Lent - Let Us Pray
At a Friday Noon Eucharist early last December we celebrated the lesser feast of Nicholas Ferrar, a late-16th / early 17th century English businessman, politician, and later, when his businesses failed and he became disillusioned with politics, leader of a religious house at Little Gidding. Here Ferrar, along with members of his extended family, followed Saint Paul's admonition to pray without ceasing, with at least one person remaining at prayer in their small chapel at all times, day and night. This praying community became known throughout the land, drawing people from all walks of life - including the king - to seek solace, wisdom, and refuge at Little Gidding. This place, so immersed in prayer through the centuries, inspired one of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, "Little Gidding," a hopeful poem composed amid the great uncertainties of war in the early 1940s.
I have known Ferrar's story - and Eliot's work - for many years, but somehow on this occasion it all came to me differently - not so much an historical curiosity as a present day calling. I, myself, have been deeply moved when visiting places like Little Gidding that have been steeped in prayer over centuries: Iona, Lindisfarne, Taize (including nearby Cluny), Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and - most recently - Santiago de Compostela. While I firmly believe that God is not confined to any specific place or time - anyone can pray to God anywhere at any time - I do believe there are places in this world made sacred by their immersion over time in the prayers of the faithful. Where prayer happens consistently, the presence of God becomes palpable.
On the world stage, Saint James Episcopal Church, South Bend is a relative newcomer. By Midwestern US standards, however, as a praying community meeting since 1867, we've been around a long time. Our present church building, which opened on Christmas Eve 1894, has now been a gathering place for prayer and celebration for some 6,735 Sundays, give or take a few for weather closings and renovations. Imagine, for a moment, all the reasons people have prayed at Saint James between December 1894 and now: Every Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. Every birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage, and ordination. Every disaster, war, pandemic, downturn, illness, and death. Every ordinary Sunday when ordinary people presented their hopes, fears, concerns, joys, and lives to Jesus as a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice.
It is staggering to consider the cumulative prayers of the faithful over nearly 130 years in the single large room that is our worship space. And it is humbling to remember that this is, first and foremost, our calling as a community of faith: first, we pray.
So, with the example of constant prayer accomplished by one family at Little Gidding in mind, with a faith tradition that names our second-most important defining text the Book of Common (as in shared) Prayer, and with an already rich history of prayer in place, I wondered aloud in an eConnections article last December: could we, as a faith community, commit to daily prayer at the Cathedral through the Lenten season?
Surely we can. And, furthermore, surely we should.
(And yes, I know, please don't call you Shirley).
Therefore, in a rare (for me) assertion of sacerdotal authority, I am issuing a pastoral call the Cathedral community to honor our heritage as a praying community by taking on a corporate discipline of Common Prayer this Lent. The task is straightforward enough: to hold an in-person worship service every day from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday. Two days each week - Sunday and Friday - are already accounted for by our regular worship schedule. From Monday through Thursday, plus Saturday, we will need the Cathedral community to step in to lead and participate in common prayer and worship.
Our Proposed Weekly Schedule
Sundays: Holy Eucharist at 8:00 am & 10:30 am
Mondays: Evening Prayer at 5:00 pm
Tuesdays: Morning Prayer at 8:00 am
Wednesdays: Evening Prayer at 5:00 pm
Thursdays: Morning Prayer at 8:00 am | Vespers at 8:00 pm
Fridays: Holy Eucharist at 12:05 pm
Saturdays: Morning Prayer at 9:00 am
Can you commit to attending one service in addition to Sunday each week?
Logistics
All services will take place in the Cathedral worship space. The biggest challenge to this whole plan is making sure the building is open, the alarm off, and the lights on at the appointed hours. The Cathedral staff can cover some of these times as we are available, but the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer may be led by lay persons, which we absolutely wish to encourage. It is important for us to know, therefore, who is available on each of these days to help us with these tasks.
Leaders, Readers, and Musicians
We will provide materials for leading Morning & Evening Prayer so that even those unfamiliar with these services will be able to lead them easily. Anyone may sign up to read at each service, as well. Additionally, if you wish to offer your musical talent, or if you wish to suggest a song to be played in the course of worship, particularly at Thursday Vespers, you may sign up for that, as well.
Thursday Vespers
Thursday evening Vespers is intended to be prayerful while also a little creative. I am particularly interested in inviting any musician who wishes to play a solo piece or help lead singing to let me know. Thursday Vespers will begin at 8 pm and last about 30 minutes.
How to Sign Up
To indicate your availability to lead worship, serve as a reader, offer your musical talent, or participate in any other way, please click on the button below which will take you to a Google spreadsheet that should (I think I fixed it...) allow you to add your name on any date in whatever capacity you wish to participate. Generally speaking, we need only one leader per date, but if you are inspired to lead Thursday Vespers, please add your name next to mine. We also need one or two readers at each service.
Blessings, all. Let us pray.
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