Morning Prayer

It is Wednesday morning, and just like every Wednesday morning (and Monday and Friday), we gathered (on Zoom) for morning prayer. After we finished I had to write some things down.

Our morning prayers follow a simple common liturgy - if you’re familiar with the Book of Common Prayer, it’s a lot like that, but adapted to be more accessible and to include some visual and music elements. All who join, both with and without developmental disabilities, are encouraged to take a portion of the leadership. It’s a gift to join in voice and be led by many friends who pray and speak scripture in such diverse and beautiful ways.

Even though it’s a joy every time we gather in this way, this morning had, for me, little reminders of the whole reason we gather to pray, and really the whole reason we gather in community at all. At the end of our open prayer time, a leader says “Lord in your mercy,” and everyone responds with “Hear our prayers.” This morning, for some reason, people just started saying that last line without any prompting at all - there was a solid 30 seconds of impromptu random “Hear our prayers” mutterings across the group. Those words meant something new, to me at least. They came out unscripted, and genuine, and unpolished - some of my favorite things about our community, and apt words for the life of faith.

“Hear our prayers” - that moment came right after we’d prayed for one of our SBS friends who just received a doubly devastating medical diagnosis. We ached for her. Yet right before that, we had also celebrated some of the joys of late summer like a perfect camping trip. We’ve spoken in recent weeks about how Jesus mysteriously holds all things together - the absolute best and the absolute worst. This morning was just that - Jesus holding us together.