Daily Devotions with the Dean
This is part of a series of devotions based on the Daily Office, which is found in the Book of Common Prayer.
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 69; Exodus 1:6-22; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26; Mark 8:27–9:1
You never know on any particular day how God’s Word is going to grab you. That’s part of the adventure of praying Daily Morning Prayer.
Of course, the start of the book of Exodus is worth noting: Exodus begins the saga of the return home. Separation from the Garden leads to slavery. Israel’s exile under “taskmasters” in Egypt is a parable for the whole human condition of captivity under the dominion of sin, evil, and death. God is not going to leave his people under this oppression. As Eucharistic Prayer A puts it: “…and when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you in your mercy sent Jesus Christ…to reconcile us to you….” The book of Exodus, we’ll see, is a telling of that story in advance.
But what stands out today is the last verse in the reading from 1 Corinthians: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (12:26). Throughout this passage, the apostle Paul contemplates the “oneness” and the “manyness” of Christ’s Body the church. All baptized into one body, all drinking from the same Spirit. Unable to do life without each other. Everybody feeling everybody’s joy. Everybody feeling everybody’s pain.
A pandemic that is sweeping the globe—one manifestation of our being subject to evil and death—means we certainly are feeling everybody’s pain right now. It has to break our hearts to see so many lives upended, so many lives destroyed, so many futures seemingly sunk by this pestilence.
Knowing that we are all in this together provides focus to our prayers:
May the Creator God bless governing officials and health care providers and researchers, that a cure may emerge.
May the Redeeming God uphold mental health workers and all who provide spiritual care, that hearts may be strengthened until we see the subsiding of this pestilence.
Meanwhile, during this “stay-at-home order,” may the Lord who took on our flesh sustain and encourage the many in our community who are barely hanging on, who are struggling with finances, who have been sent home from school, who are lonely, afraid, stressed, or depressed.
May the Lord of Compassion shower his tender care on the weaker and more frail among us; may he pour out protecting, healing grace upon them.
May the Man of Sorrows be alongside each of us, and, by the Spirit of Life, may the hope of his resurrection sustain all of us. Amen.
Blessings on you this day.
Reggie Kidd+
Cathedral Offices to Close Wednesday Afternoon
Orange County and the City of Orlando have issued a “stay-at-home order,” restricting normal travel, work, and other activities in an effort to slow community spread of COVID-19. The order is effective Thursday, March 26 at 11pm until April 9 at 11pm.
Accordingly, Cathedral offices will close at 3pm on Thursday, March 26. Staff members, working remotely, will continue their support of Cathedral operations.
In-person services are still canceled. We will continue to stream weekday Noonday Prayer at 12:05pm and Sunday morning worship at 10:15am. These services, pre-recorded within the guidelines of the stay-at-home order, will be streamed on Facebook and YouTube. The services will also be available for viewing on our Cathedral blog (www.ccslorlando.org/blog).
Dean Reggie Kidd shares, “It breaks our hearts to see so many lives upended and destroyed by this virus. We pray God’s blessing on the efforts of governing officials and health care providers and researchers, of mental health workers and all who provide spiritual care, that we may soon see the subsiding of this pestilence. Meanwhile, during this “stay-at-home order,” we ask God to sustain and encourage with his love the many in our community who are barely hanging on, or who are lonely, afraid, stressed, or depressed. May the Man of Sorrows be alongside you, and may the hope of his resurrection sustain you. Amen.”
Noonday Prayer
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This is the first in a series of devotions based on the Daily Office, which is found in the Book of Common Prayer.
“Social distancing” can be, at one and the same time, lonely and suffocating.
Lonely because you’re isolated from friends and coworkers.
Suffocating if there’s no break, on the one hand, from family (and maybe work-from-home?) obligations, and, on the other, from bombardment by media with oppressive and frightening words: pandemic … testing … economic collapse … hoarding … escalating deaths.
One way to resist the loneliness is to join millions around the world who practice Daily Morning Prayer, a daily routine of Scripture reading and of prayer (I follow the Book of Common Prayer 1979’s, Rite II, pp. 75–102). In Daily Morning Prayer (shorthand for which can be the “Daily Office” or simply the “Office”), Scripture reading is governed by a lectionary that takes us all together over time through the Bible’s amazing story of God’s saving, loving grace. And prayers are guided by biblical canticles and daily themes, uniting our hearts to lift “one voice,” and freeing space for our individual hearts to voice their unique needs.
