Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer

“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 use 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 specific period, the reader has studied 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 weeks, the reader has digested the entire Book of Psalms. After the two-year cycle, the reader has been exposed twice to all of the New Testament and once to pertinent portions of the Hebrew Scriptures.

We can also incorporate Scripture readings into a structured morning and evening prayer service, read alone or with others. These Daily Offices provide a contemplative framework for regular use and offer a pattern for regular reading of the Bible. In addition, some people use a daily meditation book containing 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 online. One of the most popular office sites is The Mission of St. Clare, www.missionstclare.com. I use the Daily Office  https://dailyoffice.wordpress.com/ online because of their additional artwork.

I am part of a group of people continuing Community of Hope training for pastoral care, who read daily meditations from Joan Chittister’s book on The Rule of Benedict. I had forgotten what a treasure it is to read myself and then read 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. Noon-day prayers are provided 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 other daily meditations and ways of structuring daily Scripture readings.

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Thank you for supporting our camp and conference center, Camp Mitchell, on top of Petit Jean Mountain, by buying this book in the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent. All proceeds from the sale of the books will go to Camp Mitchell.  If you enjoy this book, could you please take a moment to write a brief recommendation on its Amazon page? 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!!!

Fox-Walking

Fox-Walking

Guest Writer: Eve Turek

“Come, follow Me…” -Jesus (Mt. 4:19)

fox tracks

I have always defined “Christian” for myself as “Christ-follower.” I think of that phrase literally as well as spiritually.

In the mid-1980s, I became interested in animal tracks. I practiced identifying the tracks I saw in the sand. I tried to imagine how the animal might have moved and where it paused or lengthened its stride based on its footprints. I quickly learned obvious tracks like those of rabbits, mice, and raccoons. I puzzled over bug trails. I marveled at all the different tracks fanning out from a single ghost crab hole.

But my favorite tracks belong to my favorite animal: fox.

Fox tracks have the unusual characteristic of almost always occurring in a straight line. Foxes’ normal gait exhibits a “perfect register” – their back paws land precisely where their front paws do, creating a single line of tracks. Their footprints speak to me of purpose and direction. I have tried to walk in a perfectly straight line. It’s not easy, especially in rough or uneven terrain. “Fox-walking” requires focus, concentration, and balance in the natural world. “Christ-walking” takes all of that in the spirit.

So, what stride, direction, and pace do I strive to follow?

Simple, but not easy. Challenging and demanding both focus and balance, no matter the surrounding terrain of circumstance.

Love is what I strive to follow. The kind of love that says love God with all you are and have. Or use Bible words with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love. The kind of love that says, love your neighbor as you would love yourself. And then, just so we don’t misunderstand, Love Himself gave us a story about “neighbor” being the least like us, the one we might more naturally despise or feel superior over. Love THAT one.

Love. The kind of love that says, love your enemies. (Really? You have got to be kidding! How does an ordinary person do that?!?) Yes, those parenthetical sentences sum up the arguments I have tried to have with God many times.

 Over the decades, I have found an answer: I ask for healing. I ask for a blessing. I ask for forgiveness, restoration, and better choices. I ask to see as God sees, as a loving parent sees, who wants only and always the best for every child. 

I don’t, I’m sorry to say, always think in a perfect register. And I don’t always speak or walk in perfect register either. However, I’m grateful to say that I’m very aware when I “step out of line.”

The idea of “fox-walking after Jesus” informs every conversation I have, every decision I make, and all my choices. It will direct my vote in the upcoming election. I will not vote for hatred or division. Or for any candidate who advocates despising others for whatever reason. Are there perfect people, perfect candidates, a perfect nation? No.

But I am determined to fox-walk, as best I can, in the life I have been granted, and for my part, that means trying with focus and balance to walk the walk of being a Christ-follower, not just talk the talk.

Eve Turek

Joanna Joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Scripture and Literature for Pentecost

Arthur: Scripture and Literature for Pentecost

At the Stillpoint “is a journey of the imagination guided by poets and authors, both classic and contemporary, who have known the things of God but speak in metaphor.”—Sarah Arthur in At the Still Point (Paraclete Press, 2011), p. 7.

At the Still Point, by Sarah Arthur, is a literary compilation of daily and weekly readings and prayers designed for the long green liturgical season between the Day of Pentecost and Advent. Arthur has also published similar guides for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (Light Upon Light), Lent, Holy Week, and Easter (Between Midnight and Dawn).

In these twenty-nine weeks between the Day of Pentecost and the first Sunday in Advent, Arthur kindles our imagination as she exposes us to brief excerpts or short works of well-known writers and offerings from authors we may not know but should! As we encounter readings in this anthology, Arthur warns us with an alert: “Warning: Powerful Spiritual Moment Ahead!” She suggests we read these passages not as assignments for our English Literature class or for pleasure but as liturgical pieces for worship, especially prayer.

Each week begins with an outline for the next seven days, comprising an opening prayer, Scripture passages, readings from literature, a place for personal prayer and reflection, and a closing prayer. Arthur suggests applying the ancient principles of Lectio divina, or divine reading that many of us have used with Scripture, now applied to selected weekly poetry and fiction writings.

We read the passage, meditate on it, pay attention to a word or phrase that resonates with us, and then rest in God’s presence with what we have experienced. It has been helpful to carry that word or phrase with me during the day or perhaps the entire week. Since this process is now used for literature and poetry rather than Scripture, Arthur has christened it “holy reading” or “Lectio sacra.”

I invite you to journey with Sarah Arthur and me during this “Ordinary Season” with an extraordinary spiritual practice of daily worship and prayer.

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Thank you for supporting our camp and conference center, Camp Mitchell, on top of Petit Jean Mountain, by buying this book in the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent. All proceeds from the sale of the books go to Camp Mitchell. If you enjoy this book, could you please take a moment to write a brief recommendation on its Amazon page? 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!!!