Prayers for the Morning
“But as for me, O LORD, I cry to you for help;
In the morning, my prayer comes before you.”—Psalm 88:14.
Many people practice a spiritual discipline, beginning and sometimes ending the day by reading and meditating on Holy Scripture. Many denominations follow a daily lectionary of Scripture readings. Over a set period, the reader studies significant parts of the whole Bible.
In the Episcopal tradition, the Book of Common Prayer outlines a two-year cycle of daily lessons, comprising Psalms, the Hebrew Scriptures, a New Testament letter, and one of the Gospels, to be read each morning and evening. By the end of each seven-week period, the reader has read the entire Book of Psalms. After the two-year cycle, the reader has been exposed to the entire New Testament twice and to pertinent portions of the Hebrew Scriptures once.
We can also incorporate Scripture readings into a structured morning and evening prayer service, whether read alone or with others. These Daily Offices provide a contemplative framework for regular use and a pattern for regular Bible reading. In addition, some people use a daily meditation book with Scripture readings; others use publications such as The Upper Room (Methodist), Forward Day By Day (Episcopal), and Catholic resources like The Catholic Moment, The Word Among Us, and Being Catholic. Some of these meditations are available online for reading or listening.
The Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer are also available online. One of the most popular office sites is The Mission of St. Clare, www.missionstclare.com. I use the Daily Office at https://dailyoffice.wordpress.com/ for its additional artwork.
I am part of a group continuing Community of Hope training in pastoral care, and we read daily meditations from Joan Chittister’s book on The Rule of Benedict. I had forgotten how much of a treasure it is to read for myself and then hear what others have said. I learn so much more from others. God speaks much more clearly in community.
Morning Prayer is offered Monday through Friday in this beautiful chapel at Saint Mark’s. Noonday prayers are posted on Saint Mark’s Facebook Page (Love St. Mark’s, https://www.facebook.com/stmarkslr) Monday through Friday.
I hope to hear from many others about their use of daily meditations and their approaches to structuring daily Scripture readings.
Thank you for supporting our camp and conference center, Camp Mitchell, on top of Petit Jean Mountain, by purchasing this book from the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent. All proceeds from book sales will benefit Camp Mitchell. If you enjoy this book, please take a moment to write a brief recommendation on its Amazon page at https://smile.amazon.com/Daily-Spiritual-Ordinary-Time-Pentecost/dp/B08JLTZYGH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=joanna+seibert+books&qid=1621104335&sr=8-1
More thank-you’s than we can say!!!
Joanna. joannaseibert.com