When I pray the Daily Office, I know that Jesus’s promise is being fulfilled, the one that says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.” I know that friends around the world are doing exactly what I am doing. We become Christ’s Body gathered throughout space, and even throughout time, as we read what someone has called “ancient words ever true” and as we pray prayers crafted over centuries by godly hearts.
At the same time that I resist loneliness through the Office, I push back against the suffocation of the day’s pressing demands and the oppressing assault of the news cycle. Instead, I breathe the fresh air of God’s promises, and I take my place among the kingdom of priests that intercede for a world that one day will be released from its bondage to decay. In Scripture reading, I inhabit a world in which there is hope, and in prayer I defy the darkness that otherwise seems so prevalent.
Without a prayer book, the smoothest way to take the “on ramp” to the Office online is through a ministry called Mission St. Clare, where each day’s Office is posted in its entirety (go to https://www.missionstclare.com or download the Mission St Clare app for your smartphone or tablet).
You don’t have to be alone. You can be a part of a vast family united by Word and prayer. You don’t have to be suffocated by obligations and fear. You can take in the vivifying truths of God’s goodness and offer up in prayer the world he promises to restore.
•••
Yesterday’s Scriptures were: Psalms 97 & 99; Gen. 49:29–50:14; 1 Cor. 11:17–34; Mark 8:1-10
From yesterday’s reading in Genesis, specifically ch. 50, v. 29, “Then [Jacob] charged them, saying to them, ‘I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors…’”
As Jacob contemplated his own death, his preeminent concern was to be “gathered to my people.” He had a hint, it would seem, that death did not destroy fellowship. These were the sort of hints that Jesus Christ would gather up into the great confession that our God is the God of the living and not the dead (Matthew 22:32)—and, by implication, of a family and nation that transcends death.
And so I pray for you this day, that you will know no fear of death, nor of ultimate separation from God or from loved ones. May you know, by virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, your place in a family that is forever. May you know that for the faithful, “life is changed, not ended; and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place”—the gathering of a family unbounded by death — “eternal in the heavens.”
•••
Today's scriptures are: Psalms 101 & 109; Genesis 50:16–26; 1 Corinthians 12:1–11; Mark 8:11–26
A couple of brief observations from today’s passage in Genesis.
Joseph’s story closes out. Two strong notes stand out: forgiveness and an expectation for a homecoming. Genesis being a Book of “Beginnings,” these notes recall themes from the beginning of the story.
First, Jacob wants the story line of contention between his sons to turn to one of reconciliation—a reversal of the animosity between the first two sons of Adam: Cain & Abel. In the long run, hate will not win, love will.
Second, Joseph expects to end his days in Egypt, but he knows his ultimate destiny lies back in Israel. The human race has been excluded from the Garden for now—but our destiny is back home, not through fruitless efforts at replanting the Garden ourselves, but through God’s inexorable plan to restore all things and bring “a new heaven and a new earth.”
The larger story of reconciliation and homecoming that Genesis has begun continues (with tomorrow’s reading) in the book of Exodus.
My prayer for you this day: Lord Christ, where relationships are broken, please bring healing, forgiveness, restoration—where separation remains necessary, grant wisdom, patience, and freedom from bitterness and anger. If your children, Heavenly Father, feel disorientation, would you center them in your strong love and give them hope, a sense of their place in your family in the now, and a strong confidence in “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4). Amen.
Blessings on you this day.
Reggie Kidd+
Noonday Prayer
Noonday Prayer
Sunday Worship
Noonday Prayer
Noonday Prayer
Staying Connected to the Cathedral: partake in live-streamed services
Although services are “canceled”, worship will still take place. In lieu of our normal Weekday Eucharist, we are holding Noonday Prayer on Monday - Friday at 12:05pm. We will also hold Sunday morning worship at 10:15am. These services will be live-streamed/videoed. You can view these services LIVE on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ccslorlando) with or without a Facebook account.
If you do not have a Facebook account, you will be prompted to create an account. Simply ignore this prompt and close the pop-up window - you will still be able to view our public page without an account. Creating an account enables you to “like” or comment on the video but this is not necessary.
If you do have a Facebook account, we encourage interaction with the live services - comment with your prayers, share the service video on your page, give us a thumbs up - all of this, while it may feel unnatural at first, will help create a sense of community among the viewers.
If you do not care to view the services live or on Facebook, keep an eye on our Cathedral Blog where videos will be uploaded shortly after each service.
Please direct any question related to this post to our Director of Communications, Grace Symmons at communications@ccslorlando.org