First, allow me to extend warm greetings to all today in the celebration of Ascension Day. A collection of prayers for the day may be found at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/dailyprayer with links on the right of the page for morning, evening and night prayers.
Second, if I may, allow me to share a brief thought that I came across from Denise Levertov, daughter of the Rev. Paul P. Levertoff (1878-1954). She states the following:
The Hasidim were a lot like the Franciscans.
As noted by John Felstiner, if the Rev. Levertoff were to make this same statement he might have said it thus:
“The Franciscans were a lot like the Hasidim.”
According to Denise, in both the Hasidim and the Franciscans, “there was a recognition and joy, in the physical world. And a sense of wonder at creation…” (from Sutton, A Conversation with Denise Levertov, 1965).
June 7, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Thank you for the link.
I recently (over the past couple of months) have “discovered” the Common Books of Prayer (both Episcopal and Church of England)and been incorporating the weekly collect (in an adapted form) into daily shacharit. The site you listed provides some very nice collects for morning, evening and night as well.
At first, weaving traditional Christian prayers into Orthodox tefilah seemed a bit awkward, but I find it very helpful for incorporating a Messianic (Yeshua) focus into the rich worship of traditional Jewish prayer.
Perhaps this is just the natural outcome of being something like a “Franciscan Hasid” as a Gentile who follows Torah.
Shalom,
Paula
June 7, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I have recently begun to explore more of the Book of Common Prayer as well. I’ve found many striking parallels in structure, as well as content, to the Siddur.
Obviously the use of the Psalms is a common trait, but also how the Jewish order of service climaxes with the Amidah prayer, whereas the Episcopal (as well as Catholic and Orthodox) service climaxes with the Eucharist and the accompanying “Our Father.”
In a way, it is very much like a Christian “nusach” for prayer, since the early form of worship in Christianity was inherited from the synagogue. The Book of Common Prayer seeks to preserve this early form of worship. Incorporating these older texts takes a lot of the pressure off to have to come up with something distinctly Christian/Messianic.