Carol Poston writes:

Last Thursday, March 22, Steve, Leslie, Jim and I gathered at Leslie and Jim's home. We studied the lectionary psalm for the day and had our evening prayers. We discussed a name for the group, but came to no consensus. We also discussed a meeting location for this Thursday's meeting on March 29. Steve had mentioned his house, but I don't remember whether that was for this Thursday or later in the spring. I had occasion to call Fr. Birch. He said Our Saviour would be available, but that he would be in Berea with the college students. I will not be able to be present Thursday night--I'm already overcommitted and the week hasn't even started!

And Andy appends this note:

Right now I'm in the village library at Barnesville, Ga. My laptop went ka-blooey yesterday, and I'm not sure if I can get back online this week. I'll call Steve Locke and chat with him to see if his home is available and/or if would like to shepherd us at Our Saviour on the 29th--and we'll go from there! Need I say that I wish I could be with you all! Yes!

Last Sunday afternoon Fr. Birch--and a whole household of friends and neighbors--blessed the home of Leslie and Jim Farris. The Lord heard our prayers as, from room to room, Scriptures were read, the waters of blessing were sprinkled on walls and the gathered guests, and Lesie, Tom, and their son Jason, gave thanks to God for their new home. As the sun shone brightly through the windows and filled the house with light, we were reminded that the Light, Jesus Himself, lives in and among the Farris family. And you should have seen--and tasted!--the tables of lovely food; and in the kitchen, "wine" to gladden hearts. Thank you, Leslie and Jim, for inviting us to be with you on such a special day!

It was cold and rainy last evening, Thursday, when the doorbell rang, and Leslie and Jim Farris came in for Evening Prayer. Just wonderful to see them! Although we did take time to talk about Psalm 85, we spent the better part of our pre-prayer evening simply getting to know each other and how our children are faring. That too is a great blessing the Daily Office brings to those who gather to listen to God; they also get to listen to one another.

In addition to inviting us to the blessing of their house this Sunday at 4:00 p.m., Leslie and Jim have also graciously invited us to their home for next week's Evening Prayer. The Psalm appointed for the evening of March 22, next Thursday, is Psalm 69; it's a long one, so the Office suggests we prepare ourselves to pray verses 1-38.

Here's how to arrive at their home, 136 Stevie’s Way, Berea, for both the Sunday's Blessing and Thursday's Evening Prayer, :

From Richmond:

• Take 25/421 (at the Kroger’s) to Berea.


• Turn left onto 421 past the Depot, Kingston.


• Tollow 421, go past Pilot Knob Baptist Church.
  
• Immediately on the left, at the end of the guard rail after the church, turn left onto Pinewoods.


• The first right is Stevie’s Way.


• Their home is at the end of the cul-de-sac.
  

From Berea:

• Follow 21 to Big Hill.


• Turn left onto 421.


• Turn right into Pinewoods(After Redlick Rd and before Pilot Knob Church).


• The first right is Stevie’s Way.


• Their home is at the end of the cul-de-sac.
  

It's a lovely drive to the Farris' home; enjoy the journey!

In this contribution to the Washington Post/Newsweek On Faith online discussion (posted 5 February 2007), Jim Wallis responds to the question: What is prayer? Do you pray? If so to whom and for what?

Yes, I pray. But there are many misunderstandings about prayer. For many, prayer is talking to God, sometimes with a great list of requests and needs – sort of like childrens' Christmas lists mailed to Santa Claus.

But, at least for me, prayer is more often becoming a time of listening than talking. There is so much noise in our world and our lives (much of our own making); prayer becomes a quiet space enabling us to stop talking long enough to see what God might be trying to say to us. The disciplines of prayer, silence, and contemplation practices by the monastics and mystics are precisely that – stopping the noise, slowing down, and becoming still, so that God can break through all our activity and noise in order to speak to us. Prayer serves to put all the parts of our lives in God’s presence, reminding us of how holy our humanity really is.

