Prayer for the 30th Day of January.”

This entry, today, here and now, is turning instead to the question of how one can commemorate King Charles I in accordance with the 2019 Prayer Book.

The simplest approach would be to celebrate Communion or Antecommunion using the Propers For a Martyr as set forth int eh 2019 Prayer Book.  But if you want to get fancier…

The Collect of the Day

This Collect is one of the two presented in the 1662 Prayer Book.  Although it is not explicitly authorized in the 2019 Prayer Book, its use can be justified because it is an authentic piece of prior Prayer Book tradition (only “translated” to modern English) and because the ACNA is preparing a Lesser Feasts & Fasts book which will most likely put forth a Collect for this and other commemorations.

Blessed Lord, in whose sight the death of your saints is precious; We magnify your name for the abundant grace bestowed upon the martyred King, Charles the First; by which he was enabled so cheerfully to follow the steps of his blessed Master and Savior, in a constant meek suffering of all barbarous indignities, and at last resisting unto blood; and even then, according to the same pattern, praying for his murderers.  Let his memory, O Lord, be ever blessed among us; that we may follow the example of his courage and constancy, his meekness and patience, and great charity: and all for Jesus Christ’s sake, our only Mediator and Advocate.  Amen.

The Lessons at Holy Communion

The Epistle and Gospel here are those appointed in the 1662 Prayer Book.  The Old Testament lesson is from the same book’s Morning Prayer Office for this day, and the Psalm, likewise, is a part of the Psalms Appointed for the Morning of that day.

2 Samuel 1; Psalm 10:1-12; 1 Peter 2:13-22; Matthew 21:33-41.

Midday Prayer

The Supplemental Midday Prayer Lectionary provided here appoints 2 Samuel 1 as the commemorative reading for today.  But if you are reading it for Communion or Antecommunion today, then read a different option from the 1662 book, like Jeremiah 12.

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Book Review: Lesser Feasts & Fasts 2006

I recently saw word that the ACNA Liturgy Taskforce, or a subsection thereof, has a couple more books in production, one of which is Lesser Feasts and Fasts.  Whether that is the final title or not, it is clearly a successor to a group of books put out by the Episcopal Church (USA) which finished (I think) with a 2006 edition.  I’ve heard that its first edition is from the 1960’s, but I haven’t seen it before and therefore cannot comment on the history of this volume.  Here I’m just going to introduce you to Lesser Feasts & Fasts, 2006.

In a nutshell, Lesser Feasts & Fasts exists to give you more resources for weekday Communion services.  Its primary (and titular) angle is to provide more collects & lessons, covering the entire Sanctoral Calendar – that is, the calendar of optional commemorations.  The 2019 Prayer Book also has a calendar of optional commemorations which differs notably from that in the 1979 book, taking away a number of spurious recent and ‘ecumenical’ commemorations, and adding a few more in their place, both historical and recent.

The way these optional commemorations work in the prayer book itself is that there are a set of collects and lessons for different categories of saints (there are 9, in the case of the 2019 BCP) so you can just match the right set to the commemoration.  In Lesser Feasts & Fasts, a unique Collect and set of lessons is assigned to each and every commemoration, allowing a greater degree of personalization and specificity.

Beside the commemoration of saints are seasonal commemorations.  All the days in Lent and Advent are provided for, giving nice seasonally-appropriate prayers and readings for daily communion services.  Eastertide, too, is provided for, mainly by walking the reader through the books of Acts and John during that season.  Furthermore, there are provided for the green seasons both a six-week set of communion propers hitting upon some rotating topics, and a two-year set of communion propers moving through the gospels in a largely sequential manner.

I have not made a detailed comparison, but I do know that some (if not most?) of this material is in harmony with current Roman Catholic practice, where the practice of daily mass is normalized (if sparsely attended by the laity).

