You’re going to pray how often?!
It’s a reasonable question. Since Pastor Dayle announced that we would be praying together daily from Monday-Thursday at noon in the West Chapel, and gathering again for the eucharist Tuesday evenings at 7 and Thursday noon back in the West Chapel. Monday evening we’ll gather for in the Beattie Room for a less formal and liturgical time of more spontaneous prayer. At this point, you could be forgiven for wondering if we’re praying “too much.” Add in an intro to the Bible course Dayle will teach Wednesday evenings at 7 and you might wonder when he sleeps.
Why all this extra prayer?
In most Protestant settings we have a worship service once or twice a week, accompanied by our best musical, preaching, and prayer efforts. It’s a show, and we do it well at TEMC. But other Christian traditions make a habit of worshiping more often, with less ceremony, throughout the week. Dayle’s prayer services will be built on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, focusing on chanting the Psalms of Ascent: Psalms 120-133. What he’s doing is re-creating the monastic schedule of prayer still followed by many monasteries worldwide. It doesn’t matter if many come. Jesus says we only need two or three and he’ll be present there with us. These hardy disciples will be praying for the rest of us, and rejoicing when we join in.
When I’ve worshiped in monasteries, I’ve been struck by how time itself seems to change. The Trappists with whom I’ve often gone on retreats worship 8 times per day. The psalmist promises that he will pray seven times a day (Ps. 119:164). The monks do precisely that, starting at 3:20 am, finishing early (8 pm), and getting up again before 4 the next day, every day. The eighth time is the mass as they call it, the Lord’s Supper or the eucharist as we call it, a meal with Jesus and his original friends, betrayers, and transfigured apostles.
When I worship in such contexts it feels like I have more time, not less. Part of this is because no one is sending emails at 4 am! So before the world gets to work at 9 I’ve been to worship 3 times, and prayed or worked the other times. When the world stays lively at 830 pm, I’m zonked, and out back in my monk’s cell. And, unbelievably, between prayer services, I often wonder “when are we going to pray again? I hope it’s soon.” Not unlike exercise, the more you pray, the better you get at it, and the more you enjoy it. When I was running distance, in the afternoon I’d wonder, ‘Hm, have I run today?’ The answer was usually yes. If I had run, I’d feel like running again. If I had not, I was happy to stay lazy. The monks have discovered a secret for how to be human. The more you pray, the more you want to pray. Your desires shift from selfish ones to selfless ones, from my interests to God’s.
That’s a tall order for Dayle’s new prayer services! But they’re really God’s, not Dayle’s. Others of us will help lead them as well. The claim these services are making is that the more we pray the happier we’ll be. If you have doubts (and I do too!), try it: come and pray and see if you won’t want to again as soon as possible.
And then: stand back and watch what God can do with a church that prays.