"The blessing of the liturgy is that it wipes out self."--Rumer Godden
I found this quotation in an excellent column by the Anchoress (go read if you can--it's both funny and profound). It reminds me of a post I wrote a little while back on a different but related topic. And it calls to mind my own experience, especially as I get older, of relying more and more on the liturgy in my own prayer life. These days it seems like it's all I can do to compose a prayer in my head. I do best with intercessory prayer and confession of sins (there are always people to pray for and sins to confess), but beyond that I find myself floundering. My mind wanders; I fall asleep; or the words just won't come. Thanks be to God for the words He has given in the liturgy. When I can't pray, I can count on them to pray for me. And even if my mind wanders during my feeble "repetitions" I can trust that God's word does what it says and that my prayers are not in vain.
6 comments:
I think that's the wrong link for the Anchoress column. You posted that same link to Loopers for a book sale.
Ooh, thanks, Susan. It's fixed!
I find that the liturgy is especially good for me when I'm in a depressed funk, because it's NOT ABOUT ME. It's OUTSIDE of me, and it's OBJECTIVE.
When a person is down in the dumps, a happy joy-joy song just doesn't cut it. At all. But the Word of God in the liturgy? That I can cling to.
Well, I love written prayers. I hate praying out loud in a group of people ad lib. OH, I just hate it!
I agree, Atara. I have always been very uncomfortable with it, and I also don't care to have others pray ex corde unless they are pastors or people whose theology I absolutely trust (like my husband). The prayer leader has such a responsibility to pray the prayer rightly--that's a responsibility I don't want. I'm too likely to say something stupid. And I'm not talking about my words being less than beautiful--I'm talking about the likelihood that I will say something truly wrong. If I do so in my personal devotions, I know God will understand. But if I were to get it wrong for a group of people that are trusting me to speak for them and who are prepared to say "Amen" to my words . . . that is just too much responsibility. I prefer to leave it to the pastor (or my house pastor, a.k.a. honey).
The only people I feel comfortable using my own words to pray out loud in front of are my children.
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