small , experimental Christian community in the south . This group was cobbling together their own unique liturgy by explicitly borrowing from a range of sources from different churches — including the Book of Common Prayer . I have to confess that as a researcher with limited exposure to the Episcopal Church at the time , I found the Book of Common Prayer confusing ! Nothing seemed to be where it was supposed to be . I had difficulty seeing how a worship service could be formed from these pages , much less a worshiping way of life ! It was only later , after I began actually participating in the Episcopal Church and encountering these liturgies and prayers from the perspective of an embodied worshiper ( as opposed to a detached researcher ), that the prayer book started to make sense to me . Through the weekly patterns of our worship services and the changing of the liturgies across the church seasons , I began to realize that I was being invited into the story of Jesus . I began to realize that we were living this story out each week through our liturgy and our prayers . Only after realizing that our prayer book was something to be lived , embodied , and enacted did I come to fully appreciate it .
Beyond the way in which the prayer book invites us into the story of Jesus , I have also been struck by the sheer amount of scripture contained in the BCP . Rarely is a page turned or a prayer said where I do not see or hear the words of the bible . I hesitate to oversimplify what exactly goes on when we worship , but my understanding includes the notion of us offering back to God the gifts that God has given to us . For me , the BCP facilitates this beautifully , as we are able to offer back to God in worship — by praying scripture — the very words that God has given to us .
for we do not know how to pray as we ought , but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words
Romans 8.26
One of the things that surprised me about the BCP is the impact it has had in my day-today life . Of course , St . James ’ offers Morning and Evening Prayer and I have been spiritually refreshed when I have joined in these prayers , but through St . James ’ I have also been introduced to the daily devotionals for individuals and families found in the BCP . These are prayers that can be said at various times throughout the day in small groups , with one ’ s family , or as an individual . Our men ’ s bible study here begins our time together with the morning devotional and it helps to collect our attention around God and God ’ s grace in our lives . I have also discovered that the BCP is full of prayers for various occasions . Whether I have been troubled or blessed , broken or restored , concerned or elated , fearful or happy , confused or confident , I have been able to find a prayer that would meet me in that moment and help express my thoughts to God . Finally , I have been catching myself casually talking about the BCP in my day-today conversations with friends and neighbors . Any conversation of substance will usually incorporate something touched on in our liturgy on Sunday or our prayers throughout the week — be it peace , or justice , or forgiveness , or healing , or thanksgiving . In those conversations , I am able to say to friends and neighbors that we were praying for that exact thing just this week . I hope this invites friends and neighbors to reflect on how God is currently moving in our world , but if nothing else , it is a reminder to me of the ways in which God is at work .
The BCP has been a great gift to me in my spiritual life . I oftentimes find myself not knowing what to pray ( or how to pray ). Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans —“ we do not know how to pray as we ought .” In these moments when we don ’ t know what to say or how to pray , Paul writes that the Spirit will intercede for us . When I imagine this happening , my mind is drawn immediately to the BCP . I think of the ways in which the Spirit is interceding on my behalf , by guiding the church across time and place to formulate these liturgies and prayers so I can say what I do not know to say and pray how I do not know to pray . �
10 · FALL 2018