The form of our Sunday morning worship service comes from a deep tradition of common prayer. Our primary resource for this is aptly named the Book of Common Prayer, and draws on practices dating back to the 1st century, while including “later” liturgical changes of the 4th century, the emergence of Anglicanism and the first Book of Common Prayer (in 1549), and more recent updates. These iterations, over time, along with our regular use, and the continual movement of the Holy Spirit, form a lively practice!
Our prayer is “common” in that it shapes our common life as members of a parish and in much wider connections through the church. There is an expression that “praying shapes believing,” a loose translation of the Latin lex orandi, lex credendi, highlighting the deep connection between prayer and belief.
An Episcopal understanding of prayer is that it is both individual and corporate. (This is true for many other Christian denominations and religious faiths, as well.) The Book of Common Prayer emphasizes this understanding with the inclusion of prayer patterns for use by individuals throughout the day, and a variety of prayers for various occasions, as well as forms intended for community use (which we often refer to as “liturgies”). Our days, the seasons of the year, and the whole of our lives are sanctified through prayer as we come before God, recognizing our true maker and being open to further transformation.
There are many types of prayer – offering praise and thanksgiving to God, asking God for help with our own needs and those of others, and confessing wrong-doings and not-doings. Prayers may be short and swift: “God, help me,” and long forms we often call “litanies.” Words are not required; prayer may be in the form of music and visual arts, movement and service, and in the silence of our hearts.
Prayer can be a time to come before God with our whole being, our deep longings and our imperfections, to ask for divine presence and help. In prayer, we may express our trust in God and hand over our burdens. Through prayer, we may see, hear, and understand more clearly the ways in which God is calling us to live our faith, to live into our beliefs more fully.
Spiritual maturity comes through practice and is a life-long pursuit. While there are many practices to guide our prayer, there is no single, “right” (or wrong) way to pray. However, we cannot simply read and learn and talk and write about it, we must do it. And the more we pray, the more it shapes us into the people God created us to be – individually, as a community of faith, and as part of the larger body of Christ.
With you in fervent prayer – Twila