Pray. End of the Month.

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Monday, August 31, 2015

Pray. End of the Month.

As I started to unpack the last few mitts of great awareness on this 31^st day of August, I knew what I would be writing about. Simeon’s song, at the end of Compline. (Also known as the Canticle of Simeon, or the Nunc dimittis.)

Simeon’s words were sung when the baby Jesus had been brought to the Temple. And, Simeon recognized who the baby Jesus was and what He would grow up to be and become. This reading from the Gospel of Luke holds huge significance to me. In the Lutheran church where I was a child, I remember the Nunc dimittis closing each Sunday morning worship service.

In the structure of Compline (or, Night Prayer), “The service concludes with 1) a calling on God for protection through the coming night and 2) a simple blessing.” [1] The Canticle of Simeon is a most appropriate ending to prayer.

I will miss these reflections on the website’s www.dailyoffice.org Evening Service. I have greatly appreciated this month. Tomorrow begins another month. Another practice of prayer.

It is so appropriate to close tonight’s prayer with the Nunc dimittis:

Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace:

your word has been fulfilled.

My own eyes have seen the salvation

which you have prepared in the sight of every people;

A light to reveal you to the nations

and the glory of your people Israel.

Amen. Alleluia.

The almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless us and keep us. Amen.

@chaplaineliza

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Visit the website http://dailyoffice.org/ to find out more about Morning and Evening Prayer!

Why not visit my sister blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.   @chaplaineliza And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er

[1] https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/daily2/night/introstructurenotes.aspx

Following the River—Prayerfully

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Sunday, May 10, 2015

Ireland – Bridges Park

Following the River—Prayerfully

When last we left our prayer narrative, we were right smack dab in the middle of things. Wonderful place to pick things up again.

The next method in prayer and meditation concerns a view of my life. (Or, your life. One’s life. Whoever we are talking about, anyway.) I was told to consider my life as a river, following it as it goes, through the bumpy, hilly, turbulent terrain.

To quote from Margaret Silf: “[The river] carves its way through the earth—hard clay or soft sand—where it finds itself; it finds ways to go beyond the obstructions and blockages that it meets; it may flow underground, forming channels and caves, or it may spread out and water the land around it. . . . [the river] offers space for the flow or resists it; it cooperates with the power of the water or its struggles against it.” [1]

One of the first questions Silf asks is “What kind of landscape has your river flowed through so far?” Wow. That is a big, BIG question for me. Sure, I could chalk out whole episodes in different areas of my life. Sure, many of them were unpleasant. However, I just need to look at things (or people, or ideas) that already strive to make sense of this seeming mishmash of random activities or average stuff or, hurtful people crossing the river of my life.

Imagine your life as a river. What is your river’s path through the landscape where life has set you? Think about it. Meditate on it. Journal about it. Pray.

Great advice. Lord, in Your mercy, hear all of our prayers.

@chaplaineliza

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my sister blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.   @chaplaineliza And, read sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er .

(also published at www.matterofprayer.net

[1][1] Silf, Margaret, Inner Compass: Introduction to Ignatian Spirituality (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1999), 16-17.