And also for us, prayer is the act of reclaiming our identity as the children of God; it declares who we are and to whom we belong. The action of prayer places us outside the realm of the powers and principalities. As prayer declares our true identity, it destroys our false identities. In prayer we act upon who we really are, and thus prayer has the effect of diminishing the illusions that have controlled us, and helping us remember what is really true. Prayer allows us to step out of our traps and find ourselves again in God.

Contemplative writer and priest Henri Nouwen once shared with our Sojourners community that the desert fathers regarded prayer as an act of "unhooking" from the harness of the world's securities. Such prayer may be the only action powerful enough to free us from our spiritual bondage to property, money, power, ideas, and causes, which often control our behavior.Only those who have truly found their identity in God can resist the violent tugs and pulls of the false values offered by the world.

By re-establishing our security in God, prayer becomes an effective weapon in resisting the world’s false securities.

Prayer changes our frame of reference; it is not merely a preparation for action. Prayer must be understood as an action in itself, a potent political weapon to be used in spiritual warfare against the most powerful forces of the world. Prayer is not undertaken in place of other actions; it is the foundation for all the other actions we take.

I recall the way Archbishop Desmond Tutu would pray in South Africa, during the apartheid era. His prayers constantly affirmed God’s power over the claims of the state, and that was a threat to their power. And prayer, in recognizing God's authority over the evil powers, moves us beyond opposition to affirmation, and beyond resistance to celebration. Thus prayer and the results of prayer can be the most revolutionary of acts. The powers that be in this world are aware of this – that is why they consider those who pray in this way to be a threat.

Last Thursday, Fr. Birch shared with us A Disciple's Prayer Book, a "pastoral adaptation of the Book of Common Prayer to help disciples hear the Gospel and see Jesus." As the Preface says, this forty-one page Disciple's Prayer Book is "a gift to the Church from Native Episcopalians to be used in our journey together woward becoming a church of disciples in mission to all of God's creation." If you would like a printed version of this book (40 pp, 3 1/2" x 8 1/2") please email your request to Native Ministries. More information is avaiable at the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska. This wonderful little book is a gem; you may wish to have one or more copies with you as you travel and give witness to Christ; it makes a great gift as an expression of evangelistic love.

And here's another that Carol Posten has loaned us for our review--A Guide to Prayer for Ministers & Other Servants. It has been exceptionally popular for more than a decade. This classic devotional and prayer book includes thematically arranged material for each week of the year as well as themes and schedules for 12 personal retreats. The authors have adopted the following daily format for this prayer book: daily invocations, readings, scripture, reflection, prayers, weekly hymns, benedictions, and printed psalms. You can purchase it from the Upper Room Bookstore, where a deluxe gift edition is also available .

Last evening at The Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, sitting in a circle near the altar, we decided that we want to continue meeting weekly on Thursdays. We made this decision because our conversatons and prayers during the past eight weeks have been so wonderfully helpful to all of us. We also decided that, whenever possible, we'd like to meet in one another's homes, begin our conversations on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. and then start Evening Prayer at 8:00 p.m. While we know that not everyone will be able to come each week without interruption, we want nonetheless for some or all of us to meet regulary so that everyone knows without doubt that he or she always has the ungoing support of our Davily Office community. Finally, we decided that for next week, before Evening Prayer, we'll ponder Psalm 85 (one of the appointed Psalms for next Thursday) "African-style," a way of listening to God's Word that several members of our group use at the Church of Our Saviour. Here's how it might be described:

In this kind of study a group listens to the reading of a selected scripture passage and responds to the question, What word or phrase seems most significant or meaningful for you, and why? The passage is read a second time and each participant responds to the question, How does this passage speak to your life now, and why? The passage is then read for a third time and participants respond to the question, What will you change or do this week in response to this passage, and why? The passage is read a final time as a closing prayer.

Fr. Birch led us in Evening Prayer; after the Psalms and after the Lessons, we sang several Taize songs. It's safe to say that we all deeply appreciated one another's prayerful companionship and the Presence of the Holy Trinity, Who immerses us in his love and proclaims encouragement on the Way.

