FROM ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH • LYNCHBURG, VA

Good afternoon! This month we focus on Daily Prayer & Reflection and Holy Week. You'll see below that it is a busy season at St. John's. While I have added some announcements of special prayer and worship opportunities this month that you will see elsewhere, we always intend for this newsletter to benefit your prayer life, not be another set of announcements. We hope you enjoy! ~ Fr. Ben

Last month we discussed the Daily Office; the primary form of daily prayer and worship in the Episcopal Church. These services are built on the historical pattern of daily prayer going back to our Jewish ancestors, through monasteries and cathedrals, and shared in various forms across denominations and around the world. We offer these services daily in Advent and Lent, but we want to make these resources available to you always, wherever you find yourself.

Episcopalians share in the expression of a threefold rule of prayer:

(1) Holy Eucharist, our weekly worship,

(2) Daily Prayer, some form of daily practice that connects us to the Daily Office & prayers of the Church, and

(3) Personal Reflection, our own time for prayer, spiritual practices and reflection on our own lives and our life in Christ.

This month we have created a resource to aid our Daily Prayer. This Calendar of Daily Readings and Public Worship is designed to offer you an entry point into a daily practice of prayer. Imagine our prayer challenge text, but with more options of readings, and more options of prayer forms. You can click below to download a PDF of this Calendar, or you can pick up a paper copy from the Commons Desk. It comes with instructions and some ideas on how to use the document for your own prayer life.

This document may seem overwhelming- it is to me! To access these resources without opening a book, I encourage you to visit Forward Movement's website, where you simply choose a button to be taken to the daily readings or the full text of Morning or Evening Prayer. The first button ("Pray the Office") takes you to the appropriate prayer based on the time of day, with everything laid out for you. They even offer their popular devotional, Forward Day by Day, from this website. It's not cheating, it is the advantage we have of our twenty-first century tools to help us find ways to pray. As we get accustomed to these patterns, we may find ourselves able to navigate the paper resources much easier, and we may even learn the core prayers by heart. ~ Fr. Ben

You will notice in the calendar and in all your church announcements just how many worship services we have in April for Holy Week. Did you know every day from Palm Sunday to the Saturday after Easter is considered a Major Feast, or an important worship day, in the church calendar? In the center of that is the Triduum, the three holy days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter/Easter Sunday.

This year we will offer several new services. We will offer a simple Holy Eucharist on Monday and Tuesday in Holy Week (April 14-15) at 12:10p in the Chapel. Stations of the Cross this year will be on Friday, April 11, the Friday before Palm Sunday, at 5:30p starting in the chapel. We want to highlight the Gethsemane Watch as an excellent opportunity to pray in community with our Lord between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. This unique opportunity has been so meaningful for those who've participated in the past-- if you have not yet tried it, would you consider joining this year?

Finally, this week is the last chance to sign up for our Lenten Quiet Day, the Bake and Pray workshop on April 5. This is another great way to deepen your prayer life this April and discover new connections in your spiritual journey between our daily activities and our relationship to God.

We hope this Pathways to Prayer newsletter has given you something to think and pray with as we prepare for Holy Week this year. We plan to offer this newsletter monthly for the next few months, as a way to connect you to the church, and inspire your personal prayer life and reflections. As this is a new offering, I would really appreciate your feedback about this series. Simply respond to this email or email me at ben@stjohnslynchburg.org with your thoughts; or you can click the button below to offer feedback. Please mention the new prayer calendar, and whether you liked it or disliked it!

Thank you for reading, and we hope you have a good April! ~ Fr. Ben

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Join us for this devotional service featuring readings from scripture and prayers to orient us for Holy Week.

GETHSEMANE WATCH

Sign up to participate in this meaningful vigil on the poster in the Commons at church or during office hours.

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You may always contact the church office or Fr. Ben (ben@stjohnslynchburg.org) directly for assistance. Thank you!