Reflection: Tips for a Good Advent

In our popular culture, we jump straight from Thanksgiving to Christmas. We are thrust directly into a season of consumeristic decadence through Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. The Christmas music begins to play, “12 Days of Christmas” is used as a marketing ploy to countdown to Christmas. In all this hustle and bustle, where did the Advent season go?

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year. It is important to remember that the Christian Kalendar is set up in such a way that our seasons of feasting is typically preceded by seasons of fasting and penance. The Kalendar is instructive for us, teaching us about the necessity of repentance and self-discipline and the necessity of responsibly enjoying God’s good creation. Advent, then, is a season of somber and sobering reflection that prepares us to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity.

How should we prepare? What are some practical tips to maximize the benefit of this season?

Tip #1: Mediate on the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and the Impending Return of Christ
In Advent, we look to the historical coming of the Christ Child, we more intensely fixate on his sacramental coming in the Host and Chalice during Holy Communion, and we anticipate his return on the last day to “judge the quick and the dead.” These provide tangible events for us to focus on.

When we think about the Nativity, we consider that “When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst humble thyself to be born of a Virgin” (Te Deum; BCP 10). Christ has united human nature to his divine person, re-establishing communion between humanity and God while showing us what it means for us to be fully human.

When we go to Communion, we can further reflect on the idea that Christ is fully present with us in the Host and the Chalice. Remember the name Jesus is given in Matthew 1:23? Immanuel which means “God with us.” God is with us and the Eucharist is a sure and objective reminder of that. We are not alone! Further, when we go to receive, we can more profoundly consider the mystery that Christ is in us and we are in Christ.

Finally, we anticipate the “Return of the King.” What the Scriptures tell us is that the purpose of his Second Coming is to “judge the quick and the dead.” This reality gives us an impetus for serious self-reflection about the state of our own lives. Are we doing the things we ought to do and avoiding the things we ought not to do? This season is a great time for intentional examination, a time to audit our spiritual progress. There are many ways to do this, including using the Decalogue or the Seven Deadly Sin as a springboard.

Tip #2: Resist the Urge to Reduce this Season to a Consumerist Holiday

It’s very easy for us as Christians to mimic the larger culture. This is especially true when it comes to consumerism. Consumerism tells us taht the more good we acquire, the happier we will be. While it is certainly true that things are not necessarily bad in and of themselves, this idea that happiness can be found in material goods, many of which are not necessary or particularly helpful, is a materialistic lie. Embracing this worldview is to be the man who built his house on the shifting sand (Matthew 7:24-27). In response to this temptation, one helpful discipline to develop this season is that of restraint. Be intentional about buying less for yourself, purchasing only those things that are necessary. Avoid retail therapy or binge spending. Remember that true happiness is not found in things. Those who die with the most toys do not win. True happiness is found in relationship with God, the source of all goodness and happiness.

Tip #3: Commit to Spending More Time in Prayer
Being a new year, Advent is a wonderful time to make a resolution to be intentional about prayer. It is important to remember that spiritual progress does not happen by accident; we have to be intentional about becoming more proficient Christians. Each person is different and our levels of consistency and piety may vary. If you take stock of your own progress through self-examination, then you can establish realistic goals for yourself. Maybe that means trying to pray the Daily Office a few more times during the week, coming to Sunday services more regularly, or trying out a new devotional exercise. If you want some help in coming up with achievable goals, talk to me! I’d love to work with you in developing these habits.

Advent is a beautiful season filled with hope and expectation. It’s a time for us to prepare ourselves for the great feast of Christmas. “Be sober, be vigilant” (1 Pet 5:8a). Now is the time for us to prepare for Christ’s coming. We can do that through meditation, self-discipline, and working to develop more robust prayer lives. “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Rom 13:11-12).

Reflection: "Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good"

There are so many great things about Thanksgiving: food, family and friends, the Dallas Cowboys, Black Friday sales (I’m not actually sure these are good), and food. Most of all, however, Thanksgiving is a day for us to meditate on the many gifts God gives us: “All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chron 29:14).

