Praying with the Church Quotes

“We must not forget that it is not a thing that lends significance to a moment; it is the moment that lends significance to things. —ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“The longer you look at the idea that we read the Bible to find new meanings, the sillier it becomes. We read and return to the Bible not (just) to find something new but to hear something old, not to discover something fresh but to be reminded of something ancient.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“And I always do this aloud, or at least at a mumble level, making sure I am doing more than just glancing at the psalms or prayers. Glancing at prayers is the fastest path toward vain repetitions I know of. For that reason, the church has always advocated reading our prayers aloud so we will go more slowly and concentrate more on what we are saying. Prayer books are designed to be read aloud.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“One who uses the morning prayer from A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers will not only begin each day with the sign of the cross and an invocation of the Trinity, but will next say this: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And then there follows a prayer to the Holy Spirit: O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who are everywhere and fillest all things, the treasure of blessings, and giver of life, come and abide in us. In truth Orthodox fashion, the next sentence brings back the matter of sin: Cleanse us from all impurity, and of thy goodness save our souls.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“Protestants have avoided signing themselves, mostly in protest of the Roman Catholic tradition. But, as I have told my Protestant students for years, the sign of the cross is no more Roman Catholic than a sermon is Protestant. Christians have crossed themselves from the earliest days. Tertullian, as a powerful apologist for the Christian faith in the late second and early third centuries, said this: At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out [this echoes the Shema], when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign [of the Cross]. The Celtic Daily Prayer order for Morning Prayer begins with this: +In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“Here are the words of Moses (in italics) that explain how the Shema was to be practiced: Memorize them: Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Teach them: Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise [evening and morning]. Make it physical: Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Publish them: [W]rite them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“The Psalter is responsible for creating the prayers in the church. It remains the core of all Christian prayers. Whenever we pray with psalms, we are joining the universal Church in prayer.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“Here is the collect for the renewal of life that can be used during morning prayers: O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Here's a standard evening prayer (from the compline service): Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep rest in peace. Amen. Before we finish off this chapter on learning to pray with Cranmer and the BCP, we need to give a brief glimpse of what is involved in a set routine with the BCP.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“St. Benedict's Rule, chapter 16: “‘Seven times in the day,’ says the Prophet [psalmist], ‘I have rendered praise to you.’ Now that sacred number of seven will be fulfilled by us if we perform the offices of our service at the time of the morning office, of prime, of terce, of sext, of none, of vespers and of compline, since it was of these day hours that he said, ‘Seven times in the day I have rendered praise to you.’ For as to the night office the same Prophet says, ‘In the middle of the night I arose to glorify you.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“HOURS OF PRAYER Benedict established seven hours of prayer during the day and one at night; collectively they are known as “the Divine Office” or simply “the hours”:       TRADITIONAL NAME NAME OF OFFICE TODAYTIME Vigils (or Matins) Office of Readings Midnight Lauds Morning Prayer 6 AM–11 AM (Prime) (No longer generally used) (6 AM–7 AM) Terce Midmorning Prayer 9 AM Sext Midday Prayer Noon None (rhymes with “tone”) Midafternoon Prayer 3 PM Vespers Evening Prayer 3 PM–6 PM Compline Night Prayer Before bed       Praying at fixed times was not new to Benedict—it is as old as the psalmists. Nor was the use of the Psalter a Benedictine innovation. Already by the first generation, Christians were using the Psalter for prayers.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that I may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name by the practice of Christian-year spirituality; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen. —ROBERT WEBBER”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“If you compare the written prayers from the psalms, the Lord's Prayer, or those we find in the prayer books of the church, one thing will immediately strike any reader: The prayers from those sources are theologically rich and aesthetically appropriate. I cannot always say this of the spontaneous prayers of many Christians—and I am not impugning their motives or questioning their hearts.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

“Every scene of heaven in the Bible shows us a vision of the Church praying together and singing together and praising together.”
― Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today