The word ‘liturgy’ has always been difficult for me to define.
I think this is because liturgy, to me, is something you live out rather than explain. At times, I describe liturgy as pre-recorded prayers from saints of the past that we lean on in times of wordlessness. Other times, I would define liturgy as being a set of rhythms or routines that make up the fabric of our lives with God. Liturgy to me is prayer, worship, the receiving of the Eucharist, and community.
Liturgy is also the little, mundane things that sometimes go unnoticed, but are what truly make up our lives.
It’s the way I sit down at the end of every day and enjoy dinner with my husband. How I like to watch the sunrise from my place on the couch every morning with a cup of hot tea in my hands and a prayer of gratitude in my heart. Liturgy sometimes looks like church on Sundays, silence and solitude, taking the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, and folding the laundry.
Liturgy has taught me that everything in life is a prayer of some sort. How well we love the people around us, and how we show up in our life, is its own kind of prayer — its own kind of lived-out liturgy.
I’m no theologian, but this is how I understand the meaning of liturgy.
The type of liturgy I’m writing about in today’s letter is the kind of written liturgy that I like to call the liturgy of ‘borrowed words and prayers’. There’s something so powerful in reading pre-recorded prayers and liturgies written by those who have gone before us and can give language to life experiences, moments, emotions, and more.
I used to believe that prayer was only spontaneous. I didn’t really have a clue that I was allowed to utilize the prayers of others until my mom gifted me a copy of Stormie Omartian’s, The Power of a Praying Wife, when I was 21 and getting ready to be married. It took me a while to get used to praying her written prayers, wondering if God still heard me if my words weren’t my own.
But the longer I leaned into Stormie’s prayers, the more I began to see how their seeds were beginning to take root within my life and marriage. Her words became my own and I grew to know in my core that God received these prayers as mine. He heard me, saw my heart behind the words uttered in early morning darkness, and I believe with everything in me that they blessed Him. He used that book and Stormie’s own liturgy about marriage to grow me as a person and as a wife and that’s how I know those prayers became my own.
The liturgy of borrowed words and prayers has since held me upright many times over the years. They’ve been a buoy for me in the most choppy waters of my life, keeping me afloat when I didn’t have the strength to pray on my own. Liturgy carries me — us — when we can’t carry ourselves. I believe it’s one sacred way that God uses others to come alongside us when we need words of prayer but can’t seem to find them. When we need language to describe how we feel or what we’ve experienced but are having a hard time forming them.
The Psalms are an excellent example of liturgy. David does a fantastic job of describing the human experience in all its broken glory through Psalms of praise, lament, and everything in between. One of my favorites that I pray often is Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I have what I need.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life;
he leads me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.Psalm 23:1-3, CSB
There are so many times I wake in the night, sleep evading me, and I turn to these words and recite them — making them my own prayer and declaration. They hold me and comfort me, ushering me into the presence of God and settling my anxious mind.
Maybe like me, praying the words of others is a foreign practice, but one that feels needed in this season. If so, the Psalms are a great place to begin when just learning how to pray the liturgy of others who came before us. Here are a few of my favorite Psalms to turn to and pray when I just can’t seem to find my own words. I hope they bless and keep you.
Psalms of Lament
Psalm 42
Psalm 10
Psalm 61
Psalm 58
Psalm 31
Psalm 69
Psalm 55
Psalms to Bring Peace in Anxious Times
Psalm 62
Psalm 23
Psalm 121
Psalm 91
Psalms of Praise & Gratitude
Psalm 145
Psalm 146
Psalm 98
Psalm 100
I would recommend reading through a few of these and lingering with one or two that speak to where your soul is right now. Try reading it silently a few times, and then aloud if you feel led to, making these prayers your own.
Another way to begin a practice of praying the liturgy of others is to find a book of liturgies and prayers that resonates with you. Here is a list of my personal favorites.
