Bethany Community Church

Nancy Eckardt, Director of Discipleship and Leadership Development

Every morning at 8:39am, my watch alarm goes off. At one time or another, just about everyone on staff has asked me what is magical about that hour, especially when I am sitting in a staff meeting or prayer time before a Sunday service. My answer: “If I was home right now and it was a school day, it would indicate to Cameron that it is time for him to get his coat and shoes on and head out the door for the bus.” With the knowledge that my watch is keeping time, we can both relax for those 20 or so minutes before school, knowing that one of us doesn’t have to keep our eye on the clock. And when play is interrupted, it is happily the watch’s fault, not the parent’s.

I have often thought that I should set more alarms on my watch, alarms to remind me to stop and pray. How else will I be shaken out of my routine and activities to be drawn back to the feet of Jesus, to remember the important practice of the “observing the divine hours,” in order to more deeply be the hands and feet of Christ to those in our world? As Phyllis Tickle describes it, “The divine hours allows our human awareness or mental focus to move back and forth on a daily basis and in a disciplined way from attending to the necessary bustle of each day of our lives to attending to the eternal timelessness and magnificence of divine life.”

As we begin to focus on the importance of spiritual disciplines to till the ground of our heart to receive God’s presence, we will discover quickly that these habits do not form out of our intentions, so much as out of our daily commitment to carrying out those intentions. The divine hours is one way to commit to the discipline of prayer throughout our day. This practice of setting aside time at fixed hours of the day for prayer goes way back to our Jewish roots. It was as they were on their way into the temple for prayers that Peter and John healed the lame man; it was during the afternoon prayers on Cornelius’ roof that Peter encountered a vision for the salvation of all, Jews and Gentiles alike. Over the years this same practice has taken on new forms in different contexts. In my late teens and early 20s, I would attend Compline service at St. Mark’s Cathedral, as some of you do now, and without realizing it, having grown up Conservative Baptist, would observe the divine hours.

With the start of Advent, I began observing the divine hours, using Tickle’s book, Christmastide: Prayers for Advent through Epiphany from the Divine Hours. To be honest, I have not set my watch, and while my morning prayers are nailed, the afternoon and evening prayers have not become habit yet. But it has been nice to find the cry of my heart and the hand of God in the words of the psalms.

These prayers can be done alone, but are also done in community. In fact when we do them in community, we are actually standing with the body of Christ, the universal church, across the world and the centuries, as one voice of worship and prayer to God. With this in mind, we invite you to join a group of us on Monday evenings at 6:20-6:45pm, beginning on January 18th, in the Sanctuary, as we practice the tradition of evening prayers. We will provide the format and the content. Together we will read aloud the scripture and the corporate prayers, as well as offer time for personal prayers of intercession. It will be a time to refresh and center our hearts after a busy day, and to join with others in prayer.