When I pray with
my Anglican prayer beads I start with the Gloria on the Invitatory Bead.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
On the first Cruciform Bead I pray a version of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6.5) along with Leviticus 19.18, what are called The Greatest Commandments, what Scot McKnight has called "the Jesus creed":
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.
But just to make sure I don't forget what Jesus means when he uses the word "neighbor," I add a bit from this passage in the Sermon on the Mount:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven."
So my regular prayer, in full, is as follows:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your strength. You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. And you shall love your enemies.
Deuteronomy 6.5 + Leviticus 19.18 + Matthew 5.44
Thanks I actually did buy prayer beads inspired from from reading this blog...
That's awesome. I always have some in my pocket.
You've given me some food for thought – thanks. I need to find a way of rediscovering prayer from a fresh angle, and some sort of semi-liturgical approach might be worth looking into. Are there any writings you would particularly recommend on the subject?
About the use of prayer beads?
Prayer beads, or any other similar structured/liturgical form of prayer.
Others might add some help here. For me, I just got a copy of The Book of Common Prayer and started praying the Morning Office, Evening Office and Compline. Generally, I only do either the Morning or Evening Office, though I try to do both during Lent.
As far as prayer beads go, get yourself some at places like this: http://fullcirclebeads.com/
When you get them pick prayers you'd like to use with the beads (Anglican beads don't come with set prayers). The routine I use for my beads is this:
Invitatory Bead: The Gloria ("Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.")
1st Cruciform Bead: Deuteronomy 6.5 + Leviticus 19.18 + Matthew 5.44
Week Beads: The Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on my a sinner.")
2nd-4th Cruciform Beads: The Lord's Prayer
End back at Invitatory Bead with the Gloria
But feel free to experiment with other prayers or Scriptures. Make it your own. And keep the beads always in your pocket. Pull them out when walking or driving or waiting.
Great idea I come from s Catholic background and always got great benefit from praying the Rosary in my youth. Now, like you, while I understand the theology I don't get the whole Marian devotion thing, it became cultic here in Ireland. I've fashioned a set of beads out of knots in some string and am about to rediscover the power of repetitive prayer using my own Jesus centred and biblical prayers. Thanks for reawakening something anew for me.
Thanks, Richard. I have fond memories of the Book of Common Prayer from when I was a chorister in my youth. There is something about the beauty and poetry of the language that I found very stirring and powerful. I think I'll get hold of a copy.
You could try the iBreviary https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netguru.ibreviary&hl=en I'm using this at the minute. It's very useful. It's got all the daily prayers, the liturgy of the word etc.
Thanks for the tip, John. I'll have a look at this.
There's also a good Book of Common Prayer App if you'd prefer that
I got my paper copy of the BCP a couple of days ago, so will be exploring ways to best use it…
I love this idea. This post has inspired me to make my own set of prayer beads. For the cross, I chose a San Damiano crucifix, since it reminds me of St. Francis. I'm also in the process of looking at several different prayer books, including BCP, Shane Claiborne's Common Prayer, This Day: A Wesleyan Way of Prayer, and Take Our Moments and Our Days, an Anabaptist liturgical prayer book in two volumes.