Last time I referred to what some people identify as a problem with liturgy and praying the offices: repetition and monotony. But, the fact is, getting good at something means being prepared to do it over and over again, to the point of boredom and then beyond.
Practice makes perfect, the saying goes. Musicians do it. Dancers, basketball players, and golfers do it. Olympians do it, endlessly. Practising the faith is no exception.
Prayer needs repetition. Holy Scripture requires it. Jesus told the parable of the Persistent Widow to the effect that we ought always to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).
Be constant in prayer (Rom.12:12), Paul adds, continuing steadfastly (Col.4:2), without ceasing (1Thess.5:17) and at all times in the Spirit (Eph.6:18).
This is exactly what our prayer books are designed to do for us. Praying the offices keeps our praying constant, continuing, ceaseless, repeated, and in the Spirit.
Consider this versicle (isn’t that a lovely word – like something tasty on a stick) and response in The Book of Common Prayer, THE ORDER FOR MORNING and EVENING PRAYER DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, for example:
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;
People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us. (p11 & 23).
Two things to note about this prayer. First, I am reminded that God can take, and has taken, his Spirit away from someone with whom he is displeased; King Saul, for example (1 Sam.16:14). If Saul, the Lord’s anointed, was capable of acting in ways that brought about such dire consequences, so am I.
Second, I need the Holy Spirit. So do you. The Prayer Books turn our need into a prayer.
So I pray, earnestly, and ask God not to take the Holy Spirit from me so that He will keep me on track and warn me when I’m following too much the devices and desires of my own heart (BCP, p4 & 19).
He also sanctifies, regenerates, strengthens, fills, sustains, seals and renews me, more and more, and daily.
A Prayer for the Queen’s (now King’s) Majesty
The aforementioned King Saul needed the Holy Spirit, you and I need the Holy Spirit, so did Queen Elizabeth and so does the King Charles. “Replenish her (now him) with the grace of thy Holy Spirit,” we pray, “that he may alway incline to thy will, and walk in thy way: Endue him plenteously with heavenly gifts” (BCP, p12).
What is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and why would King Charles need it? Grace is God’s empowering presence to be who He made him to be and to do what He calls him to do. Queen Elizabeth was a royal and faithful witness for God and the Church throughout her long reign.
We pray King Charles will follow in her faithful footsteps. By association, we can pray the same Holy Spirit replenishment for our federal, provincial and local governments, all of which now govern on his behalf.
I like and frequently pray the alternative Prayer for the Queen and the Commonwealth that follows.
Although the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, I can add my heartfelt “Amen!” to the prayer for those, “set in authority under him; that they may order all things in wisdom, righteousness, and peace, to the honour of thy holy Name, and the good of thy Church and people.”
It covers all the bases. When God’s holy Name is honoured, good things happen for the Church and all people, whoever they are and whatever they believe, whether they know it, or not.