In a world that praises self-sufficiency, the practice of giving thanks to God is a way we resist the the cultural zeitgeist. For Christians, the act of thanksgiving is a declaration of our complete dependence on God. When we thank him for all the gifts he gives us—our families, friends, health, homes, jobs, and whatever else we’re thankful for—we are saying that God is the ultimate reason that we have them. “We are his people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand” (BCP 9). This truth makes us vulnerable; we are fragile, contingent creatures who rely on God for our very existence. While the vulnerability and intimacy that come with that recognition may initially frighten us, God has proven himself over and over again to be a faithful provider who gives us exactly what we need. The Gospel reading for Thanksgiving Day from St. Matthew 6 emphasizes God as a good giver (BCP 266): “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” God provides for all things and we can trust that he will continue.

It is for this reason that thanksgiving is a necessary spiritual discipline for all Christians. This is why we pray a Prayer of Thanksgiving every day at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer and after receiving the Eucharist. Yet beyond our corporate acts of thanksgiving, it is necessary for us to specifically recollect what we are thankful for on an individual level. Doing so has a wonderful effect on our imagination because it causes us to see reality in a new light as we recognize the ongoing redemption of all things. If we are truly thankful for all that God gives us, nothing is “common” or “mundane”; rather, everything becomes sacred because all is gift. The Thanksgiving holiday is a wonderful time to intentionally reflect on all that we’re thankful for. But we shouldn’t stop there! Thanksgiving should be a tool in our spiritual discipline tool belt that we regularly use.

The discipline of giving God thanks is not purely about remembering. Thanksgiving should be translated into praise “not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days” (BCP 19, 33). We recognize our dependence on God, seeing him at work in all our circumstances. In response, we offer God praise, not merely through words but through lives that properly respond to the great gifts we receive from him.

Reflection: Allhallowtide

By Fr. Wesley Walker

O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-The Collect for All Saints’ Day (BCP 256)

Christianity is a religion built around the idea of memory. “Do this in remembrance of me.” When the past events of salvation-history are brought into the present, we place ourselves in the context of the Church: “with Angels, and Archangels, and all the Company of Heaven.” If we are “in Christ,” we are united to everyone else who is “in Christ.” This union exists not only among Christians here on earth (the Church Militant), but includes all Christians who have gone before us onto their heavenly reward (the Church Triumphant). There are two biblical images that highlight this unity. The first is Hebrews 12:1 (a passage that the BCP has us read at Morning Prayer on All Saints’ Day — see p. xlv) where the author says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us with patience the race that is set before us.” The “cloud of witnesses” here are likened to the audience at a sporting event. When I went to a Dallas Cowboys game a few weeks ago, the fans weren’t passive, but an active part of the game, cheering on our team. The same is true with the Church Triumphant: the Church Militant is not so cut off from our heavenly predecessors; quite the opposite. Those in heaven are cheering us on with their prayers. That they are involved is further evidenced by a second biblical example: the heavenly worship found in Revelation 5:8 and 7:9-10. As the Church, then, we are united to one another in Christ and one way we express this “mystical union” is in the Church Kalendar.

The Church Kalendar is a means of corporate and individual recollection of life in Christ. From Advent I until the end of Whitsuntide, we follow the earthly life of Christ. Throughout the Kalendar are a various Feast Days where we commemorate saints. The Kalendar transfigures our conception of time so that today is not just Friday, October 28, 2022; it is the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude. According to Anglican priest Martin Thornton, “The Office and Mass on that day, and therefore our private prayer as well, are no bare memorial to one of the Apostles, but the expression of this time-eternal, earth-heaven, nature-grace, link” (Christian Proficiency 68). Not only does the Kalendar afford us a new and redeemed view of time, it aids the development of our Christian imagination by placing before us exemplary Christians whose examples are worthy of emulation because they have lived holy lives in a variety of contexts. This week is an important week in the Church Kalendar because we have a triduum of Holy Days, often called Allhallowtide: Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve), All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day.

All Hallow’s Eve is a day to prepare for All Saints’ Day. Historically, this was done by a service in the church followed by festivities and visits to cemeteries so people could put out candles and flowers in preparation for All Saints’ and All Souls’. All Saints’ Day is a day for us to celebrate the fact that we are part of “the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people” (BCP 83). All Saints’ is a day of celebration —hence the white vestments—of Christ’s victory over death and the new life he brings to members of the Church. By recognizing all the saints, we worship Christ because “Christ will be glorified in his saints” (2 Thess 1:10).