Another handy feature of Lesser Feasts & Fasts, perhaps its most useful feature from a pastoral perspective, is the fact that it provides brief one-page bios of each commemoration or saint.  They’re short and focused enough that you can read them at the beginning of a homily, before launching into the meat of the sermon.  In many cases, the attentive preacher can find a connection from the bio sketch to at least one of the provided Scripture lessons.

The 2006 edition of this book reflects the then-current calendar of the Episcopal Church, which includes a few commemorations that an honest Christian cannot justify.  The names in question are of great historical import for sure: Elizabeth Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Harriet Tubman, J. S. Bach, Florence Li Tim-Oi, Kamehameha, Florence Nightingale… the question is whether we are celebrating them because of their achievements or because of their sanctity of life and doctrine.  The progressive mindset tends to esteem “human flourishing” too highly, and indeed non-liturgical evangelical protestants also tend towards a “great achievers” mindset when it comes to commemoration those who’ve gone before (i.e. Adoniram Judson or William Wilberforce), whereas the traditional definition of a “Saint with a capital S” is someone whose life and orthodoxy are impeccable examples to the faithful.  By definition, therefore, it should be very difficult indeed to honor as a Saint someone who is outside of the theological bounds of our own tradition.  For sure, the names listed in this paragraph are great and wonderful people who ought to be remembered in their own rights… but is the Eucharistic assembly the right place for that?

That is why a new version, to accompany the 2019 Prayer Book, is in order.

For what it’s worth, the commemorations from 2006, with additions from subsequent Episcopalian books, can be found online here.  I would only recommend them for comparative reference, however, as the bias of modern Episcopalianism is not entirely amenable to orthodox Anglican (or indeed Christian) sensibilities anymore.

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Learning the Daily Office – part 3 of 12

So you’ve heard about the Daily Office, specifically the Anglican tradition of daily prayer and scripture reading, and you want to enter into this beautiful and formative tradition?  Great, grab a prayer book and go!  Except, maybe someone already said that and you don’t know where to start… or worse, you did try it and it was just too much?  The length of the Office was overwhelming and the contents too complicated to navigate when you’ve got no experience with liturgy.  We understand, we’ve all been at that place before!  Some just don’t remember it as well as others.

Diving into the full Prayer Book life of worship doesn’t work for everyone; sometimes you have to work your way up toward that discipline, adding one piece at a time as you grow comfortable with each feature and learn how to “do” them all.  This post series is basically a twelve-step program to help you advance in the life of disciplined prayer from zero to super-Anglican.  The pace is up to you – the goal of this sort of spiritual discipline is consistency, not “how much” you do.

Step One: Pray a Psalm followed by the Lord’s Prayer.
Step Two: Add a Scripture Reading

Step Three: Add more Psalms and Lessons

If all’s going well, your twice-daily round of praying a psalm and reading a scripture lesson has increased your appetite for both.  Individuals may well find more comfort and affinity with one of those over the other, but as you grow into the Daily Office tradition there’s still more of both to add.  When you’re consistently covering one Psalm and Lesson each morning and evening, it’s time to add a second Lesson and additional Psalms to each Office.  You will be reading all the Lessons in the Daily Office Lectionary, and it’s probably time also to upgrade from the 60-day Psalter to the Anglican standard monthly psalter.

The monthly psalter is outlined in a table that is provided on page 735, just before the Daily Office Lectionary begins, but the Psalms themselves are also in the Prayer Book, on starting on page 270.  If you weren’t before, it’s time to start using the Prayer Book Psalter.  Even though you’re reading from a Bible, there are a few reasons to prefer the Prayer Book for the Psalms:

  1. The Prayer Book Psalter clearly marks out where the psalms for each Office begin (every morning and evening for each day of the month, read sequentially).
  2. The Prayer Book Psalter translation is intentionally poetic and beautiful, which cannot be said about any mainstream Bible translation.  The ESV or NASB may be the best translations for study, but we’re here to pray the psalms, not analyze them.  (Not that you can’t study the psalms of course, it’s just that the Office is time of prayer.)
  3. Using the Prayer Book is a useful skill that you will be developing bit by bit from here on.