We are so glad to welcome Lynn Shearon into our community. From now on, we remember Lynn and her family in our daily intersessions.

Here, then, is an updated list of those with whom and for whom we pray:

Virgil Brewer (623-5292) virgil.brewer@eku.edu
Tom Bryan (328-3334) Tom_bryan@bellsouth.net
Leslie Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
Jim Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
Grace Gutekunst (624-2090) gegutekunst@aol.com
Patricia Harris harlov4@cs.com
June Harnack (626-8535) rjharnack@yahoo.com
Andy Harnack (582-3368) andrew.harnack@eku.edu
Stephan Locke (623-2068) slocke@uky.edu
Mason Smiith (623-0692) mason.smith@eku.edu
Carol Poston (985-5572) casposton@yahoo.com
Fr. Birch Rambo (623-1226) tbrambo@bellsouth.net
Steve Sells (859-523-0806) sfsell1@uky.edu
Lynn Shearon (623-6185) shearonl@bellsouth.net

June and Andy Harnack are our hosts for our next meeting on Thursday, March 15. Bring along a translation of the Psalms so we can do an African-style study of Psalm 85.

Here's how to get to their home at 281 Marengo Drive, Richmond:

• Go to I-75, Exit 87.
• At Exit 87, head west for 2.3 miles (towards and then past St. Thomas Lutheran Church) on Barnes Mill Road. (You'll go through a stop light, past St. Thomas Lutheran Church on your left; when you see a yellow intersection highway sign with a 35/mph note under it on your right, get ready to turn right at the upcoming intersection.)
• At the intersection, turn right on to Crutcher Pike.
• Go .4 miles to what what appears to be a T.
• Turn left onto (unmarked) Mule Shed Lane.
• Go .8 miles, driving past the House of Prayer Church on your right.
• Look for Chrisbrooke Subdivision (and Marengo Drive) on your left. (Marengo Drive is the only street in the subdivision.)
• Turn left into Marengo Drive until you come to 281 Marengo Drive, on your left at the crest of the hill.

Andy will stake out signs--Daily Office--along the way. If you need help, call 626-8535 and the rescue squad will get into action. Hope to see you there next Thursday, March 15!

Our next meeting will be on March 1, 2007, 7:00 p.m. We will initially meet at St. Thomas Lutheran Church, 1285 Barnes Mill Road, Richmond, KY.

Here are directions on how to get there:

• Go to I-75's Exit 87, where I-75 meets Barnes Mill Road.


• Go west on Barnes Mill Road for one mile.


• The St. Thomas Lutheran Church is located on the left side of Barnes Mill Road.

The church's phone number is 623-7254.

Once everyone gets to the church, we will all go (about a mile into the country) in carvan to the Curtis-Pike Community for Evening Prayer.

If you plan to come, please call or email Carol Poston (985-5572) casposton@yahoo.com so that she can let the Curtis-Pike Community know how many of us to expect.

You will discover your visit to the Curtis-Pike Community to be a great blessing (more about it in a later posting), so be sure to call Carol and be with us on Thursday, March 1.

The blessings of Jesus be with us all,

Andy

We met last Thursday at First United Church for our sixth discussion and Evening Prayer, and Andy was privileged to meet Steven Sells (who came the week before when Andy was absent). Steve lives in Lexington and works at University of Kentucky Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center. Steve's name, along with his email address and phone number, is now in the following list. Welcome, Steve!

