A liturgy if you will.

John Baillie (1886 - 1960)
Excerpts from A Diary of Private Prayer.

At first I was unsure what to do with this reading it is basically a recorded set of 7 prayers. They are quite stylised and each has a different focus. They are designed to be used as the first thing you do in a morning after rising. They do however have a beautiful flow of prose that lifts the spirit to focus on God.

I suspect my generation has a bit of fear in  becoming trapped in legalism and form. I know for myself that is the case. However I also understand the need for spiritual discipline to develop religious experience.

I suspect we all have developed a personal spiritual ritual that we practice in the morning and/or evening. A personal liturgy if you will.

liturgy:noun

1.    1.

a form or formulary according to which public religious worship, especially Christian worship, is conducted.

"the Church of England liturgy"

synonyms:

ritual, worship, service, ceremony, rite, observance, celebration, ordinance, office,sacrament, solemnity, ceremonial; More

I understand that liturgies are used in public formats, but I believe that we develop our  own observances that we also use on a regular basis. I know I have myself been developing this process. as I try things and modify  or drop them from my time with my Heavenly Father. I suspect that is what this journey with these weekly readings is all about. This is the way that our spiritual formation is developed. I know I have changed in the weeks I have been doing this. As I try things out, think things through, reject and adopt new practices, I change.So the conclusion for this week is that I am going to use each these 7 prayers as a daily declaration and prayer at the beginning of each day during week. I will continue this for 4 weeks and see what I think.

Here are the daily headings:

1. "My First Thought."
2. "Continued Dependence on You"
3. "Joyous and Helpful Labour"
4. "You Waiting Presence"
5. "Lord and Giver of Life"
6. "This your Greatest Gift"
7. "O Lord Maker of All Things"

Have a great week. Think about your own faith practice and experience.

Paul