Books & Devotionals of Liturgy & Prayer
Anything by Stormie Omartian (she has books of prayer for a lot of different life stages and seasons)
Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human by Cole Arthur Riley
The Book of Common Courage: Prayers and Poems to Find Strength in Small Moments by KJ Ramsey
I’ve recently found joy in the practice of letter writing. Instead of sending gifts through Amazon lately, I’ve picked up my pen and written thoughtful ‘happy birthday’ messages within a card to a few dear friends that I want to celebrate (those cards may also include a Starbucks gift card because coffee and tea are the perfect gift). I’ve been pulling blessings and liturgies from my different prayer books to convey the gratitude and joy I feel in having their presence in my life.
The liturgy of borrowed words and prayers is to help give us language for ourselves and for others in times of pain and celebration. We can receive them to give ourselves the strength we need, but also give them as gifts of comfort and joy to uplift others.
Liturgy, I’m convinced, breathes the very presence of God into our souls. It centers us and brings us rest because all liturgy is an invitation to become attentive to God with us.
I pray that whether this practice of engaging with borrowed words and prayers is new to you or familiar, it would become one more way that you can behold more of God with you in the every day and in seasons when you long for Him and need Him but maybe don’t know how to convey it.
I’d like to end today with one of my personal favorite liturgies and one I find myself returning to often in this season of my life. It comes from Every Moment Holy Volume 1 and it’s a liturgy to pray at the start of each day. It always puts my eyes on Jesus and gives me a heavenly perspective as I begin my day. Often, its words find me throughout the day, and I find myself praying portions of it as a way to connect with God and center my soul.
I pray that it might give you language for your soul in relation to God.
A Liturgy for First Waking
I am not the captain of my own destiny,
nor even of this new day, and so
I renounce anew all claim
to my own life and desires.
I am only yours, O Lord.
Lead me by your mercies through these hours,
that I might spend them well,
not in harried pursuit of my own agendas,
but rather in good service to you.
Teach me to shepherd the small duties
of this day with great love,
tending faithfully those tasks
you place within my care
and tending with patience and
kindness the needs and hearts of
those people you place within my reach.
Nothing is too hard for you, Lord Christ.
I deposit now all confidence in you
that whatever these waking hours bring,
my foundations will not be shaken.
At day’s end I will lay me down again to sleep
knowing that my best hope is well kept in you.
In all things your grace will sustain me.
Bid me follow, and I will follow.
Amen.
With you on the journey
Celia
Life Lately
A Breath Prayer for Your Weekend
Inhale: God, hear my cry.
Exhale: Pay attention to my prayer.
(adapted from Psalm 61:1, CSB)
*If you’d like to learn more about the practice of breath prayer, download this complete digital guide to practicing breath prayer.
Resources & Good Things to Pick Up
My mom is an ovarian cancer survivor who decided to create an encouraging planner for those walking through their cancer journey. It would also be a life-giving tool for caregivers and loved ones walking beside their cancer warrior. The ‘For Such a Time as This’ planner is officially available for purchase now here: Quiet Hope Co.
My Etsy shop, The Beholding Co., offers contemplative resources to help you slow down, seek still moments, and behold God’s presence with you in the everyday. Purchase some breath prayer cards, a Lectio Divina bookmark, and more.
Grab a copy of my Bible study, You Are Beloved: a 21-day study on how to root your identity in the love of God, over on Amazon. If you’d like a free 3-day sample of the study, reply to this email and I’ll send it right over!
My friend and licensed spiritual director, Kari Bartkus, offers an 8-week journaling program for those who want to process their grief and trauma with God within the safety of blank journal pages. I’ve completed the program myself and can say confidently that it was incredibly impactful and healing: Journal Gently
An Invitation to Pause & Reflect
A regular practice of reflection helps us recognize what’s going on beneath the surface of our souls so we can name it in the Lord’s presence. Because as we learn to name what we feel, what we need, and what we long for, we’re also learning to discern the Spirit’s sweet, gentle voice within our hearts and lives.
Take a few moments today or this weekend to journal or contemplate with the Holy Spirit the following question(s) or prompt(s):
What makes up the liturgy of your life? In other words, what practices, rhythms, or spaces in your life are forming you and how?
Do you engage with the liturgy of borrowed words and prayers? If so, how have you noticed it impacting your walk with God? If not, how might you begin?
I love "everything in life is a prayer of some sort." Everything you shared is encouraging and practical. Thank you!
So much food for thought here. I'll be returning to this often.