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.
St. Mark’s Chapel
Many people use a spiritual discipline, beginning and sometimes ending the day, reading and meditating on Holy Scripture. Many denominations follow a daily lectionary of Scripture readings. Over a certain period, the reader has studied significant parts of the whole Bible. In the Episcopal tradition, the Book of Common Prayer lists a two-year cycle of daily lessons taken from the Psalms, the Hebrew Scriptures, a New Testament letter, and one of the Gospels for 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 the New Testament and once to pertinent portions of the Hebrew Scriptures.
We can also do the Scripture readings as part of 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 that also contains Scripture readings. Others use publications such as the Methodist The Upper Room, the Episcopal Forward Day By Day, and Catholic resources 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 online from the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis: dailyoffice.wordpress.com.
Presently, I am part of a group of people continuing Community of Hope training for pastoral care, who are reading 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 St. Mark’s.
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 books go to Camp Mitchell. If you like this book, could you take a brief moment to write a recommendation on its page on Amazon? 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!!!
