We’re into the season for Being Green again — the long parade of Sundays after Trinity and Pentecost — depending on which is your book.
Only this Being Green is more about raising the temperature — our spiritual temperature — than cooling it. And so we continue with our Anglicans for Renewal Canada quest, appreciation and reflection on the references to the Holy Spirit in our Prayer Books.
The more I dig into these brilliant tools for prayer, discovering and enjoying their Holy Ghost references, the more I am convinced that, if you and I would just take them up and wield them in faith — not only would our spiritual temperature rise and our hearts be warmed, but our strength in the Lord and in the strength of His might (Eph. 6:10) in our lives would increase exponentially.
We need that kind of strength because the fact is that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).
This wrestling goes on in our relationships, how we entertain ourselves, what we do with our money, how we do church — in our worship, vestries, councils, synods and pastoral care — in every aspect of our parish and personal lives.
To pray the Daily Offices is to put on the whole armour of God.
As I simply “take them up and wield them in faith,” the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, does His supernatural thing, enabling me to fasten the belt of truth around myself securely and properly. The righteousness, which becomes a truly protective spiritual breastplate, becomes clear.
He provides me with the sensible, ready for The Gospel, shoes of the Holy Ghost; the shield of faith, the ultimate and eternal safety helmet; and the lectionary has me reading, marking, learning and inwardly digesting the word of God, which is “the sword of the Spirit.”
Praying the Daily Office helps me stay sharp in the Spirit, which is a line that has stuck in my mind from a 1989 worship song written by a fellow countryman of mine, Ramon Pink.
Keep on Praying is the song. The lyrics are as follows:
Keep on praying in the Spirit
Keep on praying in the Spirit
At all times with all kinds of prayers
Ephesians six eighteen says
Keep on praying
Keeping this in mind
Stay sharp in the Spirit
Praying all the time
For the people of God
Keep on praying, stay sharp in the Spirit, all the time, for the people of God. Sounds like an Anglican-praying-the-Daily-Office anthem to me.
Not only that, but Ramon Pink is a medical doctor who, up to 2023 as far as I can make out, was the Canterbury medical officer of health in Christchurch, New Zealand. He would know something about what’s good for us. You can hear the song here: https://youtu.be/yBQiLpKBE_U?si=-aR4SOpkkxLx-sC0
Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18, CSB).
