So, I'm two days into reading the Benedictine Psalmody, going through all 150 Psalms in a week and I'm actually surprised at how 'easy' it is. I don't mean to say that it hasn't required effort, or that it isn't more reading than I usually do of the Psalms. However, especially when read close to the hours that Benedict suggests, it spaces out the Psalms enough so that taking a 5-10 minute break 4-5 times a day is actually really nice and relaxing! I haven't done great at reading the Psalms at the appropriate hours (not even going to try the 2am Vigils), but I haven't missed any yet.
Daily Office, Morning Prayer and Church of the Ascension
The church directly across the street from LaSalle Street Church is Church of the Ascension. This is the place that I was late to going to Morning Prayer last week, actually went to Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday and then went to Evening Prayer at tonight. For those of who you aren't Anglican, the Book of Common Prayer is what the Anglican/Episcopal church uses as their liturgy. The Daily Office is a list of reading, in a two year cycle, for the Church to read, both during public worship and for priests and laypersons to read on their own. It gives Psalms to read in the morning and the evening, an Old Testament, New Testament Epistle and Gospel reading. At Church of the Ascension, our wonderful neighbors, they read the first set of Psalms, OT and Epistle readings in the morning.
I think I'm going to start going on Tuesdays and Fridays for Morning Prayer and checking in when I can for Evening Prayer. I really appreciate the liturgy, and then the Mass in the morning, to start my day. Plus, it is really great to read the Scriptures and prayer with brothers and sisters who are of a very different denominational background than myself. Sharing the Eucharist in the morning with those at Ascension is truly a life giving experience. Not only is the presence of Christ there, but the presence of brothers and sisters that I wouldn't otherwise come into contact with.
Daniel Fast
So I mentioned in a blog a few days ago the idea of doing a modern day Daniel fast. I would be interested to see what people thought this might entail. I have heard of people doing Daniel fasts before, eating nothing but vegetables and water for a period of time. I think that is valuable and good, especially if you find it very difficult to fully fast from all foods. However, Daniel's 'fast' wasn't really a fast, but a refusal of food that he saw as defiling. The king had offered Rack, Shack, Benny and Dan food and wine from his own table, which they refused. They did it because, at least this is what I think the text is saying, they wanted to separate themselves out for YHWH as they were in service of the king.
As each of us works throughout our week for 'the king' (sometimes also known as 'the man'), what is it that we can refuse to set us apart? Obviously we 'refuse' to partake in things like gossip, dirty/unkind talk, cheating, etc. (or at least, we know we should). However, this isn't really the same. There wasn't anything 'wrong' with eating the food of the king. There is something wrong with gossiping, talking dirty, and cheating. I wonder if this has something to do with abiding that I talked about earlier. I wonder if Dan, Rack, Shack and Benny refused the food so that they would consciously abide in YHWH instead of the king, their friends or there studies. Refusing the food and eating by themselves forced them to publicly align themselves with YHWH and then abide in Him and trust He was going to provide for them. Culturally, I don't think it would be appropriate for us to draw ourselves out of something, like morning coffee and doughnuts or something like that. I wonder if a 'fast' like Daniel's for us would be something like reading Scripture at the office, inviting people to come to Church with us, etc.
Eating Veggies and Water for a time can be done very privately. Again, not that it is wrong or bad. It has it's place and can be very valuable. Yet, we Americans like to think that our private acts of faith/spiritual formation are what God loves the most, quoting portions of the Sermon on the Mount, and forgetting that public proclamation of God is something equally important. Yes, we should privately fast and pray, but we should also publicly align ourselves with Christ, in ways that are kind, gentle and loving.
1 comment:
Awesome! Devin, thank you for praying the Office with me yesterday evening at Church of the Ascension. I look forward to visiting LaSalle Street Church to worship with your congregation sometime soon. Christians of neighboring churches praying together and serving people in the neighborhood together...imagine that!
Hope you get to meet Sister Mary Cecilia OSA soon...possibly on Friday morning. She is wonderful and knows a lot of our neighbors who come for help or just to talk with her.
By the way, besides the parish morning and evening prayer every day, the Order of St. Anne sisters pray five offices a day in the convent, on a Benedictine-ish schedule. I'll send you info about their breviary soon. Sr. "Cece" is one of those who actually doubles up on offices some days, praying the OSA office and then going over to the church to lead a parish morning or evening prayer.
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