Logistically, what you probably want to do at this point is different from how the Office in its full form will work.  Ultimately, all these Psalms will be prayed in a row before the Lessons, and there will be different things after each reading.  But for now, start in the psalms for the morning and evening and save the last one or two to pray between the two Lessons, or perhaps after both Lessons.

The point of interspersing the Psalms with the Lessons is to provide a little distance between the two readings.  In the Daily Office Lectionary the readings are just moving sequentially through the Bible independently of one another, so by stopping to pray a Psalm after the first lesson you “clear your mind” a little bit before reading the next lesson.  You don’t want to conflate them in your head and attempt to link them together artifically; that’s not how a Daily lectionary works.  Taking a moment to pray a Psalm after each Lesson also helps keep your reading in a context of prayer, cutting down on the “study” mentality and enhancing the “worship” mentality.  Again, this is not to say that studying the Bible is bad, but that such should not interrupt the course of worship.  At most, make a highlight or note in your Bible or on a book mark so you can return to it when the prayer time is concluded.

Summary

Your Morning & Evening Offices are now looking like this:

  1. Psalm(s) to pray
  2. Old Testament Lesson (occasionally the first lesson is from the NT instead)
  3. Psalm to pray
  4. New Testament Lesson
  5. Psalm to pray (maybe)
  6. The Lord’s Prayer

The length of time to do all this is probably about five minutes, maybe as many as ten if the readings are particularly long and you’re reading them out loud.   Same with the Psalms – praying them means reading them aloud – and sometimes they can be a little lengthy too.

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Planning Prayers & Readings Review 1/27

On Monday, most weeks these days, we’re looking at the liturgical schedule to highlight the propers, prayers and scripture readings, that we’re holding in common according to the 2019 Prayer Book.

Communion Propers

Yesterday was the 3rd Sunday of Epiphany, so the first traditional prayer book option for a weekday Eucharist is to repeat yesterday’s Collect and Lessons.  Another good option would be to use the traditional Collect and Lessons for Epiphany 3, which deal with the healing of a leper and an epileptic.  Because of the missional tone that the modern lectionary brings to the fore in this season, good second choice for a weekday Eucharist is For the Mission of the Church, noted on page 733, using the propers for World Mission Sunday.

On Thursday the 30th, one of our commemorations is for King Charles I, who was martyred in 1649.  The 1662 Prayer Book actually had a special set of liturgical material for his commemoration initially – I’m not sure when it was removed.  In line with that particular honor, it is the recommendation of the Saint Aelfric Customary to treat his commemoration as a de facto holy day.  Read a Collect for his day as the Collect of the Day at the Offices, and if there’s a eucharist service that, observe his commemoration!

Apart from that, some other commemorations to consider are Sts. Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe on Monday the 27th, St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday, and St. Brigid of Kildare on Saturday.

And make sure ready ready for the feast of The Presentation on Sunday!

Readings Review

Last week: Genesis 19-24, John 9-13, Jeremiah 18-24, 1 Corinthians 3-9
This week: Genesis 25-31, John 13-16, Jeremiah 25-31, 1 Corinthians 10-15:34

The chapters we’re reading from John’s Gospel this week are the “Upper Room Discourse” – the final teachings of our Lord before his crucifixion.  Much of it is about the then-future gift of the Holy Spirit, earning these chapters a prominent role as the Gospel readings at the Sunday Communion services in the later weeks of Eastertide as Pentecost approaches.  But also keep in mind the signs/glory demarcation of this book.  Last week finished up the first “half” of the book focusing on the signs that point to the glory of Christ, and now we’re in the half of the book that focuses on the glory of Christ being revealed.  These teachings from the upper room are among the most theologically significant statements we have from our Lord – much of what we know and say about the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, the relationship between the Father and the Son, the person of the Holy Spirit, come from chapters 14-17.  So while reading these chapters leading up to Pentecost and Trinity Sunday give us one level of emphasis and help uncover one stratum of meaning, there is plenty more to pick up here outside of that context, such as now.