Others' prayers. | December 31, 2022

This morning my wife - henceforth to be referred to as the Fair Rebecca (h/t to Jonah Goldberg) - commented on my grumpiness by telling me I was being Eeyore. As Eeyore is one of my favorite literary characters, I did not take this as an insult. Yet, I defended myself against her arrows anyway protesting that I was only being grumpy momentarily and that after breakfast and caffeine and generally more rest, I am not so Eeyore-ish. She relented, downgrading me to merely a part-time Eeyore. I could protest no longer as this is probably pretty accurate. 

Later, this same day by brother protested the loss of the blogging era. 

Thus, here we are at a blog called A Part-Time Eeyore. I don't plan on blogging a lot. But we all know about the plans of mice. And sometimes men. 

I often feel that I should write but rarely do. Honestly, my vision for this is small. My hope is to maybe jot a few thoughts about my daily worship time down as days allow as a means of helping me think on God's Word more deeply. Perhaps I'll get some of my other thoughts out of my head as well. Regardless it will be more casual more than academic. We'll see how it goes. Maybe my mom will read it.

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In recent years I've moved towards a slightly higher liturgy in church than I have been accustomed to. I'm sure I'll write more about that later.

In my daily worship I use Jonathan Gibson's Be Thou My Vision daily liturgy book. I also attend a church with higher liturgical style than I used to. We do a lot of call and response and frequently use the Book of Common Prayer. I am not Anglican, so I do not have a particular affinity for it beyond the specific efficacy or beauty of individual prayers or recitations. Much like many American evangelicals, I had never really been exposed to responsive readings and recitations of prayers written by other people, let alone the historic Christian saints, reformers, church fathers, et al. 

But, now it's part of my daily routine. And for that, I'm really grateful. I have often struggled to pray well. Often the words don't come. When they do - they might be truly from the heart and spontaneous - but they aren't elegant. They don't say what I really mean. It's just always been a struggle for me. I think some people see the words in a prayer or recitation or creed and go, "How rote! How meaningless. That's not from the heart!" And that might be true for some. But for me, it's been a true breath of fresh air. It's amazing to be almost 40 and still find so much of my own heart a mystery. Like a well-written song, I find the prayers and readings I do in Gibson's book and in church to be beautiful, poignant and relatable – even though the words are borrowed. Nearly every day I silently exclaim to myself, "Wow! That's exactly what my heart is like" and "Whew, that's exactly what I needed to preach to myself today."

It speaks to the truth and wonder of the work of the Holy Spirit in us all. It's a marvel to read words written five hundred or a thousand years ago and see the same Holy Spirit working the same Gospel truth in people's hearts over the chasm of time.

So, much like one can relate to the lyrics of a great song you didn't write, I am delighted people have carefully refined their prayers and written them down for posterity. I am grateful to other believers who lend me their thoughts and prayers to help me articulate to my Father what is in my heart. I am happy to be preached to by their words centuries later. I'm grateful to be blessed by the prayers of other Godly folks who have words when I don't. There is no chronological snobbery here. (If we're being honest, there is a bit of historical snobbery). 

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Postscript: Eeyore is criminally under-regarded. He is not merely grumpy. I gladly take the mantle of Eeyore. He's got great taste, perfect manners, tells the truth, and is full of class (even if he only partly understands it). He's a lovely fellow and I'm happy to be lumped in with him.