PRIME

Prime, or the First Hour, is a fixed time of prayer said at the first hour of daylight between the morning hour of Lauds and the 9 a.m. hour of Terce. At Pluscarden this is approximately 35 minutes after Lauds and like all the liturgical hours, except the Office of Readings, it consists primarily of Psalms. Known as one of the Little Hours, the word “Prime” comes from Latin and refers to the first hour of daylight meaning dawn. So accompanied by the ringing of the church bells I once again headed to worship and quietly took my place kneeling in prayer. There in the silent darkness, while shadows danced in the faint flicker of the candle light, I became acutely aware of my sin, with its burden and bondage. I came face to face with my sinful self, I wept for the wasted time, time I had spent in worry or wants instead of worship. In that moment the morning light started to flood into the chapel and as I sat, stuck in the shadow of my sin, I looked up and saw the light piercing the panes of the stain glass window, illuminating them in a radiant picture of color. I was reminded of my real reality, that because of Christ I am not condemned. That because of Christ we are not alone, left to the ravishes of sin, we have a resurrected rescuing Savior. This was one of those magical morning moments, caught between the last shadows of darkness and the first rays of day, between the tides of sin and the truth of grace. That moment when the sun light filters in and despair is dispelled, when darkness is displaced as it flees the flooding light. I have never been so overwhelmed by the gift of grace, where without the reality of the Resurrected Savior I would still be stuck in darkness. Looking at the light streaming through the stain glass I though about how someone painstakingly cut and assembled each piece of that picture puzzle of glass. How they intended for it to shine forth Christ, yet no matter how much work they did, without the illuminating light it would forever be a drab lifeless window. So it is with us, unless the light illuminates the dark places of our lives, unless we let Christ peirce our problems, the true picture of His beauty will never be realized in and through us. Before the light of a new day dawned there was only the man made light of a few feeble candles, constantly struggling to keep the darkness at bay. Candles that had to be tended, their wicks trimmed and even with the best care and attention failed as they were consumed. So it is with our best attempts to light our own life, they require constant and copious amounts of effort, which not only fall short but fail. Oh we may think that we produce a little light, but its really just a pretense of light, false and failing, which at best casts an eire shallow shadow of spirituality. Yet how different our light to His, what a contrast between the pre dawn darkness and the light of day. Between moments filled with self effort and those filled with sanctification. Yes I know that until the Lord calls me home, I will be caught in the twin realities of sinner and Saint, yet when I choose to let His light flood my life others will get to see my Savior more than my sin. Sometimes what we need isn’t another sermon but simply silence before the Savior, time just to soak Him in and let the love of His light washes over us. Listened to the Monks that morning, singing their songs to the Savior, I was reminded of our desperate need for God, as Psalm 63 says: “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.” Just like David in the desert so our souls also crave Christ, desiring to call out, letting our lips proclaim His love. It was David’s experience in the dry, waterless wilderness that prompted him to think of the thirst of his soul for God. It was this thirsting of his soul that caused him to earnestly seek God, which makes me wonder do I earnestly seek him? This phrase earnestly seek can be translated, “Early will I seek You.” Not only do we earnestly seek Him but God becomes the first thing that we want. So what is it that I am seeking, what is it that I want when I wake? Am I eager for God or could it be that I have been saturated and pacified with a soul substitute? In verse two we see that Davids longing for God was fueled by his vision of God’s glory, having seen God in the sanctuary. When was the last time I saw God for who He is and not for what I wanted? When was the last time having seen His power that I was moved to awe instead of asking? David life was filled with difficulties yet he chose to proclaim God’s power through praise, instead of petitioning God over his problems. David understood the power that praise had to satisfy his soul as much as the richest of foods could satisfy his body. He praised God for His loyal love, a love that is both present and powerful, a love that is better than life. Just like David we too will have times in the desert but they do not have to be dry times if they are permeated with praise. Praising God is the natural expression of a heart that meditates on the Master. Today as the Sun rises on your situation, as the light touches your life, will you choose to live a life of praise regardless of the problems? I want to close by praying with you: Father what a gift it is to serve you, to sit with you, knowing that its not through our works but through your word that we the church are changed. I ask you to speak in the silence, to encourage the oppressed and discouraged, to lift up the downcast, to strengthen the weak, to heal the hurting. Protect us from our pride so that we can boost in your provision. Father let your Spirit move in your people with power so that the purpose of their life becomes your praise, Amen.

