Any help on figuring out a regular prayer life?

Discussion in 'Personal Advice, Care & Prayers' started by Seeker20, May 15, 2018.

  1. Seeker20

    Seeker20 New Member

    Posts:
    4
    Likes Received:
    5
    Country:
    United States
    Religion:
    Anglican
    I am new to the Anglican faith. I want to figure out a daily plan on prayer. I never have had a strong prayer life. Any help, would be appreciated.
     
    Dave Kemp, Lowly Layman and Stalwart like this.
  2. Religious Fanatic

    Religious Fanatic Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    609
    Likes Received:
    305
    Country:
    USA
    Religion:
    Christian
    I don't know if you're confirmed or not. If you don't already have one, get yourself a copy of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Particularly this version:
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-1928-B...-AVAILABLE-NA-NEW-HARDCOVER-BOOK/191932575791

    There's many good devotions in it. I'd suggest praying in agreement with whatever is assigned to the service calendar, especially if you aren't able to attend a church for whatever reason. You can pray them even outside of that in whatever order you want based on the subject and category.
     
    Lowly Layman likes this.
  3. Seeker20

    Seeker20 New Member

    Posts:
    4
    Likes Received:
    5
    Country:
    United States
    Religion:
    Anglican
    I am not confirmed. I just recently started attending a church. Thank you, I will check out the link you suggested.
     
    Lowly Layman likes this.
  4. Peteprint

    Peteprint Well-Known Member Anglican

    Posts:
    724
    Likes Received:
    718
    Country:
    USA
    Religion:
    High-Church Laudian
    You may want to look at the St. Augustine Prayer Book as well. It can be purchased hard copy on Amazon, or from the Forward Movement or the Episcopal Bookstore:

    https://www.amazon.com/Saint-August...48&sr=8-1&keywords=st+augustine's+prayer+book

    https://www.forwardmovement.org/Products/2130/saint-augustines-prayer-book.aspx

    https://www.episcopalbookstore.com/product.aspx?productid=8485

    Here is a PDF that you can immediately access that contains part of the book:

    https://www.forwardmovement.org/Content/Site170/FilesSamples/151277StAugusti_00000077574.pdf
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2018
    Lowly Layman likes this.
  5. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

    Posts:
    2,723
    Likes Received:
    2,563
    Country:
    America
    Religion:
    Anglican
    What has helped me when starting out was in starting small. A few things here and there.

    The most basic thing you can do is offer Grace before meals. Either say a word of prayer of your own, just showing gratitude and saying what you're glad/thankful for; or say the beautiful and profound liturgical prayers from the Anglican tradition:
    http://home.pcisys.net/~tbc/mealpryr.htm#variations

    Add on to that the basic thoughts about God, addresses and exhortations to God throughout your day. What has happened that shouldn't have? How were you surprised? How are you blessed, how are you cursed? Why did God curse you just now, did you step off the straight and narrow? Or is God blessing your life?

    When you wake up, try to remember God and offer a moment of prayer, gratitude, reflection. Likewise when going to sleep.

    This will take you a good few months, and there is more beyond that, so let us know how it goes!
     
    Anglican04 and Lowly Layman like this.
  6. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    1,138
    Likes Received:
    1,181
    Country:
    USA
    Religion:
    Anglican
    Let me tell you how I have been teaching my daughter to pray:
    1) The sign of the cross: In the Name of + the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
    2) The antiphon from Compline (the prayers one says before going to bed): Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace. Amen.
    3) Our Father. . .

    She is 3, so with an older person I might move the 'Our Father' up in the cycle.

    Then there is the Jesus prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

    With these simple prayers, you are on your way to making a rule of prayer. My colleague, Fr. Tom, is also quite fond of Anima Christi. But that is a much more advanced prayer, not unlike a creed. Better to start simple and be consistent in my opinion. Also, the Bible has a built in Prayer Book known as the Psalter, or Psalms. Perhaps not all of them will resonate with you -they fairly well cover the scope of human experience- but some will. I have long been attached to Psalm 31.
     
