Tuesday, June 10, 2008 · no responses · comments closed

One of the things I love about The Divine Hours is that each of the three prayers for the day — morning, midday, and evening — includes “The Prayer Appointed for the Week.” These have been adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, and even after a couple of years of using The Divine Hours, I continue to be blessed by these special prayers. Part of what makes them powerful is the repetition. We all know Jesus’ story of the persistent widow, but I suspect that few of us are truly persistent in our prayers. If I pray the hours three times a day for seven days, then I’ve prayed the week’s prayer 21 times, and that’s a lot. And even if I manage only the morning prayer (which is more typical of my experience), I have brought this prayer before God on a daily basis.

And not only does the repetition help me to be persistent before God; it helps turn my heart toward the idea, the heart, of the prayer. The first time we read a prayer — or anything else, for that matter — our focus is on getting the meaning. (That, by the way, is why your English teachers expected you to read that poem or short story more than once! It’s a challenge to get the full impact in one pass.) As I pray the prayer of the week again and again, it moves from my head — that’s a cool idea! or I like the way they worded that or even I don’t quite get it — to my heart, to Yes, Father, I desire this. I’m not just saying it, I mean it.

So, with that in mind, I’m going to post the appointed prayer each Sunday. My hope is that it’s a blessing to you; I know that it will be one more way that I can move it from my lips to my heart.

O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration I may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

One final note: for those of who grew up in low-church settings, this language can seem a little overblown and maybe even a little off-putting. I needed time to get used to it myself, and I doubt I would ever speak or pen a prayer in this style. But, style aside, it’s a powerful prayer that any of us can use: help me to think right and then do right. Who can’t pray that whole-heartedly?

One more final note (really!): I love that the prayer of the week always invokes the Trinity. Even in a “Spirit-filled” church, I don’t hear much prayer that addresses the Holy Spirit or all of the Godhead. It’s good to be reminded of and to reaffirm the truth of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, “one God for ever and ever.”