Twas a Joy

This holy Lententide to spend some extra time in the Word and prayer. Lent calls for us to do this, for we have no strength in ourselves to live as God's children in a way that pleases Him. Our strength always comes from the Word and from invoking God. And when we do, our own frailty and struggle become no cause for despair, but rather in our weakness we learn to stand in awe at the strength God supplies that we know is not our own.

Cindi and I always start the day with Treasury of Daily Prayer, so again this Lent we've read through large swaths of Genesis and are now in Exodus; we've also read St. Mark and are in the midst of Hebrews. I added in for myself the Lamentations during Holy Week (optional reading in Treasury). During my commute, I finished up listening through the Scriptures on Audible right after Ash Wednesday (started a few weeks before PreLent). That is an experience by itself: listening to the Bible (rather than reading). 

This Lent I've tried to be faithful in praying the Psalms according to the monthly pattern laid out in the Book of Common Prayer (and provided also in our Concordia Psalter and Treasury). I've written that division into my Bible and I just turn there and pray them, morning and evening. Then during the days of Lent, I've also added after the morning psalms a reading from whatever chapter in Proverbs corresponds to the number of the day of the month we're on. And it has been odd how that chapter turns almost instinctively from instruction to supplication!

And then there is the marvel of Lutheran Prayer Companion! I've found myself relying on it every day for the Morning and Evening Benedictions and for the wonderful daily prayers on the petitions of the Our Father by Habermann (usually pray those in the morning). I love, for instance, how we pray for our pastor on Sunday in the "Hallowed be Thy name" petition: "O God, on this Sunday make my dear pastor as well as other faithful teachers and preachers, vessels of Your mercy and instruments of Your grace, and let their ministry attain to the praise of Your glory and to the welfare and blessedness of every soul entrusted to their care." I love the way we beg God the Holy Spirit to grant us grace that our last meal in this life may be the Holy Supper, the last image in our mind Christ crucified, and the last words on our lips "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit." Preparation for Communion now invariably includes prayers from this wonderful volume. And I've tried to form a habit (only partially successful this Lent) Schmemann once recommended: offering the prayers for thanksgiving and for the fruit of the Sacrament for the three after I receive; and then prayers of preparation to receive on the three or four days before I receive again. Then there is the confession of sins in this the Lutheran Prayer Companion. It beggars belief in its brutal honesty, covering every base, the law having done its deep cutting work, no excuses, so extenuations, just naked owning up to the mess.  And that's just a teasing taste! So many times throughout the day, I find myself taking this volume in hand to pray for various needs that arise. It's so helpful that I have my physical copy at home but also carry it in my iPhone and iPad. It's been quite transformative and I cannot recommend this prayer book highly enough (just one of the many gems of Lutheran spirituality Matthew Carver has given in English). 

The extra time in the Word and prayer has stirred a greater hunger for more of both than I think I've remembered in my life since the days when I was a teen and it was all so new to me. I really hesitated to post this; I know it can sound pitifully prideful. But I risk offering it in the hopes that it will not be received that way, but will rather reflect on what an absolute joy this Lentide has been for this poor, miserable sinner through these two gifts of God's grace: His Word and prayer.