A New Way of Living

Andrew Fitz-Gibbon, Jane Hall Fitz-Gibbon

Description

A New Way of Living is the prayer and Daily Office book of the Lindisfarne Community. Following the Christian calendar, and in the spirit of the Book of Common Prayer, A New Way of Living contains morning, evening and night prayer for each day of the week and for the seasons of the Christian year. Unique to this book, its prayers, psalms and meditations are edited for inclusive language both for G*d and humanity. A New Way of Living is a valuable resource to deepen spiritual practice for any who wish to establish a daily routine of prayer and meditation.

Sujets

• Self-help

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 27 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669852100
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A NEW WAY OF LIVING
 
 
Daily Prayer for the Lindisfarne Community
 
“to love, to serve, to forgive”
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jane Hall Fitz-Gibbon and Andrew Fitz-Gibbon
 
Copyright © 2022 by Jane Hall Fitz-Gibbon and Andrew Fitz-Gibbon.
Cover picture, Taughannock Falls NY, Copyright © 2022 Jane Hall Fitz-Gibbon
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022919274
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-5211-7

eBook
978-1-6698-5210-0
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 10/27/2022
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
842468
 
The restoration of the church will surely come from a new kind of monasticism, which will have nothing in common with the old but a life of uncompromising adherence to the Sermon on the Mount in imitation of Christ. I believe the time has come to rally people together for this.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If you are to have a rule to guide you, who is to write that rule? You ask me to do so, but I am not qualified. I cannot claim to be any wiser than you, so I could not presume to formulate any kind of law for you to follow. Should Jesus write your rule? The teaching of Jesus must be the primary guide for any disciple. Yet Jesus did not give clear rules. Jesus gave us stories whose meaning is infinitely profound; and Jesus gave us sermons in which every sentence and even every word is pregnant with truth. We cannot reduce these stories and sermons to a set of laws … If you wish to formulate a rule you must listen to your own conscience and discern these principles. Write down with your own hand on paper what G*d has written with G*d’s hand on the human heart.
Pelagius
CONTENTS
§ Introduction to Daily Prayer
§ The Seasons and Colors
§ Morning Prayer on Sunday
§ Evening Prayer on Sunday
§ Night Prayer on Sunday
§ Morning Prayer on Monday
§ Evening Prayer on Monday
§ Night Prayer on Monday
§ Morning Prayer on Tuesday
§ Evening Prayer on Tuesday
§ Night Prayer on Tuesday
§ Morning Prayer on Wednesday
§ Evening Prayer on Wednesday
§ Night Prayer on Wednesday
§ Morning Prayer on Thursday
§ Evening Prayer on Thursday
§ Night Prayer on Thursday
§ Morning Prayer on Friday
§ Evening Prayer on Friday
§ Night Prayer on Friday
§ Morning Prayer on Saturday
§ Evening Prayer on Saturday
§ Night Prayer on Saturday
§ Morning Prayer During the Season of the Inclusive Christ
§ Evening Prayer During the Season of the Inclusive Christ
§ Night Prayer During the Season of the Inclusive Christ
§ Morning Prayer in Advent
§ Evening Prayer in Advent
§ Night Prayer in Advent
§ Morning Prayer in the Christmas Season
§ Evening Prayer in the Christmas Season
§ Night Prayer in the Christmas Season
§ Morning Prayer in the Epiphany Season
§ Evening Prayer in the Epiphany Season
§ Night Prayer in the Epiphany Season
§ Morning Prayer in Lent
§ Evening Prayer in Lent
§ Night Prayer in Lent
§ Morning Prayer in Passiontide
§ Evening Prayer in Passiontide
§ Night Prayer in Passiontide
§ Morning Prayer in the Easter Season
§ Evening Prayer in the Easter Season
§ Night Prayer in the Easter Season
§ Morning Prayer from the Day after Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost
§ Evening Prayer from the day after Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost
§ Night Prayer from the day after Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost
§ Eucharist 1
§ Eucharist 2
§ Eucharist 3
§ Eucharist 4
§ Eucharist 5
§ The Rule of the Lindisfarne Community
§ The Understandings of the Lindisfarne Community
§ Foundation and Principles of the Lindisfarne Community
§ Sources and Acknowledgements
§ INTRODUCTION TO DAILY PRAYER
