Sometimes the College for Congregational Development looks like a blizzard of newsprint and markers, models and techniques. But we also develop and support a community of prayer during our time at Dumas Bay Centre. Each day we move the chairs into a “choir” position—two sections of chairs facing each other—and we pray the Daily Office, which is church lingo for the daily prayer of the church in the morning, evening, and other times of day.
We begin our morning prayer with Psalm 63, centering ourselves in God’s embrace as the day begins:
O God, you are my God, eagerly I seek you;*
my soul thirsts for you,
my flesh faints for you,
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place,*
that I might behold your power and your glory.
For your lovingkindness is better than life itself;*
my lips shall give you praise…
The little asterisks in the middle of the psalm verses are cues for us to stop and keep a brief silence together, listening to one another before speaking again with one voice. This is a Benedictine practice, a way to do communal prayer that touches something deep in our culture as Anglican Christians. For us, a life of prayer is centered in community in the threefold rhythm of Daily Office, Holy Eucharist, and personal prayer. At the College, we live and work from within this rhythm. It begins and ends our day.
Before bed, we say the office of Compline, the night prayer of the Church. It’s simple: the same pattern of psalms, canticles, and prayers common to all prayer offices of the day, and occasionally a hymn. We remain quiet while our prayers rise up for loved ones, this community, and the many concerns of the world. And we rest tranquilly before the start of another day of hard but joyful work.
Come and pray with us!