The final day of Allhallowtide is All Souls’ Day. This is a special time for us to remember and honor the dearly departed, especially our family and friends. For this reason, it is often called “the Day of the Dead.” it is a good day for us to pray for the departed (see BCP pp. 598 and 332) and visit the graves of loved ones. As a corporate act of remembrance, churches often do a Requiem Mass where we name the dearly departed from the parish and those names requested by parishioners. On All Saints’ Day, we look to the Church Triumphant to honor and celebrate them, knowing that they are praying for us; on All Souls’ Day, we pray for those departed Christians we know and love that God may “open to them the gates of larger life” (BCP 598).

The Allhallowtide triduum is too often overlooked and neglected. Halloween is immensely popular In our culture, but, just like Christmas, its true purpose has been supplanted by mindless consumerism and empty hedonism. Put Christ back in Halloween! Stop the war on Allhallowtide! In all seriousness, these three days really are about the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the identity of his Church, and our place in it. So we use these three days to make acts of recollection, specifically by recalling the collective memory of the Mystical Body’s experience with the God who redeems.

Reflection: On Scripture and Tradition

By Dcn. David Hodil

In a recent Bible study, we had a great conversation about the role of tradition in the Church doctrinal views. This is a critical topic and so I want to briefly reflect about one of the Church’s most sacred traditions: Holy Scripture.

Within the history of the Church of England’s treatment of Scripture, there are two poles: Puritan and Anglican. The Puritan view of Scripture is that the Bible stands alone and is self-authenticating. That is to say that God superintended the writing and transmission of the Bible to us today, and that individual believers know the Bible to be the Word of God. The Westminster Confession of Faith which is a Presbyterian document that influenced some Puritans in England, states it this way: “The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.”

Let’s examine this statement. It presupposes that you know what is contained in the Holy Scriptures. In other words, it assumes a stable canon of authoritative books. I know most will roll their eyes and say, “W know what books are in the Bible!” but do we really?  There are many books that vied for canonicity that are very old—some much older than most of the established New Testament. Yet Christians today do not consider these books canonical, even if they may clarify details about the life of the Early Church.

The Presbyterian theologians behind the Westminster Confession and their Puritan counterparts held to a 66-book canon, leaving out the Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal books (for a list of the Deuterocanonical books, see Article 6 of the 39 Articles). There isn’t enough space to deal with that topic except to say that our tradition states that we should read these books “for example of life and instruction of manners.” But this strikes at the heart of the issue: our Mother The Church, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, delivered to us the oracles of God.  She wrote, edited, preserved, preached, and proclaimed the Word of God.  Our Lord did not pen or even authorize a single book during His earthly ministry.  He left that work to the Apostles and their successor Bishops to do. Paul tells us as much in I Timothy 3:15 when he states that “the church of the living God” is “the pillar and ground of the truth.”

What this means is that Anglicans, counter to the Puritans, do not come to the Bible in a vacuum. The Church teaches us that the Bible is the Word of God. The Scriptures, next to the sacraments of Eucharist and Baptism, is the greatest of all our traditions, at least in my opinion. My own personal testimony is that I was taught that the Bible was the Word of God by my mom, dad, and Rev. Phillips at Kent Island United Methodist church and I am deeply thankful for that.

The Scriptures are a powerful witness to God and his work in space and time (Heb. 4:12). While it may be that many writers are inspired to speak truth, the Church, the pillar and foundation of the truth, has spoken and authoritatively recognized these books as canonical for us. And so, we approach Scripture not in a vacuum but through the teachings of the Church.

Reflection: On Blessing Pets and the Feast of St. Francis

By Fr. Wesley Walker

Christians around the world celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226), the patron saint of animals, on Tuesday, October 4. In one legend made up after his death, he stopped a train of brother monks that he was traveling with to preach to birds. His preaching was so beautiful that the birds began to bow their heads towards heaven and sing beautifully to the glory of God. What St. Francis understood is that all of God’s creation is a beautiful gift and animals, as a part of that creation, are special gifts to us. We intuitively understand this; it’s why so many of us invite pets into our families. From a Christian perspective, our relationship with animals is especially important because it can be an important avenue that teaches us to care for creation.

