|
Morning Devotion for the Season of Lent
March 27, 2024
Feast Day of Charles Henry Brent
Invitatory
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Reading:
Guard Us Waking -
O God, who knows human life by having lived it, reveal to us its deep meanings, its scope, its power, its beauty. Help us to give first place not to the things that can be seen but to the things that are not seen. Make us sensitive to the voice of conscience, that we may be honorable, high minded and courageous. Conduct us into that vast liberty which is the heritage of the children of God. As you cared for us sleeping, guard us waking. Be with us in our tasks and pleasures this day. Deliver us from gnawing anxiety by that trust that sees all things working together for good in those that love you. Behold the great world of humankind. Your world – our relations, friends, and acquaintances everywhere. Bind us together in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Within our own borders reconcile those who are at industrial war, and grant that justice may reign in our nation. Finally, we pray for compassion on the neglected, the weary, the sorrowing, the sick, the wounded, the dying. Give rest and peace to the dead and bring us all into your eternal kingdom.
Charles Henry Brent
Give Us Grace
Meditation - Peter Vanderveen
The prayer printed above is from a compendium that covers more than three hundred years of Anglican offerings. By our standards, it’s lengthy. We’re accustomed to prayers that are more direct and simple. This prayer was written about one hundred years ago. If you were to look at prayers composed a hundred years before this one, they would probably be four to five times longer. The book serves as a fascinating and sobering testament to how we’ve become progressively less patient with God, and increasingly demanding and succinct in addressing our needs.
Read Brent’s prayer hurriedly, as if you had to say it with only one breath. It reveals the astonishing scope of any life. Read it slowly, pausing at every twist or turn; it discloses the enthralling depths we experience from moment to moment without otherwise noticing them. Prayer was more comprehensive then; it was less rote and reflexive. For Brent, it was addressing God.
Brent once noted that “anyone of average intelligence, if he chooses to take the time and pains, has ample capacity for the purpose of composing prayers. Let him use his pen and write down his aspirations for himself and for others as concisely as he can, and he will be surprised to find, not only how much he has to say to God, but how easy it is to express what it is in his heart… it is an act of reverence to present to God the best expression of our own thoughts.”
This is not how we tend to think of prayer. For many today, prayer consists of extremely rarified statements that only a few select individuals can offer. It’s considered beyond us. Brent insisted, however, that prayer is us; it is most true and beautiful when it is no more or less than our presentation of ourselves to God, exactly as we are. To pray is to make our lives a gift to God; which is a recognition, as well, that God has made his life a gift to us.
The following prayer, included in the Book of Common Prayer, is Brent’s.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.
| 
