Prayer Life
Dear Friends,
I'm not going to comment on the content of the Presidential debate from Tuesday night. That's not really what's captured my attention this week—though it matters, and I certainly encourage you all to be informed about the state of our nation and other current events. Rather, what has captured my attention is the way that our current environment allows so little space for reflection on those events (not that there was all that much fodder for reflection in that particular event), or anything at all, really.
Rather, we live in an age when everything is instant. Something happens, and we are immediately called to have a developed narrative about what happened and all that it means. We tune into our preferred 24-hour news network or social media diversion, and there we're meant to hear or to proclaim in absolute terms What This Means.
And the issue here isn't knowing about events. It isn't having an opinion. It isn't expressing that opinion. It's about living life with no space for reflection. Which leads me to a strange question:
How is your prayer life?
I know, that's not exactly a common question we ask one another as Episcopalians, but it should be! Prayer is, beyond a powerful way that we connect to God, knowing ourselves as caught up into the very life of God, also a way to upend that constant rhythm of action and reaction that leaves no time for reflection and contemplation.
We need prayer. We as individuals and as a community are a people who practice prayer. And all kinds of prayer! Here are just a couple of examples: On Tuesday nights, a group gathers on Zoom to learn the silent approach to Christian prayer, studying the contemplative tradition. We are also exploring contemplative prayer on Wednesdays, using the book The Practice of the Presence of God by the 17th century monk, Br. Lawrence. On Sundays, of course, we gather for corporate prayer—currently online and in-person!
For the last few months, we have provided a "live" Compline service, the prayer that closes out the day for Christians, on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. It served an important purpose and gave us a good time to pray together at the beginning of our time of social distancing. Our sense as a staff is that those "live" prayer times are not as central to the rhythm of folks' lives as they were back in March and April. So, we've decided to phase them out starting now.
However, two quick notes:
This doesn't mean we are done with "live" approaches to prayer at St. Peter's. We are thinking through how we can provide good opportunities for live, digital worship in the coming months. We will keep you posted!
It is so key to keep growing in your own patterns of regular prayer. If you would like to talk through how you can continue in that growth, please get in touch with me. You can also look at the series of videos my colleague, Mtr. Claire Brown as St. Paul's, is putting together. One about how to say Compline from the prayerbook can be found HERE.
I hope that your prayer life is growing. I hope that you know St. Peter's Church and I are here to help you as you learn to live out your call as a person of prayer.
God bless,
Fr. Quinn+