The Lindisfarne Community is a secular monastic community (sometimes called “new monastic”) and like traditional monastic communities, Lindisfarne places emphasis on a life centered on spiritual practices: prayer, study, work, and rest. Yet, ours is a life of deep spirituality lived in the world rather than in the cloister. In the Christian monastic tradition emphasis has been placed on daily prayer and Bible reading, especially the psalms. Traditional Christian monastics said prayer seven times a day. In the English Reformation, when monasticism was outlawed for political reasons, the Church of England reduced the number of offices to two—morning and evening prayer—to be said by the clergy. The laity joined the clergy in church on Sundays in the saying of the offices. Thus morning and evening prayer, derived from the monastic tradition, became the staple spirituality of Anglicanism. More recently a third daily office—Compline, or night prayer—has become popular. The Lindisfarne Community has continued this tradition of three daily offices. This rhythm of daily prayer helps immensely in sustaining a vibrant spirituality, and in recent years many excellent versions of a daily office book have been published.
Our first community prayer book was produced in 1998 to serve the needs of members and friends of the Lindisfarne Community. The book evolved through limited run editions in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005 and published with Xlibris in 2006. This 2022 edition continues that evolution and remains in the spirit of The Book of Common Prayer . Each office contains prayers, canticles (the “little songs” of scripture), psalms, Bible readings, meditations from various sources, with space for silence. Like The Book of Common Prayer, our office book is designed around the Christian calendar during which we focus on the main events of the life of Christ and the early church. Prayers change according to the season. In this volume we begin the calendar on November 1 (All Saints Day) to coincide with the beginning of the Celtic year in the season of Samhain. This pre-Advent season, sometimes called the “Kingdom of Christ” we have termed “the Inclusive Christ.” In broad strokes, the season of Samhain includes the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany cycle; Imbolc covers Lent, Easter and Pentecost; and Beltane and Lammas cover the long stretch of Ordinary Time in summer and autumn.
During the praying of the various offices we encourage the use of symbols, crosses, candles, icons, vestments, singing and place in ways meaningful to each individual or group. It is important to remember that the offices are supplemental to each person’s other prayers and spiritual exercises (Eucharist, meditation, mindfulness, somatic practice). Morning prayer can be used any time from rising until noon; evening prayer from noon until sundown; night prayer just before sleep. Night prayer ought to be the last event of the day. Each office gives the reader choices of canticles and psalms and readers should be free to use as much or little of the office as needed.
The use of language
Using words to signify the divine presents immense difficulty. G*d is always more than we can think of or imagine. Words are symbols and not the thing signified: “a finger pointing at the moon.” Theologians and mystics have spoken of the via negativa . We cannot say anything “positive” about G*d, for to do so would reduce G*d, would be inadequate and might border on the idolatrous. Language about G*d is, then, always analogical—the most we can say is that “G*d is somewhat like this, but not this.” In the Jewish tradition the name of G*d is not to be written or spoken. Theologian Paul Tillich coined the phrase “G*d beyond G*d” to remind us that G*d is above our best understanding.
We have chosen to use the signifier “G*d” rather than “God,” following the suggestion of feminist theologian Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, and for similar reasons. The traditional spelling in English “God” has been associated exclusively with masculinity. The divine is not human and carries no gender. Yet, most liturgical publications still use exclusively male language for the deity. We have adopted a different approach and, unique to this volume, is the use of inclusive language for the deity and for humanity. We began this practice in our 2006 version and revised the text again for this version. In 2006, the principles we worked with were generic language for G*d rather than the traditional masculinist “He” “Him” “Himself” etc. and for humanity. On occasion, we used feminine pronouns for the divine where the text describes feminine attributes and, at times, deliberately used the feminine to disrupt male descriptions of G*d. In the Christian tradition, where G*d is addressed as “Father,” we have found it appropriate to say “Father-Mother,” “Mother-Father,” “Abba-Amma,” “Amma-Abba,” and in this edition we interchange the uses. When “he,” “him” or “his” refers to G*d, the noun “G*d”—“G*d’s”—may easily be inserted. On occasion it is appropriate to use “she,” most particularly when feminine imagery is used of G*d (e.g. Shekinah, spirit, wisdom, rock, womb, nurturing, giving birth etc.) Since our last edition, the pronoun “they” as a singular pronoun has become more acceptable. “They” may be more appropriate as a pronoun for G*d than either “he” or “she,” and we have played creatively with its use. Pronouns for Jesus present other areas for creativity. The Jesus of history was a first cen