Tom Bryan (328-3334) Tom_bryan@bellsouth.net
June Harnack (626-8535) rjharnack@yahoo.com
Leslie Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
Jim Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
Mason Smith (623-0692) mason.smith@eku.edu
Carol Poston (985-5572) casposton@yahoo.com
Fr. Birch Rambo (623-1226) tbrambo@bellsouth.net
Andy Harnack (582-3368) andrew.harnack@eku.edu
Grace Gutekunst (624-2090) gegutekunst@aol.com
Patricia Harris harlov4@cs.com
Virgil Brewer (623-5292) virgil.brewer@eku.edu
Steve Sells (859-523-0806) sfsell1@uky.edu
Stephan Locke (623-2068) slocke@uky.edu

Our discussion centered on how we best understand the Psalms as a vital part of our Daily Office. While we briefly took note of the history, numbering, the nature of psalmic poetry, kinds psalms and major themes, and possibilities for singing the psalms, the major thrust of our conversation was on how to pray the psalms. Here is an excerpt (and Select Bibliography) from the handout Andy passed around:

Many Christians go to the Psalms to find one or more that express his or her particular feelings and thoughts at the moment or for the occasion. Bibles often list such “appropriate” psalms or psalm verses as follows:

· When you want to praise God : Psalm 92:1,2, Psalm 100, Psalm 150
· When times are hard : Psalm 138:7,8, Psalm 94:17-19, Psalm 18:1,2
· When your integrity is tested : Ps.1:1-3, Ps.119:9,11,104,105, Ps.25:10,21
· When you want God's protection : Psalm 27:4-8, Psalm 91:1-16 )
· When you are tempted to hit back : Psalm 37:7-9
· When you want God's guidance : Psalm 32:8, Psalm 27:1,14
· When you need to be reminded of your dependence on God : Psalm 105:3,4

Such an approach to the psalms may be described as “individual-centric”; that is, a person chooses a psalm to fit his own personal experience. There is nothing wrong with this approach; however, it is not the approach we use with the Daily Office.

When praying all the psalms, one after another, we necessarily find ourselves praying without regard to our personal circumstances or feelings at any particular moment. When entering a lamentation, for example, initially we may not feel a personal need to lament. Indeed, life might well be going along rather nicely. When praying the psalms in the Daily Office, we therefore leave a good bit of ourselves behind and forget, for a time, our personal idiosyncratic feelings for a space and time larger than ourselves. We enter what may be described as variously as “prayer of God,” the intercessory prayers of our High Priest, the prayers of His Body, the Church, and the prayers of all people throughout the world. When entering the Psalms we open ourselves to the Lord Jesus praying before His Father within us (Hebrews 4.14-5.10), we allow others in the Body of Christ to use our voices, and we open ourselves to the articulations of a suffering world. Listening to the Spirit crying “Abba” within us, we cry and pray with the Paraclete, everyone’s Advocate before the Father. When praying the psalms we prioritize our corporate identity with the world, the Church, and the Holy Trinity so that words, thoughts, feelings, concerns, and passions (not originally our own) become our own in prayer. We become the articulation of God and the voices of the voiceless, the poor and suffering whom God loves and wishes to save and for whom he desires justice.

This way of praying the Psalms accords, confirms, and reinforces the way our Jewish and Christian ancestors approached “the prayer book of the Bible.” They memorized and sang the psalms as pilgrims to festivals; they sang the psalms with musical accompaniment in temple worship; they memorized and chanted the psalms in family settings; Jesus knew them by heart, and while walking muttered them (as Psalm 1 recommends) and while teaching referred to them over and again (e.g., Luke 20), and while dying cried them out in anguish. When clarifying recent events on the way to Emmaus, he opened the psalms to his disciples so that they could see the will and way of His serving Lordship (Luke 24). Our Lord prayed and lived out the Psalms. With Him, so do we.


Praying the psalms is for us God’s way of changing our lives so that, no longer preoccupied with our personal needs (important as they are) we see, hear, and speak the world from God’s point of view, from within the “mind of Christ” (Philippians 2), so that in the psalms we become more human, more like Christ.

SELECT BIBLIGRAPHY

Athanasius, “Praying the Psalms,” A Letter to Marcellinus, in On the Incarnation. Translated and edited by A Religious of C.S.M.V. New York: Macmillan, 1946.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Meditations on the Psalms. Translated and edited by Edwin Robertson. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.

---. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg P, 1970.

Brueggemann, Walter. The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg P, 1984.

---. Spirituality of the Psalms. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress P, 2002.

Lewis, C. S. Reflections on the Psalms

Pius Parsch, “Praying the Psalms,” from Der Wochenpsalter des Römischen Breviers, available at http://www.breviary.net/comment/commentpraypsa.htm

Reardon, Patrick Henry. Christ in the Psalms. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar P, 2000).

Our Thursday night meeting (Feb. 8) of the Daily Office group assembled at Our Saviour Episcopal Church. We changed our tradition slightly this week by opening with a service of Evening Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer, led by Fr. Birch. We then discussed "The Shape of Daily Prayer" based on Dwight Vogel's article of the same name. (This article is available elsewhere on this blog.)

The discussion also involved a little history of The Book of Common Prayer, and the efforts of its principle author, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, to create a book that would center itself on readings from Scripture. In particular, we discussed Cranmer's collects, which are tiny gems of prayer that have influenced generations of English-speaking Christians.

We closed our meeting with a Compline service taken from the New Zealand Book of Common Prayer. This service was beautiful, but somewhat different from the standard prayer offices we've been studying. Fr. Birch led this also.

We look forward to seeng everyone at First Presbyterian Church on Thursday, February 15.

Stephan Locke is bringing a friend to the Daily Office. Last evening Stephan (that's with a final a in his first name) Locke handed me a wonderful gift: the business card of Stephen (that's with a final e in his first name) Sells, to whom Stephen had given Robert Benson's Daily Prayer, along with some CDs. Stephan then told me that Stephen would like to come to our meeting tonight and perhaps join us in Daily Office fellowship. Both Stephan and Stephen work at UK's Livestock Disease Dignostic Center. Please be sure to welcome both Stephan and Stephen tonight!

This evening we all (well, except for June and me who will be in Nashville this afternoon) will met at The Episcopal Church of Our Saviour. Mason will be leading a discussion on "The Shape of Morning and Evening Prayer," and afterwards Fr. Birch will take take into his parish's new sanctuary and carry us through Evening Prayer. If you have time, either before or after this evening's discussion, you may wish to visit The Shape of the Daily Office. Have a blessed evening!

It was Pastor Rollin Tarter's birthday yesterday, and last evening at First Presbyterian Church, after we wished pastor "Happy Birthday" with songs and gifts, we passed around various copies of the Daily Office and shared with everyone what the Office means and does for us. Stephan Locke was especially eloquent in his winsome gentle way as he spoke of his listening to God in the "dawn-breaking" Morning Prayers. And Pastor Rollins told his parishioners about his participation in the Company of Pastors and how important it is for him, as a morning person, to begin each day with the Office's quiet and contemplative reading of Scripture. And then Grace Gutekunst, so loved by everyone present, held up her Worshipbook and told the story of her coming to the Daily Office many years ago and and how each evening and morning she opens and closes her days with its guidance. Afterwards a number of people, both men and women, had many questions and were given promises of guidance as they too indicated that they wish to enter the rhythm of the Church's ancient and every-new prayer life. Our thanks to everyone who enjoyed the supper, the fellowship, the birthday celebration, and the quiet witness to the blessings of the Daily Office--the day-by-day prayer practiced among us.

In spite of the cold and light snow, this evening's discussion and Evening Prayer was exceptionally warm--might we say, "toasty with the Spirit of God" as we met at First Presbyterian Church. Within our conversation on lectio divina or Sacred Reading, Tom and Stephan introduced us to (if Andy has remembered it correctly) "African Lectio," the practice (at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour) of reading Scriptural verses from various translations, pausing after each reading for silent reflection, and then sharing what each translation brings, as it "brushes up against another," to our appreciation and understanding of God's Word for us. A wonderful way of doing "sacred reading"! Andy passed around "The One and Only Book," Christopher de Hamel's review of Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayer, 1240-1570 by Eamon Duffy (Yale UP), noting that for centuries Daily Office books were the single most popular books for millions of our spiritual mothers and fathers. Look, Professor Dufy says, at Holbein's sketch of St. Thomasas More and his family "at prayer, all holding copies of exactly the same book, doubtless identical printed Books of Hours [i.e., the Daily Office], so that all are praying together from the same text at once" (NYRB, 15 Feb. 2007: 42-43). Today we too hold ourselves together--as a small ecumenical family--in later additions of the Daily Office.

