As I was reading the service yesterday morning, it struck me that Morning Prayer is a good balance to the spontaneous prayers I pray the rest of the day. Many of my prayers during the day are petitions. After all, it's the difficulties of daily life that remind you to look to the Lord, by and large.
But Morning Prayer is different. There are plenty of petitions in it, to be sure ("but thou, oh Lord, have mercy upon us; spare thou those who confess their faults"), and even a place where "Authorized intercessions and thanksgivings may follow," but there is much more praise. There are the canticles, which glorify the Lord. There are many repetitions of the Gloria Patri ("Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.") And there is great care throughout the whole service to address God as his greatness deserves: "Almighty God our heavenly Father", "Almighty and most merciful Father", "Christ the Lord", "God my Savior", "the Lord God of Israel", "Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father", "Lord God of Sabaoth", "the King of glory", "God, the King eternal", "almighty and everlasting God" and "Father of all mercies". These are all the titles which deserve to be constantly used, but that, in my hurry and distraction through the rest of the day, I forget and omit.
It's good to take time every day to use them. To pray to the Lord with the care and attention He merits. It's true that He hears my prayers that are uttered quickly and distractedly as I go about my day. But my prayer life would, I think, be unbalanced without this reverent, set-aside time in the morning. It gives Him His due, but it also has the salutary effect of reminding me who I address so easily during the rest of the hours I'm awake.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell
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