A fourth-century pilgrim once asked Abba Joseph of Panepho, “What more can I do [to grow spiritually]?”
As the legend goes, this aged desert father, stood up, stretched out his hands toward heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire, and he said to him, ‘If you will, you can become all flame.’
As incredible as this story sounds, it invites us to ask ourselves, “How do we nurture the fire of our faith?”
Fire, in a physical sense, gladdens the heart, lightens its space, and warms the body.
How do we nurture our own life of faith in such a way that our spiritual flame gladdens the heart, lightens the space, and warms those around us?
The simple answer is in and through the rhythm of daily prayer.
Freedom & Form
The Book of Common Prayer (BCP), the core book of the global Anglican Communion, invites us into a rhythm of daily prayer know as the Daily Offices: Morning, Noonday, and Evening Prayer.
In a culture obsessed with authenticity and individualistic expression, we are tempted to think that prayer which is really “on fire” and “free” must be void of pre-determined form and structure.
We might conclude that praying pre-written prayers assigned for daily use will foster an insincere and rote faith – a flameless faith.
This is certainly not the conclusion of centuries of Christians. Nor has it been my personal experience.
In my years of praying before I observed the Daily Offices, I found my prayers to be moody. On mountain top moments, I was able to spontaneously express my praise, penance, and petitions before God. Most days, however, my prayers were myopic and rather self-absorbed. They were more like a sparkler than a fire pit – short-lived and inconsistent.
Have your prayers ever felt that way?
Fostering the Flame
A few years back I built a fire pit in my backyard. My family gathers around that pit in the colder months to chat amid the glow of its light, share a drink and, of course, roast marshmallows. The fire pit creates space for us to enjoy the warmth of the fire; when the flames burn beyond this context, fire consumes nature, destroys homes, and burns the body.
The Daily Office is a structure, like a fire pit, which creates space for the unquenchable fire of God’s Spirit and fosters the Spirit’s flame within the church.
From the opening sentences, the invitatory, the psalms, canticles and the Lord’s Prayer, we are invited to pray Holy Scripture. When we pray, “out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord” (Psalm 130), we are joining our voice to the flame of the Spirit and praying with Christ to the Father.
When I discovered and began praying the Daily Offices, the flame of my faith began to grow. Not only did I become more consistent in prayer, I became more free to express the depths of my heart to the Lord.
Interestingly, the pre-set structure and form fostered greater freedom in my prayers. Having prayed the office in the morning, I would recall a verse from the morning psalm later in the day and spontaneously begin to pray in view of it.
My invitation to you, then, is that you will join the church of old and practice the rhythm of this Daily Office to nurture an ongoing conversation with God.
“If you will, you can become all flame”
From Last Sunday