After our discussion, Grace Gutekunst introduced us to and led us in Evening Prayer with the Upper Room's Worshipbook, a particularly attractive evening liturgy. After slowly and quietly speaking the Phos Hileron, we listened to the psalm and the reading from the Gospel of Mark, offered intercessions (and in silence lifted up personal petitions), joined our hearts in the Our Father, and blessed each Person of the Holy Trinity before returning home.

We were especially blessed with the presence of Pat Harris, whose name we add to the list of our community. Here, in review, are all of us who are coming together in the prayers of the Daily Office:

Tom Bryan (328-3334) Tom_bryan@bellsouth.net
June Harnack (626-8535) rjharnack@yahoo.com
Leslie Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
Jim Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
Mason Smith (623-0692) mason.smith@eku.edu
Carol Poson (985-5572) casposton@yahoo.com
Fr. Birch Rambo (623-1226) tbrambo@bellsouth.net
Andy Harnack (582-3368) andrew.harnack@eku.edu
Grace Gutekunst (624-2090) gegutekunst@aol.com
Patricia Harris harlov4@cs.com
Virgil Brewer (623-5292) virgil.brewer@eku.edu
Stephan Locke (623-2068) slocke@uky.edu

Andy asked that as many as possible come to next Wednesday's meeting at First Prebyterian Church for 6:00 supper so that afterwards we might share with our Presbyterian friends what the Daily Office means to us individually and in community.

I will be representing our Daily Prayer community at First Presbyterian Church this Wednesday evening, January 31. As I begin my preparation for my first (of two presentations, the second on February 7), I've spent some time acquainting myself with the Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer (Louisville, KY: Westminter John Knox Press, 1993) and am struck with the historic sensitivity and beauty of this prayer book. It will be an absolute delight to let our Presbyterian friends know that they have a real treasure in their hands. The book surprises me on a number of occasions: it's attractive, well designed, and easy to use. Let me tell you about one small delight: a rubric that announces the permissive use of incense. After the Service of Light (with the singing of the Phos Hilaron, and just before the first Evening Psalm), this prayerbook says, "While Psalm 141 is being sung, incense may be burned." What an appropriate action to accompany the opening words of Psalm 141: "Let my prayer rise before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." Many years ago--long before my "desert wanderings"--while visiting St. Augustine's House, a Lutheran monastary in Oxford, Michigan, I often sang Vespers with incense, sometimes so thick I could barely see across the chapel. But, of course, it's been many years since incense has accompanied my Evening Prayers (even though I often and quietly sing the Psalm 141 at Vespers).

Liturgy & Music, sponsored by the Episcopal Church provides this information about the use of incense:

When burned or heated, usually over charcoal, certain woods and solidified resins give off a fragrant smoke. Both the materials and the smoke are called incense. Incense was widely used in Judaism and other cultures of the ancient world as a means of sacrifice, purification, and veneration. Frankincense or pure incense, the resin of certain trees, was among the gifts brought by the Magi to the young child Christ (Mt 2:11). Despite this scriptural precedent, early Christians avoided incense as a pagan practice connected with sacrifice and emperor worship, and churches did not begin to use it until the fourth century. Thereafter incense was burned at several points in the Daily Office and the Eucharist, and extensively in eastern churches. For Christians today, incense is associated mainly with prayer, as Rv 8:3-4 suggests. Many Anglicans feel free to use it as a sacred symbol and aid to worship. The first option in the BCP for an opening sentence at Evening Prayer is "Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice" (Ps 141:2) (BCP, pp. 61, 115). The BCP states that incense may be used during the singing of Phos hilaron in the "Order of Worship for the Evening" (p. 143), and during the covering of the altar in the "Consecration of a Church." There are congregations where incense is used at the Easter Vigil and other major feasts, and some parishes use it regularly on Sunday.