Christians recognize that personhood entails context. All of us are born in geographical areas, into families, and already existing social structures and arrangements. From the moment of our conception, there being human involves interconnectedness. Collectively, we have come to realize the interconnectedness of all things over the past few years with the pandemic: that a pathogen in one part of the world can affect not only the health of people on the other side of the world but also shut down travel, economies, and so much else. If everything is connected, it means that we are contingent beings. I exist because I have parents. But why do my parents exist? We could point to our familial genealogy which ultimately connects to the evolutionary development of humans from earlier forms of life. Where does this great chain of being originate? For Christians, the answer is God.

That we live in a created world in particular circumstances brings a certain dignity to those contexts. Whatever is is good insofar as its existence is a participation in the God who is, “in whom we live and move and have our being.” (Exod 3:14; Acts 17:28; NRSV). This means that the world, the sum of all the various contexts that exist, was not only created by God at a certain point; it continues to be sustained by him as he holds all things together. If it is true that creation is a gift from God that is sustained by him, then we must recognize it for the gift it is by respecting it, treating it with dignity, and offering thanksgiving to God for it.

This brings us to our furry friends. They are included in this beautiful, divinely-provided gift of creation. According to the Song of Three Jews, the animals, in their own way, join us in praising our Creator: “Bless the Lord, you whales and all that swim in the waters; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. Bless the Lord, all birds of the air; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. Bless the Lord, all wild animals and cattle; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. Bless the Lord, all people on earth; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.” This sublime chorus of adoration offered by a diverse collection of species is interconnected: we are not the same without our animals and they are not the same without us. We are not the same without our animals because they teach us what it means to care for creation. Walking our pets, feeding them, and paying for their vet bills are all acts of sacrifice for the other. It’s simultaneously true that our animals would not be the same without us. The great Christian thinker C.S. Lewis once said, “The higher animals are in a sense drawn into Man when he loves them and makes them much more nearly human than they would otherwise be.” In our animals, we see two things at once: we see creation as it is and creation for what it can be. The Christian should see the world charged with the grandeur of God and want aid in its elevation, just like St. Francis did when he allegedly preached to the birds!

We are all placed in a context. Whatever our context is, we know God is the ultimate source of that context because he is the source of all created things. This provides an impetus for us to care about creation. One way we do that is to have a Blessing of the Pets event where people may bring their animals to receive a blessing. Blessings are a way that the Church sets something or someone apart for God and calls God’s favor and grace on them. Blessing of the Pets provides us a wonderful opportunity to care for our animals, to recognize that they are gifts of God, and thank him for them.

Reflection: On Mission

By Fr. Wesley Walker

In Christian contexts, the word “mission” often makes us think of going to other parts of the world on short-term missions trips or missionary work in remote villages. These mental images are in no way wrong, but they are incomplete. When we use the term “mission” in terms of the Church, we’re talking about Her vocation: the identity of the Church, the purpose of the Church, and what activities fall under that umbrella. This week, +Bp. Stephen Scarlett, the rector of St. Matthews in Newport Beach, California and the Bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity in the Anglican Catholic Church, organized a conference and retreat on the topic of mission in partnership with our own Diocese of the Eastern United States of the Anglican Province of America at the Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House in Dallas, Texas. Must was said at the conference by many exemplary ministers in our G3 communion of churches who are on the cutting edge of living out the Gospel in the 21st century. I hope to share more of that wisdom in the future as my reflections foment. The main thing that stuck out to me was that there are really two ways of going about the Church’s mission: a consumerist approach and an organic approach.

The consumerist approach reduces the mission of a parish to franchising. This vision of mission casts the parish’s identity purely in the external things—aesthetics, programs, etc. These things do matter, of course, but they are means to the end, not the end itself. The goal of outreach from the consumerist perspective is simply marketing to perpetuate the brand. This poses a problem. In the words of philosopher Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message.” If we market the parish primarily through advertising, if we offer programs and liturgies as a means of fulfilling consumeristic desires, then the parish is a product. Ultimately, this is a view of Church that is inherently compartmentalized; it sees the Church as one product among other products, which also means it can be discarded when it ceases to “do it” for us. +Bp. Scarlett exhorted us to cast off this approach for the good of the Church.

