Drop Everything and Pray - April 23
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 105:1-22; PM Psalm 105:23-45; Dan. 6:1-15; 2 John 1-13; Luke 5:12-26
Today’s Reflection
Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open towards Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously. The conspirators came and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God. Then they approached the king and said concerning the interdict, ‘O king! Did you not sign an interdict, that anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human, within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions?’ The king answered, ‘The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.’ Then they responded to the king, ‘Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the interdict you have signed, but he is saying his prayers three times a day.’ —Daniel 6: 10-13
Growing up, I remember hearing the story of Daniel and the lions’ den, seeing the vivid illustrations of how artists imagine Daniel must have looked as he was surrounded by these fierce, powerful creatures as he prayed for God to deliver him. (You’ll read more about that tomorrow when Daniel’s story continues in our lectionary readings.) But what I had forgotten about until I re-read the passage appointed for today is just why Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den in the first place. You see, Daniel was sentenced to fend for himself amidst the lions because he persisted in a life devoted to God through prayer.
Though the powers-that-be in his society had ruled it illegal to pray to anyone besides the king of the Persian Empire (at the time, Darius), Daniel decided he needed to be true to his God, YHWH, and keep up his practice of praying to him at three different times of the day—likely at morning, noon, and night. And so that he could pray facing the holy city of Jerusalem, he continued to pray upstairs in front of an open window—which also meant that anyone passing by or in an adjacent building could easily see that Daniel was praying. So, Daniel not only stayed true to God and his practice of praying three times a day, but he did so in a very public way—and in so doing, risked facing the authorities who would make him answer for these choices to persist in praying to the LORD instead of to the king.
Over this past year of living in a global pandemic, many people around the Episcopal Church have re-embraced this ancient practice of praying to God at different times throughout the day, every day. Centuries ago, the monastic orders, most notably the Benedictines, developed a devotional practice known as “praying the hours” or “the liturgy of the hours.” The monks would stop what they were doing at set times of the day and night to gather for prayer. The other activities of their day and night had to fit around this pre-existing structure of prayer—rather than prayer being wedged in amidst existing activities. Prayer was scheduled first—and then all else. It makes me wonder how did the church universal get away from this beautiful devotional practice that prioritizes the life of prayer? (My theory is that it has to do, at least in part, with the move from an agricultural economy to our current, more industrial and information-based economy, not to mention the increasing encroachment of communication technology that has made it harder and harder to unplug from work and life and plug into God through prayer.)
Before the pandemic came around, a number of authors called for a revival of such practices in our contemporary context, chief among them Phyllis Tickle, who has published several different editions of The Divine Hours, a modern reworking of the Benedictine liturgy of the hours. But something about this pandemic, suddenly being cloistered in our homes to protect ourselves and those we love from the grip of COVID-19, drove us as quick as a flash to the largely ignored Daily Offices section of the Book of Common Prayer. Mainly used in seminaries or by individuals as a personal practice in recent decades (post-liturgical renewal and post-1979 Book of Common Prayer), suddenly people throughout the Episcopal Church were on Facebook and other social media leading Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline to stay connected with one another when circumstances were keeping us physically distant and unable to gather as usual for Sunday worship in person.
No ruler had forbidden us to pray three times a day, as was the case with Daniel. We never faced the threat of being thrown into a lions’ den. But somehow, over the decades and the centuries, our church lost touch with this beautiful tradition of dropping what we were doing to gather for prayer throughout the day and throughout the week. Maybe no law forbids us from doing it, but the priorities of the mainstream American culture certainly do not encourage people to stop their work—to stop being productive—and spend time worshipping God and praying for the needs of others. But what have found—here at Saint Stephen’s and around the Episcopal Church—is that, truly, what could be more important and productive, in the grand scheme of things, than dropping everything to pray?
This is the silver lining of the pandemic for us in the church—when we were forced to stay home and stay apart, we collectively pressed “reset” (or maybe control-alt-delete?) on our commitment to joining together to read Scripture and to pray. When we prioritize these spiritual practices in our day, and then build everything else into the day around them, we begin to see that we are finally getting our priorities straight. All the other things will happen. Everything else will fall into its proper place. But first, we pray.
—Becky+
Questions for Self-Reflection
In what ways have you experienced that dropping everything to read scripture and pray helps you to press “reset” and get a fresh start for the rest of the day? How does your day feel different when you do this than on a day when you do not?
Daily Challenge
Learn more about the Liturgy of the Hours by reading about how it is observed at one Trappist monastery, Genesee Abbey in New York. You can also read more about how the Daily Offices in our Episcopal Book of Common Prayer continue this tradition.