Lift Up Your Hearts: A Prayer Book for Anglicans

By Andrew Davison

An accessible, adult, catholic prayer book which can become the well-used friend of the reader -- it can be kept and prayed with. This is not another book for the shelf but to accompany us in our journey. We can add our own comments in the margins, highlight a prayer we will use regularly, add extra ribbons and use the blank pages at the back of the book to supplement this volume with other prayers that we come across which we will find useful. We can make this our working journal of prayer as we lift up our hearts, day by day, to God. When we pray we learn to pray; as we pray we enter into that rich experience of prayer which George Herbert describes in his poem at the front of this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SPCK
• Release date: Jul 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9780281065417

Andrew Davison

ANDREW DAVISON lectures in theology at the University of Cambridge Divinity Faculty, and is the author of a number of books on theology and pastoral ministry.

Book preview

Introduction

The disciples gathered around Jesus and said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Luke 11.1). That desire to pray is a deep and natural one for all Christians. None of us think of ourselves as particularly good at prayer, even those who have devoted their lives to it. We each think that we could pray better than we do but we want someone to teach us, or someone to give us the resources from which to build up our prayer and devotional life. It is responding to this desire that lies behind this book, which contains not just prayers but reflections on what we are doing when we pray.

The Eucharist at the heart

For the vast majority of Anglicans their experience of the Church at prayer is in the Eucharist. This is particularly the case for catholic Anglicans for whom the Mass is at the heart of their life and for whom receiving communion on a weekly or even daily basis is how their relationship with God is lived out.

Because the Eucharist is so central to our lives this book takes its structure from that service. Anyone familiar with the shape of the Eucharist in Common Worship will be able to follow the way in which this book has been prepared. Each chapter, and the prayers that it contains, follows the pattern of entering into church, confessing our sins, hearing and responding to the word of God, preparing the altar, receiving communion and leaving the gathering. The selection of prayers is intended to deepen our own devotion at each part of the liturgy, but not just when we are in church. Some prayers will be useful when we are at worship with others, but other prayers will be for our own devotions at other times. The Appendix contains other material which does not fit neatly into the structure of the Mass but which is important for the undergirding of our spiritual lives as catholic Anglicans.

A heritage of prayer

As Anglicans we have a rich heritage of prayer on which to draw and this book looks to that inheritance. As catholics there is the western tradition of which we are part, informed by the Orthodox tradition from the East. As members of a worldwide communion there is much that we are learning from prayer traditions in other places. In addition we have a concept of a living and evolving liturgy that takes seriously the issues of the day and the lives we live. In traditional and contemporary prayers this book seeks to bring together all these strands.

An aspect of this heritage is memorizing some of the great prayers which help to make us who we are. Some of the collects from the Book of Common Prayer, prayers from Common Worship that we use regularly and prayers by some of the saints should be part of what we carry with us in our memory. When our own words fail us then the familiar and remembered words from our heritage can give us a voice.

A wealth of theology

An aspect of our life that is particularly important for Anglicans is that it is in the liturgy of the Church that we can find our doctrine. If Anglicans are asked, ‘What do you believe?’, they should respond by taking the enquirer to church. The faith of the Church is lived out and understood in worship. We learn our theology and we deepen our understanding of God when we pray. This book is therefore not just a selection of prayers but an exercise in theology. People who pray are people who do theology, who know God.

The fact that many of the prayers in this book are drawn from the two thousand years of tradition of which we are inheritors means that the language used reflects theological understanding and positions of other times as well as other forms of language in use. Where it has been felt that traditional language is important for the depth of the prayer the text has not been rendered into modern English. Where traditional language would obscure the meaning then it has been sensitively adapted. For the same reason God is often referred to as ‘he’ and, whereas there is now good reason to look for ways of addressing and thinking about God that are not gender-specific, we have consciously left ‘male language’ referring to God without wanting to suggest that this is the way we would always think about God.

Using the book

This book is intended to be useful, not another book for the shelf but to accompany us in our journey. King Henry VIII’s prayer book in the British Library shows his comments and own prayers in the margins. The book really became his prayer book and reflects his own spirituality and theological thinking. Add your own comments in the margins, highlight a prayer you will use regularly, add extra ribbons and use the blank page at the back of the book to supplement this volume with other prayers that you come across and find useful. Make this your working journal of prayer as you lift up your heart, day by day, to God.

The Church’s banquet

When we pray we learn to pray; as we pray we enter into that rich experience of prayer which George Herbert describes in his poem at the front of this book, in a series of metaphors that seek to describe this ‘banquet’ of riches.

Affirming Catholicism and the Society of Catholic Priests, who have sponsored this prayer book, are committed to the catholic tradition of the Church of which we are part. ‘Lift up your hearts,’ says the priest from the altar. ‘We lift them to the Lord,’ we respond. As we pray that is exactly what we do.

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Praising God together

The experience of going to church begins before we actually arrive at the place where the service will be celebrated. There are things that we should do in order to get ourselves ready to worship God. Every Sunday is in fact a mini-Easter, a celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection, the first day of the week and a time for new beginnings. Sunday is also the time when the Christian community gathers and together we offer worship to God and serve one another in his name.

Beginning any day is important, not just beginning Sunday in a way that will help us celebrate properly the amazing acts of God. When we wake from sleep we want to give thanks for the rest we have enjoyed and we anticipate all that the day will hold. We then need to prepare ourselves for the things that we know we will be doing and the things that will happen for which we cannot be prepared.

In this chapter you will find material to begin the day with acts of praise and prayers that will help us enter the day with joy. There are also prayers to offer for all those who are going to be involved in ministry in any way – not just the clergy and other ministers, but the welcomers and coffee makers, the bell-ringers and the servers.

As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus we are also reminded that we have shared in his resurrection through our baptism, and as we come to church it is a good opportunity to remember our own baptism and those who have guided us in the faith, not least our godparents. The life that Jesus gives us is an abundant life and it is that which we wake to celebrate.

Prayers of praise

May the Lord be blessed for ever for the great gifts that he has continually heaped upon me, and may all that he has created praise him. Amen.

(St Teresa of Avila, 1515–82)

You are holy, Lord, the only God

and your deeds are wonderful.

You are strong, you are great.

You are the Most High, you are almighty.

You Holy Father, are King of heaven and earth.

You are Three and One, Lord God, all good.

You are Good, all Good, supreme Good,

Lord God, living and true.

You are love, you are wisdom.

You are humility, you are endurance.

You are rest, you are peace.

You are joy and gladness.

You are justice and moderation.

You are all our riches and you suffice for us.

You are beauty, you are gentleness.

You are our protector,

you are our guardian and defender.

You are courage, you are our haven and our hope.

You are our faith, our great consolation.

You are our eternal life, great and wonderful Lord,

God almighty, merciful Saviour.

(St Francis of Assisi, c. 1182–1226, ‘The Praises of God’)

The Te Deum

We praise you, O God,

we acclaim you as the Lord;

all creation worships you,

the Father everlasting.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,

the cherubim and seraphim, sing in endless praise:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.

The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.

The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:

Father, of majesty unbounded,

your true and only Son, worthy of all praise,

the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the King of glory,

the eternal Son of the Father.

When you took our flesh to set us free

you humbly chose the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death

and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.

We believe that you will come and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,

bought with the price of your own blood,

and bring us with your saints

to glory everlasting.

The canticle may end here.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.

Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day we bless you.

We praise your name for ever.

Keep us today,