There is a better way. The alternative to marketing is an organic, missional approach. This starts with the idea of the Church as the sacramental Body of Christ which centers its life around koinonia, Apostolic teaching, the Eucharist, and corporate prayer (Acts 2:42-47). The outworking of this approach is to see every member of the Church as a missionary and the Church’s primary vocation to be shepherding members along the path of holiness and converting sinners with the Gospel. The goal is never attraction via gimmick, but a relational invitation into the life of the Church. This approach is arduous because it requires authenticity and actual discipleship. If this is how we think about mission, we cannot be sideline spectators, but active participants who recognize discipleship as their primary vocation.

For the Church to be healthy, her members must take up the posture of missionaries. This begins with a love for Jesus Christ. Whatever else comes after that, it must be shaped and catalyzed by an active relationship with Our Lord. That love, however, must be expressed in discipleship, a disciplined pursuit of God that organizes itself around the love of God. This allows us to go “further up and further in” to our relationship with Jesus through the spiritually formed life that is centered around Holy Communion, the Daily Office, and a private, structured prayer life. This life that is based in communion with God and his Church will overflow and express itself in a desire to share the faith with others. This happens not through nifty pitches, charismatic presentation, and gregarious personality but through a real openness to others and authentic hospitality that sees others not as consumers to be entertained, or even potential new parishioners but human beings in need of the Gospel. If we have love for God, spiritual formation, and evangelistic zeal, then we can live as missionaries to a culture that desperately needs the Gospel.

This conference on mission was such an encouragement. I should say that there were members of all our G3 Communion: the Anglican Province of America, Anglican Catholic Church (including the Diocese of the Holy Cross), and the Anglican Church in America were all present. As the Psalmist says (133:1), “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! ” Even more, the conference offered a wonderful clarification from bishops and priests who have been successful at living out this organic approach to mission. In the 21st century, the Church as a whole is at a crossroads; it must choose this day whom it will serve. We can choose the marketing approach—an approach that has been a failure in the mid-to-late 20th century—and continue to reduce the identity of the Church to a branding consumeristic exercise. On the other hand, we can adopt an organic missional approach that begins with adoring our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and invites others into that mode of being. If we choose the latter, we choose the “narrow way” (Matt 7:13-14), but this is the right way. Mission is always and ultimately about fidelity.

Fall Retreat: The Rule - The Role of Mass, the Daily Office, and Private Prayer in the Life of a Disciple

Join us for our Fall Retreat The Rule: The Role of Mass, the Daily Office, and Private Prayer in the Life of a Disciple on October 29th . We will discuss how to structure our lives so that we can become serious and disciplined disciples of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The schedule will be as follows:

8:30a: Morning Prayer and Refreshments
9:00a: Session 1: What is a Rule?
10a: Session 2: The Threefold Cord: Mass, Office, and Prayer
11a: Session 3: Spiritual Direction: Implementing the Rule

Blessing of the Animals: Saturday, October 8, 10a-2p

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was a saint who loved animals. According to one legend, he stopped by the side of the road while on a journey in order to preach the Gospel to birds! As a result of his care for creation, he is the patron saint of animals.

In honor of St. Francis’ Feast Day (October 4), we will be blessing animals in the parking lot of St. Paul’s on Saturday, October 8, 2022 from 10a-2p! Our address is 1505 Crownsville Rd., Crownsville, MD 21032.

You can bring any kind of animal—dogs, cats, birds, goldfish, or whatever else!—and we will bless it. We will also have treats for dogs. You’re free to walk your pets around our beautiful grounds, enjoy our beautiful prayer garden, and pray in the chapel. Come join us as we celebrate God’s beautiful creation!

Reflections: On Returning to the APA

Today’s reflection is brought to us by Dcn. David Hodil.

For those of you who may not know my background, I came to Anglicanism in an APA parish in Florida and then moved to an ACA cathedral not far away. When they left to join the Roman Catholic Ordinariate, I went with them and was ordained a Deacon. Because of my background, the question has been asked: why did Deacon David leave the APA and then come back?

The short answer is that I was seeking greater unity within Christianity, and at the time I believed that it could be found under the big tent of the Roman Catholic Church. And to be perfectly honest, the level of commitment to the church is one thing for a lay person and quite a bit different for clergy. I never cared for the Roman claims of universal jurisdiction and papal infallibility, but as a lay person, they really didn’t bother me that much. And given a certain number of intellectual gymnastics, some Roman Catholic claims can appear reasonable. But through a series of situations, I discovered that things were not as they seemed.