Perhaps when we meet sometime together soon, we might spend a little time talking about the ceremonials that have traditionally accompanied the Daily Offices. Just an idea for a topic.

We welcome Grace, Virgil, and Stephan!

Last night, at our second meeting, we welcome three more friends to our community--now totally ten! From comments heard during our discussion on the history of the Daily Office and after we came together before God in Evening Prayer, one got the impression that everything went well. The coffee was good, our sharing sincere, and our use of the Daily Office strengthened and made more sure. Several indicated that they'd like to own a personal copy of Robert Benson's Daily Prayer: A Little Book for Saying the Daily Office. But by far, the most wonderful gift of the evening--right after the Presence of Our Lord among us--was the advent of three new Christian friends: Grace Gutekunst, Virgil Brewer, and Stephan Locke. Their coming helped us achieve a sort of "critical mass" in our conversations and later in praying Vespers. So to give us a more complete overview of our community, here is an updated list of those who have been with us one or more times so far:

• Tom Bryan (328-3334) Tom_bryan@bellsouth.net
• June Harnack (626-8535) rjharnack@yahoo.com
• Leslie Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
• Jim Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
• Mason Smith (623-0692) mason.smith@eku.edu
• Carol Poson (985-5572) casposton@yahoo.com
• Fr. Birch Rambo (623-1226) tbrambo@bellsouth.net
• Andy Harnack (582-3368) andrew.harnack@eku.edu
• Grace Gutekunst (624-2090) gegutekunst@aol.com
• Virgil Brewer (623-5292) virgil.brewer@eku.edu
• Stephan Locke (623-2068) slocke@uky.edu

Our next meeting will be at First Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Richmond, KY, February 1 (Thursday) at 7:00 p.m. The topic for discussion is "The Place of Scripture in Daily Prayer/Offices." Bring your Bibles.

Inasmuch as Virgil and Fr. Birch have indicated that they will not be able to be with us at our next meeting, please remember each of them by name in your Morning and Evening prayers and pray God's blessings upon them as we await their return.

And by the way! Be sure to visit ComplineNYC, an exceptionally beautiful and sacred webspace dedicated to the office of Night Prayer, a website maintained in large measure by Virgil and his son Oliver.

Using a Lectionary with the Daily Office

The Daily Offices give us opportunities to read the Scriptures on a daily and regular basis. Those of us in the Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian traditions now use (almost always) the same lectionary for our readings from the Bible. Generally speaking, a lectionary is a list of scriptural texts (called "lections") recommended for use in worship or study on a particular day. Christian lectionaries are usually built around the Church Year, but they are sometimes centered on the secular calendar (as with programs that guide a person through reading the Bible in a year). Christian lectionaries generally include a reading from the Hebrew Bible, a Psalm, a reading from the Epistles, and a Gospel reading. Locating a lectionary--a list of readings you can use when praying the Daily Office, one suitable for you needs--is quite easy. Here are some places to visit:

• A Month-by-Month Lectionary Listing. Published by the Presbyterian Church (USA), these downloadable lists are based on the Revised Common Lectionary. If you wish you can subscribe to the daily lections and receive each day a printable copy of the day's lessons. This is a good place to get the full text of each day's readings and/or a list of readings for each month.
  
• The Lectionary: A Collection of Lectionary resources for the Episcopal Church. This is an excellent site that provides readings for every day of the year, in either the New Revised Standard (NRSV) or Revised Standard (RSV) Versions of the Bible.
  
• The Daily Office from the Mission of St. Clare. This wonderful online Daily Office provides the full text, including the lessons. When you arrive, go to the button that says "Click for Today's Prayer Service," and you can pray the Office. You can also listen to and pray with Choral Evensong broadcast daily by the BBC.
  

