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Rector’s Reflections
Friday 11th April 2025
Developing our Prayer life: Some ideas from an old book
Over the last few days, I have been sharing some thoughts on how we might grow and develop our spiritual lives. There are always opportunities to grow in our relationship with God. It can be good to learn from other Christians, and we have been looking at some ideas found in The Cuddesdon College Office Book , a book published back in 1940 to help trainee vicars to grow closer to God.
This book contains many ideas, such as developing a personalised spiritual calendar, and saying prayers at set times in the day, as works best for us in the unique circumstances of our own particular lives. Most of our prayers tend to be inward-focussed, looking at our own particular issues and concerns. This is entirely natural. However it can be good to develop our spiritual lives further by including outward-focussed prayers, such as prayers for other churches and communities, and for the work of Christian charities and organisations in this country and around the world. The Cuddesdon College Office Book includes a formal “Litany of Missionary Intercession”, and some people find a formal set of prayers like this helpful. Others prefer something more informal and free flow. There is of course no right or wrong way to pray – different ways of praying will suit different personalities and different contexts.
Th Cuddesdon College Office Book contains further ideas for developing our spiritual lives, but unfortunately I do not have the space to explore them all. However, let me finish this current series of reflections by mentioning one particular spiritual practice: the prayerful reading of the Seven Penitential Psalms.
The Penitential Psalms are a group of 7 psalms from the psalter, which all have a penitential theme and flavour: psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. Since at least the Middle Ages, Christians have found it helpful to read these psalms as a group, as a way of saying sorry to God for all the poor choices we have made in our lives in years past, and the poor choices we continue to make. In the traditional language of the Church, these psalms recognise that we are all sinners and in need of God’s forgiveness. To read these psalms is a sobering experience, but the experience of doing so can provide us with a deep sense of comfort. The psalms recognise the reality and diversity of human sinfulness, but at the same time they also recognise that God is able to forgive us our sins and to restore our broken relationships.
The Seven Penitential Psalms make three profound points about sin. The first is that sin is intimately connected with our experience of being human in the world as it is. The second is that sin is basically about a broken relationship – our broken relationship with our true selves, with one another, and with God. The third is that sin and sinfulness is a complex business, with complex emotions and no easy answers. If we are to engage with the reality of sin effectively, we need to be prepared to enter into a serious and honest conversation with God, a two-way dialogue in which we speak with God and God speaks with us. Such a dialogue can not be trivialised, and neither can it be rushed.
For all these reasons, many Christians have found it helpful to set aside a significant period of time- perhaps even half an hour or longer - to read the Seven Penitential Psalms, and to use this reading as a starting point for earnest prayer. To do so can be a transforming experience, which gives a fresh insight into the complexities of the human condition and the wondrous depth of God’s forgiving love and patience. But I should warn you that it can also be a difficult experience, as these psalms bring us face to face with our own failings and limitations.
For a Christian, these psalms will bring us to the foot of the Cross, for it is in Jesus that we see God’s love and mercy revealed in all its glory.
This Sunday will mark the start of Holy Week. As we come to an end of the current series of reflections, perhaps we might all spend some time reading the Seven Penitential Psalms. If they bring us to the foot of the Cross, they will have done their work. For the foot of the Cross is where we need to be.