In the summer of 2007 I started seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. During my three years there I found one spiritual discipline that, until that time, had held little interest or joy for me: Daily Morning Prayer. Starting my day in community…praying, listening to Holy Scripture, giving praise and thanks to God at the start of my “work day” became not only an integral part of my faith, but a vital component.
The summer before my senior year when the seminary was not in session I found myself missing that start to my day, that fellowship in prayer and praise. How happy I was when classes started up again that August. My daily rhythm felt like it had been restored, my day started off properly again.
As Deborah+ wrote in her Daily Cup on Wednesday, St. Alban’s started saying Daily Morning Prayer in December as the start to our work day at 9:00 a.m. The service lasts only 20 minutes but those 20 minutes make all of the difference in my day. Over the course of the past five weeks we have had a a number of people, mostly parishioners, who have joined the staff and worshiped with us as the start of their day.
Perhaps you cannot make it every day, or perhaps 9:00 a.m. is after you have left for work in the morning. That is OK. Come when you can, of course we would love to have you here every day, but know that when you are able to come and worship we will be enriched by your presence, your prayers, your voice.
I invite you to think about this as a Lenten discipline–making some extra room in your busy life to worship God at the start of your day. Set time aside as part of your own routine to hear the scriptures, to say the Lord’s Prayer, to offer prayers of intercession and thanksgivings to God in community. Come and join us.
Faithfully,
The Daily Cup 
Great post, Matthew. When I was at VTS (almost 40 years ago!), I felt the same way. In fact, I tell people that my theological education actually happened in the Chapel during daily Morning Prayer. Something about that discipline of daily communal prayer helped me to receive God’s word. Thanks for your post. I am glad this discipline is available for the people of St. Alban’s.