Many multi-volume and "thick" prayerbooks for the Daily Office include the lectionary readings. If you wish to look over more possibilities, share your own use of a lectionary, or ask a question, post in the comment area below.

Reading Suggetions for Lent, 2007

February 21, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is less than a month away, and perhaps it's time to think about a book or two that we might like to read during Lent. If you have a recommendation, post it as a comment and at one of our upcoming meetings, we can talk about it it as a possibility for communal reading and discussion.

Upper Room Worshipbook

Grace Gutekunst introduces us to this wonderful book, and you will want to look at it during our next meeting. Containing everything you need for the Daily Office (in addition to hymns and songs--and several excellent introductory short essays) this Worshipbook is a rich source of versatile liturgies, psalm settings and prayer songs. It's truly idea for anyone who wishes to deepen his or her prayer life.

"The Worshipbook is a gift to the whole church," writes Jerry Haas, director of The Academy for Spiritual Formation. "Worship as delighting in the love of God is a rare thing today. Perhaps in our haste to create new worship resources, we have neglected the spiritual life of the worshiper! Every page [in the Worshipbook] is for your formation and growth in Christ."

Each section contains suggestions for using music and for introducing liturgies into the worship experience of a community. The book features inclusive language and a music index. At $15.00, the price is right! Ten or more are available for $12.75 each!

Next Meeting: Thursday, January 25, at First United Methodist Church, 7:00 p.m.

At our next meeting, we will turn our attention to "The History of the Church’s Daily Prayer/Offices" and spend some time discussing the following topics:

I. The Jewish Roots of Daily "Fixed-Hour" Prayer
II. Jesus’ Prayer Life
III. The Witness of the New Testament
IV. The Witness of the Early Church
V. The Medieval Developments
VI. The Reformation’s Emphasis
VII. The Diminishment
VIII. Returning to the Ancient Church’s Rhythm of Prayer

Since we're distributing a number of handouts, you may wish to bring along a three-ring binder. For Evening Prayer, Fr. Birch will lead us as we use Robert Benson's small booklet for Daily Prayers. Bring a friend!

January 18, Our First Meeting

Last evening seven parishioners met to encourage each other in Daily Prayers. After each briefly shared her or his own personal prayer life, we previewed our eight weeks together, provided one another with phone numbers, email addresses, and prepared ourselves to worship God in Evening Prayer. We began by singing the Church's old "Lamp-lighting Hymn," the Phos Hilaron, and later St. Ambrose's "O Trinity, O Blessed Light," shared Psalm 80, listened to Jim read from Ephesians 5, and at the end before Fr. Birch blessed us, we prayed the Litany, asking among many petitions that God bless Grace Gutekunst who could not be with us.

Several of us took home a copy Robert Benson's Daily Prayer, an especially good book for anyone wanting to use the Daily Office, and perhaps next week we'll hear how it went from those of us who are trying it out.

Telling one another that we'd like to meet again next Thursday, the following went home with lots to remember and two essays to read (The Rise and Fall [and Rise Again] of the Daily Office and Learning the Ancient Rhythms of Prayer):

• Tom Bryan (328-3334) Tom_bryan@bellsouth.net
• June Harnack (626-8535) rjharnack@yahoo.com
• Leslie Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
• Jim Farris (228-0277) momfarris3@aol.com
• Mason Smith (623-0692) mason.smith@eku.edu
• Carol Poson (985-5572) casposton@yahoo.com
• Fr. Birch Rambo (623-1226) tbrambo@bellsouth.net
• Andy Harnack (582-3368) andrew.harnack@eku.edu

Next week we--and others with us, we hope--will meet on Thursday, January 25, at First United Methodist Church, the corner of Main and Lancaster Streets, at 7:00 p.m. in the Hartmon Room to talk about "The History of Daily Prayer" and to worship the Holy Trinity together during Evening Prayer.