Unable to continue to hold contradictions together in my mind, I was having a crisis of faith of a magnitude previously unknown to me. I read an article by a devout Roman Catholic thinker and writer who had been brought to the point of agnosticism over the current state of the Church. I was in fear of the sin of despair. Not knowing what to do I reached out to an old friend, +Bp. Chad. Years before, Fr. Chad led me into catholic faith and practice and mentored me. It was Christmas time and my soul was in bad shape. We corresponded and he invited me back into the fold of the APA and told me about St. Paul’s. We met in person a few weeks later and spoke of Rome and many things which helped me place a lot of issues in perspective. I prayed the Angelus with him on the way to lunch which was like a balm on my soul. Everything else you know. I came here the day after meeting with +Bp. Chad and met all you good people.

I know a lot of this is personal, but I think it is important that you know that your priests and deacons deal with doubts and inner conflicts just like everyone else. We are all sojourners together as we make our way to the Eternal Day. God bless and keep you.

-Deacon David.

Reflections: On Prayer

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” -Soren Kierkegaard

Prayer should be central to the Christian life. This is not a controversial statement; most people of faith would believe it. But what is prayer? Why do we do it? These are important questions because they have practical applications that directly impact the quality of our spiritual lives. In light of this upcoming week’s Collect and the fact that our Thursday Night Bible Study is getting ready to study the topic of prayer and so I thought it would be appropriate to briefly delve into this topic to help all of us better understand the nature of prayer and its purpose. I should also mention that on October 29, we will be doing a half-day retreat on the topic of prayer and the Christian life so mark your calendars now!

What is prayer? St. Thomas Aquinas defines prayer in two different ways: (1) “the elevation of the mind to God”; and (2) “Petition made to God for honest things.” These definitions are complementary: the first, more general definition recognizes prayer as a dialogical act in which we turn our attention to God while also attuning our ears to hear him; the second definition emphasizes the active part of prayer in which we make requests of God. We can find examples of both in Sacred Scripture. When St. Paul exhorts parishes under his oversight to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17), he is pointing us to the first definition: in all things, we should be mindful of God’s presence. However, we see numerous examples of petitionary prayer in Scripture as well: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11). The important part of this second definition is that it causes us to explicitly recognize our complete dependence on God. In fact, Jesus goes on to address this later in Matthew 6, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no though for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeders them. Are ye not much better than they?” Perhaps this is why prayer can be difficult for us sometimes: we don’t like acknowledging our total and complete dependence on God. Both of Aquinas’ definitions work together to paint a picture of the Christian life: one lived with our attention intentionally directed towards God as we cast ourselves on him, recognizing our finitude and weakness as creatures.

But this raises a problem: is prayer an attempt to “influence” God? I’m in agreement with Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard; that cannot be the reason we pray. God is not a creature who can be influenced one way or another. St. James reminds us that in him “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (1:17). Our prayers are not quarters that we insert into a cosmic vending machine god. But if this is true, is prayer a superfluous exercise in futility? Certainly not! We articulate the purpose of prayer every Sunday in the Lord’s Prayer: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” Kierkegaard makes explicit the undergirding principle, namely that purpose of prayer is “to change the nature of the one who prays.” There are two beautiful examples of prayer in the New Testament: Mary and Jesus. Mary’s prayer at the Annunciation was “be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). In her response is the entire Christian life; whatever God calls us to, this is the perfect reply. The same prayer is found in the Passion of Our Lord when Jesus assents, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Prayer is not about persuading or controlling God; that’s paganism. Prayer is about submitting ourselves to God which makes sense if we’re dependent on him.

As Anglicans, prayer is the center of our lives. The Mass is what makes prayer possible. The Daily Office—Morning and Evening Prayer—is the steady rhythm of the Church. “Private” prayer (there’s really no such thing as purely private prayer but I mean it to describe prayer done when one is physically alone) is a way we deepen our intimacy with God. By praying, we center ourselves around the fact that we are not self-sufficient and we embrace our dependence on God. It is true that prayer is a conversation. We can be honest with God and pray for the things that weigh on us. But the purpose of this conversation is ultimately to conform our wills to God’s will because he knows what’s best for us. As Mother Teresa once said, “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”