Jesus frequently separated himself from the demands around him, and went off to a quiet place to pray. Sometimes he went alone, and sometimes with his friends. Through the centuries, the church and its saints have imitated this habit of Jesus. When we have done this frequently, and with hearts open to God, we have been greatly blessed by the richness of such a prayer life.
The habit of morning and evening prayer is formative for the human spirit, as we are blessed by this holy connection to our Creator. Such a prayer life helps us grow and mature as disciples of Christ. Such prayer guides us through our days, and forms the spiritual fruit our lives bear.
The liturgies of morning and evening prayer contained in this book are meant for celebrating the holy days of the Christian year. Together, they walk us through the life of Christ, lifting up and celebrating the highpoints of his life and ministry among us. The events in Jesus’ life give shape to the prayers and other elements of worship contained here. Some denominations celebrate holy days not included in this book (such as: Corpus Christi, the Vigil of Pentecost, the Feast of the Holy Family, and so on). Space is added at the end of this work to include these special days. The reader will have to provide the hymns, psalm, and prayers that fit what is being celebrated on these days.
A Feast of Holy Days is meant to accompany the use of A Feast of Weeks for morning and evening prayers. Disciples of Christ praying through these two guides, will step out of A Feast of Weeks to temporarily replace it with A Feast of Holy Days on the special days celebrated in the Christian year. This adds variety to the repetition of A Feast of Weeks, and provides a special focus on the events of Christ’s life. Some of the holy days are celebrated on Sundays, but others occur on various weekdays. Those using these prayer guides should follow their denomination’s calendar to learn when to celebrate each of these special days.
Hymn numbers listed throughout this work refer to The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), and are chosen to reinforce the themes of each special day. The singing of these hymns and choruses may be done out loud, or silently in one's heart. God hears either way. Those singing can provide accompaniment with their own musical instruments, or by accessing one of the various hymn-sites on the internet. To avoid struggling to sing unfamiliar hymns or choruses, just read the words for their meaning.
The format for morning and evening prayer presented below can be completed in about fifteen minutes. But it is suggested that a pause follow each prayer, scripture reading, hymn or affirmation. Use this pause to reflect on what you just read or sang, and even more, use this pause to listen to whatever God might want to say to you through the words of the prayer, reading or scripture. How long you pause is totally up to you and God, and this will determine whether this time you spend with God will last fifteen minutes, an hour or more.
You may want to light a candle (scented?) as you begin your prayer time, and then extinguish it as you close. Some people also like the informality of enjoying a cup of coffee or hot tea, or maybe a glass of cold lemonade or iced tea as they spend this time with God. Using the same place for this prayer time adds other benefits, such as lessening distractions. Some people find it meaningful to wear certain items of clothing, such as a prayer shawl or a covering for their head. Some people will remain seated for the entire prayer time. Others will choose to stand for singing or for an affirmation of faith. Prayers can be prayed while seated, kneeling or standing, with hands folded or raised to heaven. Some people will do all their morning and evening prayer alone, and some will prefer to do it in the company of family or friends. This is a time for you and God to enjoy together. So, do whatever adds to the enjoyment and meaning of these moments with your Creator.
One or more scripture references begin each morning or evening of prayer. These scripture passages are the basis for that morning’s or evening’s theme. You might want to read these for your scripture lesson on your first trip through this week of weeks, but after that reading other scripture passages might be preferable. Choose one of the sixty-six books in our biblical library, or read through the whole Bible, as your chosen scripture lesson. You could also read Bible passages dealing with a particular topic, person or word (a concordance can help you with this). Daily lectionaries, available in print and on the Internet, are also very good guides for devotional reading.
Let me share a word about how morning and evening prayer saved me from a devastating situation. The bishop had appointed me to serve as the solo pastor of a thousand-member congregation. The experts, who study these things, report that the average pastor is able to properly care for about two hundred and fifty parishioners. I was immediately in well over my head. I worked as hard and as fast as I could, averaging sixty-hour work weeks every week. I prioritized, and eliminated less important pastoral tasks. I handed off as many tasks as possible to volunteers and part-time lay employees from the congregation. I began logging my days and nights in fifteen minute segments, searching for any place where I was wasting a few moments of precious time and looking for a way to catch up on work not being completed.
It didn’t take long before I realized that I was in big trouble, and something had to change. I prayed for God’s leadership in the work I was doing, to show me what to do and what to stop doing. I had read about pastoral burn-out, but I had never thought I would experience it myself. When I began thinking about stepping out of the ministry, either temporarily or permanently, I finally admitted I was deep into burn-out.
When God finally answered my desperate prayers for help, I was totally surprised, as is often the case with God, with the answered I received. God did not approve my leaving the ministry. God did not provide me with a list of ministerial tasks to stop doing. God added to my work-load!
What I heard was God telling me to use one hour every morning for prayer, one day every month for a prayer retreat, and one week every year for a longer prayer retreat. That was a huge addition to a pastor already drowning in too much work. But I had been a pastor long enough to witness God working quite a number of miracles in peoples’ lives. I believed in God’s leadership, and trusted in God’s loving guidance. So I took a leap of faith, and implemented the additional work load God had given me.
That is when I began practicing daily morning prayer, as well as taking prayer retreats as God had told me to do. I still do not understand how God’s plan for my ministry worked, but it did. The extra time for prayer was no burden at all. In fact, I quickly began looking forward to the time I was spending alone with God. Emotionally, it was similar to what I felt when I began falling in love with my wife. It was no burden at all, and I wanted more, not less, time for prayer. My mood changed. My attitude changed. My life changed.
My ministerial work load did not change, but it began to feel different. I felt different. I was stronger, and more confident. The feeling of burn-out disappeared. I did not leave the ministry, not even temporarily. Somehow the work was getting done, and I even had more time with my wife and family. I identified with Joshua, when the sun stood still as Israel battled their enemies (Joshua 10:12-13). Nobody else seemed to notice the sun standing still while I did battle with my work-load, but I sure noticed the difference produced by spending an hour every day with God. I don’t know if God messes with the orbits of celestial bodies, but God certainly works miracles for the children of God. And there is a reason that so many of the saints of the church have practiced morning and evening prayer for centuries. It makes a real difference in our lives.
For my morning prayer, and eventually evening prayer too, I turned to the resources provided by various denominations of the church. Finding some of these to be a bit dusty, I substituted some of the greatest prayers from the church’s saints. As you can imagine, a lot of these have been written over the last two thousand years. I simply chose the ones that challenged me the most. Soon I was so excited by my experience with God in morning and evening prayer, I felt I had to share it with others who were also dealing with their own kinds of burn-out and the overwhelming loads that life can pile onto us. Getting my work published as a book seemed to a good way to share. But publishers shy from publishing work that did not originate with the author. So I began substituting my own humble prayers for those produced by the saints of the church. Most are my words. Yet I am firmly convinced that the best are not my own, but from the God to whom these prayers are directed. Today my prayer is that these prayers challenge you, and are useful to you in your own communing with God, in the morning, evening, or whenever.
Robert D. Ingram
