April 14, 2015

John spoke at a Prayer Summit yesterday that was organized by the All Nations Church in Lake View Terrace, CA. It remined me that when I travel with John I frequently get questions from the wives of students or faculty about our marriage.

The most crucial component of our marriage, it’s basic framework, is our prayer life. It is within our prayer format that we read the Bible together.

Several times a day we say set prayers out loud together from the Episcopalian Book of Common Prayer. The Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families has bits that repeat the same scripture or words everyday- that’s the “set” part. There are also suggestions like “a canticle may be used” or “prayers may be offered for ourselves and others.”

It is here that we insert a chapter or so from the Bible. We will soon start reading the set lessons from the lectionary every week! We hope you will read along with us.Our ponderings will be on this blog.

We’ve had various reactions to this set prayer and readings habit:

“Isn’t it boring?”  “For me, making up prayers for each situation is more meaningful.  “I often pray, but don’t feel a need to be legalistic about it.”  “What a cool thing for a couple to do, I wish we had the time.”

Yes, sometimes it is boring, and we don’t have time. Or the words don’t fit the situation. It’s especially hard during a spat and it therefore doesn’t seem cool to have to come together to pray.  But we do it anyway and prayer has thus become a precious foundation for our marriage.

Why?

Even though I find it both emotionally grounding and a great bonding routine, even though it can set the tone for the day and help me sleep at night, the most important reasons we have for praying are much more profound.

Watch here for upcoming blog posts on three profound reasons we need to regularly pray the “set prayers.”

John’s two papers from the Prayer Summit: “The Psalms as an Invitation into a Spiral Relationship with God” and “Praying For and Against Others” are posted under the Other Papers tab.

At our wedding on the beach. 12/10/10