Spiritual formation can sound like a big idea, but it is really the name for all the things we do to grow deeper in our faith. What “forms” you as a person growing in the love and knowledge of God?
Below are some resources for important pieces of spiritual formation. Please come back often—we’ll be adding more regularly.
Prayer
Prayer is conversation with God. Like any good conversation, sometimes we need to just listen. Other times, it’s our turn to tell our story, and yet others, for conversation. Below are some resources you can find on the web. Check back again for books and local prayer opportunities.
Online Prayer Resources:
Daily Office Online dailyoffice.org
Morning and Evening Prayer, as well as great Q & A section about prayer in Anglican tradition.
Mission St. Claire missionstclare.com/english/index.html
Morning Prayer, as well as a place to “light” a candle as you say a prayer, and other resources.
Online Labyrinth gracecathedral.org/labyrinth/interactions/index.shtml#
(click on the purple box that says “launch online interactive labyrinth”)
The labyrinth is an ancient tool for meditation—usually for walking prayer. At this site, you can “walk” from your desk!
Anglican Rosary (praying with beads)
The Anglican Rosary offers a tactile way to use our hands, mind and heart in prayer.
The sites below each offer some history and suggested models for prayer.
kingofpeace.org/prayerbeads.htm
saintgabriels.org/rosary.html
gigibeads.net/prayerbeads/prayers/prayers1.html
Bible Study
Selecting a Bible
Reading and studying the bible is essential not only for knowing the Christian story, but, more importantly, for making it one’s own. We say that scripture is a “living text.” This means that we come to it from wherever we are, and, even if we have heard it before, we can hear it anew each time.
Many translations and paraphrases of the bible exist in many languages. In the Episcopal Church, the translation used in worship is the New Revised Standard Version.
Other popular and scholarly translations include the New Jerusalem Version, the New American Bible, and the Revised English Bible.
A translation may be presented in a particular format, such as in a “study bible” or feature other particular resources. The Access Bible, available primarily with the NRSV translation, embeds notes within the text. Others, such as the Harper or Oxford Study Bibles have notes below the text. They may also feature glossaries, concordances, maps, or other historical notes.
When selecting a bible, look at several different versions and think about how you like to read. Does the format fit your reading style? Do you want notes, or do you find them distracting?
Online bible resources:
The Lectionary Page io.com/~kellywp/
Find the readings for Sunday (and feast day) worship here. It’s a great way to prepare for worship, and/or to take Sunday worship with you throughout the week. At Epiphany, we use the Revised Common Lectionary (click on RSV on the date you are seeking)
Oremus (online bible—searchable by book, verse, snatches of a verse…)
bible.oremus.org/
Blue Letter Bible (another online searchable bible source) blueletterbible.org/
Service
Giving of ourselves is a way of reminding our hearts that we are always called to hold what we have with open hands, and that we are blessed as we offer ourselves as a blessing to others.
(please see “outreach and service” tab for ways the people of Epiphany are holding hands open to serve and be served.)
Worship
Lex orandi, lex credendi – roughly translated from Latin means “as we pray, so we believe.” Gathering together in worship is perhaps the most fundamental part of our formation as Christians. By regularly joining to pray and praise together, we acknowledge that we are not God, that we fall down and need to get up (and need God and one another to do so), and are reminded again and again of God’s unbounded goodness and our call to always make the “sacrifice of thanksgiving” for the gift of life which we do not earn, and of grace, which is greater than we can repay.
To learn more about worship at Epiphany, please visit Worship and Music.