Ringing the Bell: Some Fixed-Hour Prayer Resources

Yesterday I gave a sermon titled, "Learning the Rhythms of Prayer." It was the fourth in our Lenten series exploring the seven spiritual practices that migrated from Judaism to Christianity. Here's a brief refresher on what we have covered thus far:

• Discipling the Body: The Practice of Shared Meal - Eucharist (02/10/08)
• Discipling the Body: The Practice of Fasting (02/17/08)
• Discipling the Body: The Practice of Tithing (02/24/08)
• Discipling Time: Discipling the Day: The Practice of Fixed-Hour Prayer (03/02/08)

The final three also revolve around discipling time and expand around the week, the year, and the life. Conceptually it has been really fun to explore these rhythms and practices. It has also been great to examine them in the context of a community that is always hungry to engage opportunities for added depth.

The discipline of fixed-hour prayer is a challenging practice for most people to begin to engage because for many of us it is such an alien orientation to a spiritual practice that has largely been individual, spontaneous, and self-directed. Like I mentioned in the message yesterday this has been a slow process of learning for me that begin when I first visited Conception Abbey seven years ago. In the hopes of helping others access this rich stream of prayer I am posting some resources that I think are helpful for those who want to journey here, too.

Books:

"The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime"

This is a four volume set that follows the liturgical year (it doesn't sell as a set). It has a marvelous introduction that if you read you will find much of the material I used yesterday to set up the cultural history of fixed-hour prayer. My wife, Mimi, uses and loves this resource.

"The Divine Hours, Pocket Edition"

This prayer book is also by Phyllis. It is simply a condensed version of the longer four volume group. This is the prayer book that I am currently using to shape my prayer life.

"Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings From the Northumbria Community"

I have reference this prayer book resource several times in the context of the Jacob's Well worship gathering. We often use the prayers and readings when we do more liturgical worship experiences. Likewise, when I shared the first-footing prayer called "The Open Door," this is where it came from. Additionally I mentioned that the Northumbria community has a wonderful online prayer resource. If you sit in front of a computer all day and would like to access a way to prayer the office that is simple, beautiful, and accessible, then check out this link: Northumbria Community online.

"The Glenstal Book of Prayer: A Benedictine Prayer Book"

This is the final book I'll reference. It is another small and simple resource for prayer. I like it a lot. I have a friend who is a Presbyterian pastor who travels to Glenstal Abbey once a year on pilgrimage and study leave and loves the community there. He carries this around with him. I actually found this a number of years ago in the bookstore at the National Pastors/Emergent Convention in Nashville.

Web Resources:

Northumbria Community (again)

Sacred Space

Sacred Gateway

Magazine Articles Referenced Yesterday (from Christianity Today):

"Learning the Ancient Rhythms of Prayer," by Paul Boers.

"The New Monasticism," by Rob Moll.

"Ancient-Future People," by Mark Galli.

Finally, here is the Pepsi Blue commercial we included yesterday. Enjoy.

Comments

[Vanessa Pierson]

Looking forward to listening to the sermon audio for this one. I missed church on Sunday, but how funny that I missed because I was visiting The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, in Clyde, Mo (about a mile from Conception Abbey, which I hear you talked about/have a connection to...). Anyway, I also find this webpage very helpful:
http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
Peace - Vanessa

[Larry]

I liked the original. The remix stinks.

[Tim]

That is great, Vanessa. Mimi likes to go to Clyde a couple times a year. I go to Conception multiple times a year. Thanks for the link. I will check it out.

[Tim]

Awww, come on Larry. Don't be so grumpy. Grab a Pepsi Blue.