    Anglican04 and Lowly Layman like this.
  7. Lowly Layman

    Lowly Layman Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    2,722
    Likes Received:
    2,488
    I either use the brief versions of morning and evening prayer offered by http://commonprayer.org or I listen and join in to Cradle of Prayer audio versions of morning and evening prayer: http://m.cradleofprayer.org/?dm_redirected=true#2728

    I hope these are helpful. I also recommend simply saying the following each morning (It's what I've done with my children since they were little. They are in their teens and we still do it every morning on the way to school):

    1. Sign of the Cross
    2. Lord's Prayer
    3. The Apostles Creed; and
    4. Glory Be
     
  8. Aidan

    Aidan Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    945
    Likes Received:
    608
    Country:
    N Ireland
    Religion:
    Traditional RomanCatholic
    My friend, God does not curse anyone
     
    Lowly Layman likes this.
  9. Lowly Layman

    Lowly Layman Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    2,722
    Likes Received:
    2,488
    The bible says differently, my friend.

    "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" - Genesis 3:17
     
  10. Aidan

    Aidan Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    945
    Likes Received:
    608
    Country:
    N Ireland
    Religion:
    Traditional RomanCatholic
    "....,,cursed is the ground....."
     
  11. Lowly Layman

    Lowly Layman Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    2,722
    Likes Received:
    2,488
    As a lawyer, I applaud your gift of parsing but I think your implication goes a bridge too far. But fair enough.

    Consider also these passages:
    • Deuteronomy 28:15
    • Proverbs 3:33
    • Malachi 2:2
    • Galatians 3:10-14
     
    Anglican04 likes this.
  12. Dave Kemp

    Dave Kemp Member Anglican

    Posts:
    89
    Likes Received:
    80
    Country:
    United States of America
    Religion:
    Church of England
    I can highly recommend the 1662 Book of Common prayer, were it all began. The daily offices are a great place to gain a private prayer life. I like the American 1928 BCP daily offices or The proposed 1928 BCP from the CofE.
     
  13. Fr. Brench

    Fr. Brench Well-Known Member Anglican

    Posts:
    242
    Likes Received:
    351
    Country:
    United States
    Religion:
    Anglican (ACNA)
    All the Prayer Book suggestions and private devotion book suggestions are great. But save yourself some money: ask the priest at the church you've started attending for a copy of the Prayer Book that is used there. We clergymen are normally very happy to give prayer books out for free! Plus, it's more helpful to explore a prayer book that is consistent with how the congregation worships; if they use the 1928 Prayer Book then you should explore that one, if a different edition, then that.

    As others have suggested, again, the daily offices of Morning and Evening Prayer are typically your best places to go to learn how to build a more solid prayer life. However, jumping straight in can be overwhelming, especially if the form and style is new to you, and you're trying to figure it out on your own. My advice would be to put a Daily Office together gradually, bit by bit.
    1. Look at the Psalms section of the Prayer Book you get, and read aloud (and think of it as prayer!) some or all of the Psalms for each morning and evening - you'll find the day of the month is noted inside the text.
    2. Look at the Daily Office Lectionary (Bible-reading plan), and read at least one of the daily readings after praying the Psalm(s).
    3. As that becomes more doable, check to see if the Prayer Book has a "Family Prayer" section, and add those prayers to the front and back of your Psalm-praying and Scripture-reading.
    4. When you're ready, switch over to Morning and/or Evening Prayer, whole hog.
    If you've got some time, might I recommend (as humbly as possible) checking out this video in which I talk about the traditional "three-fold rule of worship" which might help you conceptualize your prayer life in a new way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk2ouWbKkWE

    Definitely keep coming back and throwing questions at people! There's so much wisdom and experience here, it's awesome.
     
    Dave Kemp and Shane R like this.