Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear Friends,

When we began offering Morning Prayer again in person on Monday-Thursday mornings in the side chapel this fall, I attended with zeal. I’ve had opportunities for daily prayer before, at Seminary, when living in a city with plenty of Churches, and in the years prior to the pandemic when I served at Saint Philip’s.

However, I have never been so eager to get to a church service on time and so frequently as I have this fall. This fall there I have been several times when a major event occurs on the news and I'm grateful for a built-in time to pray. When the Queen died, when there's new news of war, violence, or illness, when I hear of another friend who is struggling I have somewhere to go, somewhere with language I can lean on to pray for God's presence, transformation, and healing. There seems to be no shortage of challenges for us to lift up to God.

In the regularity of daily prayer we are reminded of how in the midst of the ups and downs of the day, God is steadfast:

In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
They shall perish, but you will endure;
they all shall wear out like a garment;
as clothing you will change them,
and they shall be changed;
But you are always the same,
and your years will never end. (Psalm 102:25-27)

and we are reminded of God’s attentiveness:

For the Lord looked down from his holy place on high;
from the heavens he beheld the earth;
That he might hear the groan of the captive
and set free those condemned to die (Psalm 102: 19-20)

When we are reminded to “pray constantly and not to lose heart” as we are in today’s Gospel we can remember God’s steadfastness that transcends all our understanding, and yet God’s closeness, God’s attentiveness to buoy us for the day ahead of us. If you would like to join in Morning Prayers at Saint Philip’s they are offered on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at 8:30, and at 7:45 on Wednesdays.

In Christ,

Mtr TAylor