The Rhythm of Marking Time

The ancient Church – among many things – chose to mark time with its own calendar. The church calendar marked the seasons, feasts, and fasts of the church. It also set aside certain days to honor the saints of the Church. This marking of time (days and seasons) set the rhythm of the year for Christians. And it was followed faithfully.

St. Benedict of Nursia (480-540 BC) is considered by most to be the Father of Western Christian monasticism. He created the Rule for his monastic communities, and – among many things – the Rule established a rhythm for marking time. Within the larger context of the Christian calendar, Benedict established a daily calendar for his monastic communities. This daily calendar consisted of communal prayer seven times a day, which centered on reading/chanting selections from the Psalter, prescribed reading(s) from scripture, and prayers of the Church (i.e. the Lord’s Prayer and other recognized prayers of the Church).

When Thomas Cranmer compiled the Book of Common Prayer for the Church in England during the English Reformation (16th Century), he chose to model it after the ancient Christian model of keeping yearly time and the Benedictine pattern of keeping daily time. Cranmer reduced the sevenfold pattern of daily prayer to two times – Morning and Evening Prayer.

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer expanded the pattern of Morning and Evening Prayer to include Noonday Prayer and Compline services. So with four set times to pray each day, we are moving closer not further to St. Benedict’s sevenfold office!

St. Benedict, Thomas Cranmer, and the compilers of the 1979 BCP all recognized that the rhythm of marking time is not only important, it is essential to maintaining  consistent, healthy, and grounded Christian discipleship.

One of the main challenges of parish life is keeping the discipline of marking time -daily and seasonally. The secular calendar dominates our culture and our lives today. Work, school, extra-curricular activities, and the like rule the day. Sadly, we in the church oftentimes find ourselves setting the church’s rhythm of timekeeping based on the secular rhythms that are pounding away.

I encourage those of you who live here in Santa Rosa Beach to stop in at Christ the King during the week and pray the Daily Office with me. The week of November 11, we will have Morning Prayer on Tuesday-Friday at 9:30 and Evening Prayer on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 4:30. On Wednesdays, we have our Celebrate the Saints service at 4:30 (Holy Eucharist w/ Unction).

If you are unable to join us in person, go to www.missionstclare.com and pray with us (and Christians all over the world).

Pax,
Richard+