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Something to get up early for

Today my morning began oh so well; my beloved Tom and I listened to an Anglican morning prayer service online. This is not the typical way we Bowyers begin our day. It is the way I, a morning person, always dream of beginning a day (minus the Anglican part until we met an Anglican priest the other day... more on that to follow), and it is the way Tom, a roll-over-in-bed-until-the-last-possible-moment person, wishes that he would consider dreaming of beginning a day. Through a series of events, however, both Tom and I found ourselves at the kitchen table drinking tea, feeding Piper bits of sweet potato left over from yesterday, and listening to lessons and prayers shared with hundreds of other believers around the world. I LOVE that concept.

Practicing that concept gets a little more hairy. For example, by the time we made it to the gospel lesson, Piper did not want anymore breakfast. By the Lord's prayer she did not want to play alone anymore. By the final prayer she was whimpering over in her play kitchen because Mommy and Daddy had redirected her to go make them some soup while they prayed. These distractions from a good thing can be frustrating.

But, on the flip side, Tom, Piper and I did share a time of prayer together. Scripture was read over our household, and whether or not it was my entire mental energy, at least a portion of it was directed, for a time, to eternal things. All of this is very good.

Why did we listen to this particular morning prayer service? Because we met an Anglican priest the other day named Michael. He has a darling little girl who played very well with my sweet baby Piper Joy while we heard his story, his passions, and a little bit about his mission. You can find it here: thetrinitymission.org It is a simple website but one that supports a worthy goal - that of calling believers together for prayer.

The following paragraphs are from the website, but I included them here in case you're interested enough to keep reading, but not quite interested enough to follow the link. I'm usually in that place!






About The Trinity Mission


"An ancient-form mission on the edge of the global village – one of the main works of the Trinity Mission is creating contemplative, formational opportunities and resources to help people to develop the habit of daily prayer.
"We are a collective, of sorts, of clergy and lay people working together. In this way, The Trinity Mission operates something like a web-based abbey, if you will, with various people doing various things for the kingdom of God but all coming together at particular hours of the day for prayer (of course, for us, the “set time” and “set place” of our common prayer services is a bit virtual).
"The Audio Daily Office is a podcast offered in the morning and evening every day of the year. Hundreds of people come together each week, according to their own schedules, to participate in this community formed by prayer. Our service is rooted in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer service for Morning and Evening Prayer to be held in the church (with a couple adjustments made for the fact that we’re a podcast and our participation includes half a dozen countries – that we know of).
"As a community, the people of the Trinity Mission span many Christian traditions, however the director is an Anglican priest."

So my beloved Tom and I have embarked on an effort at participating in morning prayer together. Join us if you wish, and pray for us if you will! However long it lasts, this little morning person is thankful for the work of the Trinity Mission!


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