Rector’s Reflections
Thursday 10th April 2025
Developing Our Prayer Life: Some ideas from an old book
In the current series of reflections, I am sharing some thoughts on how we might develop and grow our spiritual lives. Different things will work for different people, and I thought it might be helpful to share a few ideas to be found in an old book published back in 1940, The Cuddesdon College Office Book. This book was specifically designed to help trainee vicars and their future congregations to grow closer to God, and while it is inevitably dated in some respects, it contains much which is still relevant today. I should add a warning that it comes from a definitely High Church tradition . I am aware that High Church traditions are not everyone’s cup of tea. However, I think there is much that Evangelicals can learn from High Church Anglicans, and vice versa. Personally, I rejoice in the breadth of the Church of England - all church communities have their different ways and their different traditions, and such a rich diversity is surely to be celebrated rather than lamented.
In yesterday’s reflections, I shared the idea that we might develop our prayer lives by seeking opportunities to connect them with our experience of the passage of time. We might create a personalised spiritual calendar, noting the anniversaries of individuals and events which have helped us to become the people we are today. We might also set up a pattern of prayer at regular times in the day, a spiritual practice which is traditionally called “saying a Daily Office”. Such a pattern will reflect the realities of our daily lives. For example, it might be that a short prayer slot at the start of the day won’t work for us, while a ten minute slot at another point, for example at midday or in the evening, will work much better. It can be good to experiment.
This leads on to another question: who and what are we praying for? When we offer up our prayers, it is natural for us to pray for ourselves, our families, and our own immediate concerns. Prayer such as this is essentially inward-looking, and there’s nothing wrong in that. But it can be profoundly enriching to complement such inward-looking prayer with prayer which is more outward focused. Such outward-focussed prayer might include prayer for other churches and communities, in this country and around the world. It can also be an opportunity to pray for all who are working as missionaries and evangelists, in our country and overseas.
The Cuddesdon College Office Book contains a specific section designed to encourage and enable such outward focussed prayer. It is headed Litany of Missionary Intercession, the word “litany” being a traditional term for a series of short prayers on a particular theme. Such litanies certainly have their place, but there are many other ways in which we can develop our outward focussed prayer.
One way is to engage with our own Diocesan cycle of prayer, which can be found on the Diocesan website. This cycle of prayer takes a spiritual journey around the diocese, providing different prayer suggestions for every day.
Another way is to commit ourselves to finding out more about the work of a particular Christian charity or organisation, and to allocate time every day or every week to pray for their work. The charity in question might work mainly in this country, or it may work overseas. It might be explicitly Christian in its work and messaging, or implicitly Christian, basing its work on Christian values.
There are so many Christian charities and organisations, all of which do wonderful work, and it is impossible to list them all. However, if I may be permitted to list a handful which have a particularly strong connection to the Church of England, let me mention : The Church Army; Church Mission Society (“CMS”) ; The Church Urban Fund; Mothers’ Union; and the United Society Partners in the Gospel (“USPG”).
Engaging with and supporting the work of a particular Christian charity or organisation can be a very effective way of developing and growing our own spiritual lives. It can help us see the bigger picture, giving us a glimpse of how God can be at work in surprising and fascinating ways, transforming lives and communities for the better, in our own country and around the world.