From Fr. Robby Vickery
I hope you worshiped with the St. James’ community this past Sunday using the online links. Since we were not able to share bread and wine around the table, the service was “Morning Prayer.” For many of us Morning Prayer is a novel thing, but it has a revered place in our Anglican tradition.
When Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer put together the first English Book of Common Prayer in 1549, he conflated the ancient monastic daily offices into Morning and Evening Prayer. These offices provide a way to confess our sins, to recite the psalms, to alternate between reading scripture and saying/singing canticles/hymns, and to pray. In our Diocese of Texas through the 1970s, the norm was for congregations to have Holy Communion one Sunday per month and Morning Prayer the remaining Sundays.
Morning Prayer gives you and me many chances to “speak up” and not just listen. It is intended to be interactive, so interact even if you are the only one hearing you. Add a sermon and an offering to Morning Prayer, and you have a complete worship experience. Expect the St. James’ tradition of powerful pastoral and prophetic preaching to continue online. And do not neglect to make your offering. The collection plate will not be passed at your house, but you can still mail your offering in or make a donation online. All you have to do is click “Give” at the top of the webpage.
We are certainly in some different places on our journey of faith than I ever imagined we be in, but we are still “welcome at this table.” God is just expanding our idea of God’s table!
