Evagrius wrote in the fourth century
“There are five works that help us find favor with God: the first is pure prayer; the second chanting the Psalms; the third reading the Scriptures; the fourth the remembrance with sorrow of heart our sins, death and the last judgment; the fifth manual labor.”
These are precisely the areas which should be incorporated in the disciplined Christian life: we should find tune for per¬sonal prayer, for some form of the Daily Office within the Prayer Book, for Bible study, for penitence and confession and for manual work.
The first four of these five acts can be accomplished through the regular daily reading of Morning/Evening Prayer to include reading the lessons in course. It is my hope that you will start or continue this daily practice or discipline in 1985.
The 1985 Diocesan Prayer Cycle is in¬tended to aid in your prayer life as an in¬dividual and member of the Church. It is not intended to systematize or regimen¬talize your prayer life but to give it a framework which will help it to be free and to blossom.
In this framework we pray together for the Church universal and particular. Our prayers are offered for Church families and special ministries in the Diocese of South Dakota, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. We also pray for all those who minister in the name of Jesus Christ.
No prayer cycle is complete or definitive. I hope that you will add to the cycle as times and situations in the Church and world are revealed as needing our prayers and intercessions.
In addition to sending the new Cycle of Prayer to each of the congregations in the Diocese, it will be published monthly in the ChurchNews. Please clip out the monthly cycle, tape it to your refrigerator, insert it in your Prayer Book or whatever to ensure its use on a daily basis.
In using the cycle, take some time to reflect on the persons, churches or institu¬tions being remembered on that par¬ticular day. There are several collects and intercessions that can be used, more intentionally to focus our attention on those we remember in prayer e.g., the several beautiful prayers on page 246ff in the Prayer Book.
Many of you know of my personal com¬mitment to a life of prayer organized by prayer. In my Diocesan address I called us as a diocesan family to a life of daily prayer, theological reflection and inten¬tional action, Like Evagrius I would have us begin with prayer. It is in this spirit and with this hope that this 1985 Diocesan Prayer Cycle is offered.
Kenneth Leech, the English theologian writes: “The aim and goal of Christian life and prayer is to see God. Prayer is God. It is the movement of God to man, and of man to God, the rhythm of encounter and response. In this sense, all Christian life, all discipleship is prayer.”
It is my prayer that we shall see God. Pray for me as I shall be praying for and with you.
On the 1985 Diocesan Cycle of Prayer
Evagrius wrote in the fourth century
“There are five works that help us find favor with God: the first is pure prayer; the second chanting the Psalms; the third reading the Scriptures; the fourth the remembrance with sorrow of heart our sins, death and the last judgment; the fifth manual labor.”
These are precisely the areas which should be incorporated in the disciplined Christian life: we should find tune for per¬sonal prayer, for some form of the Daily Office within the Prayer Book, for Bible study, for penitence and confession and for manual work.
The first four of these five acts can be accomplished through the regular daily reading of Morning/Evening Prayer to include reading the lessons in course. It is my hope that you will start or continue this daily practice or discipline in 1985.
The 1985 Diocesan Prayer Cycle is in¬tended to aid in your prayer life as an in¬dividual and member of the Church. It is not intended to systematize or regimen¬talize your prayer life but to give it a framework which will help it to be free and to blossom.
In this framework we pray together for the Church universal and particular. Our prayers are offered for Church families and special ministries in the Diocese of South Dakota, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. We also pray for all those who minister in the name of Jesus Christ.
No prayer cycle is complete or definitive. I hope that you will add to the cycle as times and situations in the Church and world are revealed as needing our prayers and intercessions.
In addition to sending the new Cycle of Prayer to each of the congregations in the Diocese, it will be published monthly in the ChurchNews. Please clip out the monthly cycle, tape it to your refrigerator, insert it in your Prayer Book or whatever to ensure its use on a daily basis.
In using the cycle, take some time to reflect on the persons, churches or institu¬tions being remembered on that par¬ticular day. There are several collects and intercessions that can be used, more intentionally to focus our attention on those we remember in prayer e.g., the several beautiful prayers on page 246ff in the Prayer Book.
Many of you know of my personal com¬mitment to a life of prayer organized by prayer. In my Diocesan address I called us as a diocesan family to a life of daily prayer, theological reflection and inten¬tional action, Like Evagrius I would have us begin with prayer. It is in this spirit and with this hope that this 1985 Diocesan Prayer Cycle is offered.
Kenneth Leech, the English theologian writes: “The aim and goal of Christian life and prayer is to see God. Prayer is God. It is the movement of God to man, and of man to God, the rhythm of encounter and response. In this sense, all Christian life, all discipleship is prayer.”
It is my prayer that we shall see God. Pray for me as I shall be praying for and with you.