Daily Office Zoom Services
Sundays, Wednesdays, & Fridays: Turning to God and Facing Chaos Together
I have written before (May 2020, The Whole Earth is Our Altar) of turning each morning in prayer to the altar of the world, on which I offer all the labors and sufferings of the world, a eucharist of distance. This daily practice has kept me grounded as a human cut off from my church community because of the global pandemic.
In September I wrote of some of the new ways of gathering I have experienced through the courtyard Eucharist and online services and groups at St. Mary’s. (September 2020, Where Two or Three Have Gathered)
Now that we are facing a much longer time of social distancing, and the end of all we have come to call “church,” how do we not only “get through” this, but allow ourselves to be converted by it? How do we allow ourselves to be transformed by this chaos and extreme uncertainty? How do we as the beloved community of God find our way to the new orientation we are being called to?
Grief has a way of bringing us to our knees. And that’s where the Spirit breaks in, at the place opened by darkness and despair. That’s the crack where the Light gets in.
A Muslim friend of mine describes the Islamic regular call to prayer not as an obligation, but as an invitation. An invitation to turn away from the chaos of daily life and come together and pray. To get re-oriented to God, to the source and ground of our being.
Together we can grieve the loss of all we have known. Together we can face our fears and move beyond the madness. As a community, we can turn to God and face the unknown future.
The church has a long history of daily prayer, liturgy, and worship, using the daily offices. By the middle ages, the daily office was mostly the responsibility of monks and clergy rather than occasions for participation by all in the community. But now, in the Episcopal Church, the entire community is invited to participate in the daily offices, primarily through the services of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.
St. Mary’s now has three regular Zoom daily office services: Evening Prayer Sundays at 4 PM, Morning Prayer Wednesdays at 9:30 AM, and Morning Prayer Fridays at 9:30 AM.
The links for these daily office services will be in the Saturday and Tuesday email announcements. All are welcome. These services are led by lay people as well as clergy. I warmly invite you to join us in this life-giving way of turning to God together.
NOTE: You will need a Book of Common Prayer for the Sunday and Wednesday services, which you can find online, or borrow from St. Mary’s (see Worship Resources in the weekly emails). A service bulletin will be provided for the Friday service. Questions? Email: christine@saint-marys.org
