On common prayer and other things

At Berkeley morning prayer and Eucharist this morning, our Dean, Joe Britton, spoke about 'common' prayer, pointing out that the beauty of this book that we Episcopalians use and read and love allows us to sit in a gathering with others whether we feel like praying or not, or sit in a cozy chair at home reading the daily office whether we feel like it or not, yet someone, somewhere is also praying those very words, and maybe that person feels like it and is able to sort of carry us along and lift us up when we are too tired or too sad or too worn out to feel like doing it ourselves. Then on those days when we are in a better place, our more in-tune prayer can similarly lift up someone else who just doesn't feel very connected at that time and in that place.

There's a real comfort in Dean Britton's words for everyone, I think, but especially for those of us to whom he actually spoke them. This time of year is stress-filled. Even with successful mid-terms behind me, there is no time to rest on those laurels because, with three weeks of class remaining (not counting reading week), there are 4 papers and 5 final exams looming on the not-too-distant horizon. Supposedly I'm doing all of this for God, but bringing myself to prayer with all the craziness of the seminary life is not always the easiest thing in the world. It's good to know that I don't have to be the one carrying the praying on any given day, but on those days that I can, it's also good to know that there might just be someone there who needs me to pray for us both.

Interestingly, in the Old Testament lesson from Haggai yesterday, God encourages the people to get to the work of rebuilding the temple. "Work," God says, "for I am with you" (Hag. 2:4). God promises to "shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all the nations" so that the temple can be rebuilt. God is not asking anything of the Israelites except to work. God will take care of everything else.

So I will continue to work, trusting that God is taking care of everything else - Tim and Rachel and Yohann and the pups and friends and all the other people and things that I love. My job is to work at building this vocation, equipping myself for the life of an ordained person. I think this also means that God is taking care of the prayer part, too, as I pray in common with others in my immediate community as well as across the globe. That part isn't always up to me, either. Thanks be to God.