LAUDS

A typical day for monks in the monastery at Pluscarden starts with the first service of the day Lauds, beginning at 4:30am and ends with Vespers a little after 8pm. Lauds as morning prayer and Vespers as evening prayer are the two hinges on which the daily office turns and as such are considered and celebrated as the chief hours. The name is derived from the three last psalms 148, 149, 150, know in the Lauds of the Roman Rite as the Laudate psalms. Lauds as the principle office of the day is known by several names, the Morning Office, Office of the dawn, the Office of sunrise, the morning praises, and the Office of the Resurrection of Christ. Its purpose is to sanctify the morning, to consecrate to God the first movements of our minds and hearts. So often even in Christian society we build our schedule more around the secular than the spiritual. Yet here in the monastery the first moments of the day are set apart to focus on the Father. There should be no other care to engage us before we have been moved with the thought of God, nor should the body undertake any work before we have done what is said in Psalm 5:3 “At daybreak I prepare a prayer of sacrifice, I hold myself in readiness, watching and waiting for you to speak to my heart.” It is in these early hours when the body beckons for sleep, and as we fight flesh with faith so we can give of our first fruits to the Father, that we are reminded of who should be preeminent in our lives. Today as our schedules of self eclipse the Savior we are traded truth for the temporary, sacrificing the spiritual on the alter of societal success. But what if we were to surrender self and start the day seeking His schedule? What if our first moments as the day dawned were spent not in sleep but on the Savior, reserved to recall His resurrection? Rising in the darkness to sing His praise as the first rays of light illuminate our sight and our minds become focused on Jesus, the light of the world (John 8:12), who came to dispel spiritual darkness “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Lauds also reminds us that Christ met his followers at dawn, following His triumphant resurrection and there miserable failure. Reminding us that our focus should not be on our failures but His forgiveness. We can start the day not with our past problems but His present power. From the moment we awaken our first though should be on Jesus, His praise should be what inhabits our breath. Yet so often because our waking thoughts are fixed on our frailties we become consumed with our circumstances instead of Christ and our thoughts are far from the Father. When praise permeates our first moments, and takes the place of priority, it puts life into perspective. When we start with the Son self is eclipsed in His shadow. It is in these morning moments when we make what is really important our priority that we realize that the first act of the day should be prayer not progress, Christ not our calendar, the Word not our work. Prayer places our thoughts on the Father before we face the cares of the day. It is in these tranquil hours, just before and as the sun rises, that our focus on the Father provides the foundation on which to build the rest of our day. For when we learn to turn to the Father first we transfer our trust from self to the Son. John 1:9 reminds us that “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” He came into the world, but are you letting Him into your heart and mind? Lauds is typically composed of a number of psalms, a hymn, a short reading from the Bible and prayers sung by the monks using Gregorian Chant. Opening with the singing of Psalm 66 I was reminded of His power, position and purpose. With the focus on who He is and what He has done we are reminded that God is worthy of our praise, He has heard our prayer and provided us His love. Psalm 66: “Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name.” Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot— come, let us rejoice in him. He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations— let not the rebellious rise up against him. Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you— vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” What a change in our perspective when we start off with praise instead of our own plans. What if praise was the first part of everyday, what if like the psalmist His praise was the first thing on our tongue? At the end of this time of praise and prayer Psalm 150 was recited: “Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise The Lord” Psalm 150 starts in verse one with a:

● Call to praise
Why a call to praise? Isn’t it interesting that we need to be reminded to praise but not to problem! Wherever you are today I want to invite you to join me, to let your praise push aside the problems. I love the diversity of praise in this psalm, it is not a static fixed two dimensional dribble of praise, but praise with all our being, song and soul. From the diversity of dance, and delicate harp to the deafening sound of cymbals. This is a call to praise with all that we have, to stop holding back and let The Lord have our best. Next in verse two we see the:

● Cause for praise
The praise that is called for in verse one is because of His mighty excellence in all that He does. This is a call to worship Him for His wonder instead of waking up only to whine. Oh we have such cause for worship, we have a Savior who because of His of surpassing greatness and power has secured us a place in His sanctuary. So why do we slumber when we could shout His praise? Why is my worship so often overtake and overwhelmed by my whining, or held hostage by my wants? How different when I start the day declaring His greatness, when I wake choosing to respond to the call of praise. Only when our worship collides with our worry do we discover the power that praise really has over problems. Third there is a call to:

● Combined praise
Appropriately the last verse of the Psalm includes a call for every living thing that has breath to praise the Lord. This is the call to corporate praise, the call to pursue God in the context of community. Who else around you needs to be spurred on in song, instead of sitting silently on the sidelines. This is the called to combine our voices in a communal chorus of praise, the question is what will you contribute? Lastly we see the full circle of:

● Complete praise
As psalms 150 closes with a final hallelujah, praise the Lord we see not a concluding praise but a call for complete praise. Its not just that the start and end of the psalm are the same its that they represent a circle of praise. A continual unbroken chorus of praise. This isn’t “praise The Lord” and then go back to your plans but a life style of praise. Today let me encourage you to call out to Christ, to sing of your Savior, so that the Lord becomes your life song.