Learning to Pray

I was not raised in a liturgical church. My college roommate used to joke that my Methodist church was just masquerading, that it was really Baptist, and it was hard to argue--while we did at one point have a female pastor, we did lean pretty heavily toward southern Baptist traditions. I was an adult before I realized that the Methodists had liturgical inclinations.

But as an adult, I am really interested in liturgy. I think I read in one of Lauren Winner’s books that liturgy helps you pray when you don’t know what to say; the repetition of liturgy helps keep prayers in your mind and heart, guiding you to speak to God even when doing other things. As someone who wanted to pray more and who wanted to keep her mind on God, I loved that idea.

I also am attracted to the ancient nature of liturgy, the cloud of witnesses--I feel the pull toward speaking and praying together with people around me and people I have never met, both past and present. There’s something beautiful about sharing those words and prayers with other believers, about affirming together what we believe and lifting each other up.

So when my sister got me Every Moment Holy, by Douglas Kaine McKelvey, I was really excited. Published by Andrew Peterson’s Rabbit Room, it’s a beautifully bound leather book full of liturgy for the modern ordinary everyday. There are liturgies written for all kinds of normal life activities--starting a new book, watching a sunset, the first snow, lighting the first fire, going camping, leaving on a trip, changing diapers. My sister said she skipped around, reading the ones that were relevant for her day. I found myself reading straight through, recognizing myself even in activities I never do, praying the words right out loud.

This won’t be a book for everybody, but if you are already interested in liturgy or just have questions, this is worth a look. I keep it on my coffee table, and I travel with it, and I love looking into it every day and letting the words inside help me see God even in the mundane events in my life. It has helped me see the miraculous in pieces of life I am often too harried to give proper attention. I love the way it helps me slow down and remember God in special ways, especially right now, when on my own, the main prayer that seems to come from me is just the word help.

If you are not a person accustomed to liturgy, or if you’ve even been skeptical or nervous about it, Every Moment Holy is a good starting place. Some of the liturgies have a call-and-response style with a leader; others read more like simple prayers. But the language of either style is beautiful, and the content of each piece connects ordinary activities with the divine, and seems to imbue everyday life with holiness. The Kingdom of heaven is among us, indeed, and this book helps me see the Kingdom in fresh ways in my own life.

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