Daily Common Prayer
As we move through lent this year we invite you to a practice of prayer and scripture that will connect you with God and to other past and present. For more info on the Book of Common Prayer check out the introduction at the end of this post.
March 12, 2015
Maximilian of Thavaste (d. 295) Maximilian, the son of a Roman soldier in present-day Algeria, was required to join the army at the age of twenty-one. Before the court of the Roman proconsul Dion, Maximilian testified, “I cannot enlist for I am a Christian. I cannot serve, I cannot do evil.” Because of his refusal he was beheaded. Also noteworthy: this is the day that Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande was murdered in El Salvador, a pivotal moment in Salvadoran history and for the witness of the church in Latin America.
Overwhelm us with your love: which casts out every fear.
Psalm 67: 14– 18
Come and listen, all you who fear God: and I will tell you what he has done for me. I called out to him with my mouth: and his praise was on my tongue. If I had found evil in my heart: the Lord would not have heard me; but in truth God has heard me: he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer: nor withheld his love from me.
Overwhelm us with your love: which casts out every fear.
Maximilian of Thavaste said, “You can cut off my head, but I will not be a solider of this world, for I am a soldier of Christ.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, help us examine ourselves and see if we are willing to give all for you. Search our hearts and convict us where there is still fear, self-preoccupation, and lack of trust. Amen.
To practice the whole Daily Common Prayer, you can click here (it includes daily scripture, prayers and reflections)
Introduction to the Book of Common Prayer
Christians have been singing and praying and worshiping together for thousands of years. We can sometimes forget that and view our worship, our prayers as something we do on our own…private.
This year during the Lent season, we want to dive into an exciting, new (for us!) practice…of praying prayers with people around the world, from diverse places, traditions, denominations. We’re going to do this from what is called “The Common Prayer” (www.commonprayer.net), a book with prayers and scriptures for every day, called a “liturgy”.
Liturgy (literally means “the work of the people”) is a communal response to the sacred. Its something we do together, as a way to ground ourselves TOGETHER in Christ.
Every day you will have the chance to join people…in all parts of the world, praying some of these very same prayers. There is strength in numbers, and there is a powerful sense of unity that can come as people from diverse places and circumstances pray together, even though they have never met, and don’t even speak the same language.
We also want to encourage you to do this in community….whenever possible.
So maybe you want to find a common time in your home to pray these prayers and read these scriptures together, or include them at the beginning of your cell gatherings…to remind us that we are NOT on this faith journey alone, but are meant to live our lives in community.