Are either of these devotions
- Used at the parish level
- Commonly known to Lutherans or Anglicans?
Sometimes known as the “Anglican rosary,” “Christian prayer beads,” or “ecumenical prayer beads,” Anglican prayer beads are a loop of strung beads which Anglicans and other Christians use as a focus for prayer. Anglican prayer beads were developed in the mid-1980s by Episcopalians participating in a study group dealing with methods of prayer. SOURCE
A “Lutheran Rosary” for Lent:
CONCEPT:
Whether prayed using prayer beads or not (one would have to make one’s own*), the idea of this “Lutheran Rosary” for Lent is to help people ease into the spiritual discipline of prayer. We do suggest making a calendar to keep track of individual prayers for each day. People who are not in the habit of daily prayer may want to start with just one “daily prayer” on Ash Wednesday, then expand by one each succeeding day; others may prefer to pray the whole “rosary” every day during the season.
PROCESS:
Cross
Following Martin Luther’s advice, in the morning, when you rise, make the sign of the cross and say, “God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit watch over me. Amen.
1st bead
The Apostle’s Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
2nd bead
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.3rd bead
Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer
I give thanks to you, my heavenly Father through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you that you would also protect me today from every sin and all evil, so that my life and actions may please you completely. For into your hands I commend myself: my body, my soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.
I give thanks to you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have graciously protected me today, and I ask you to forgive me all my sins, where I have done wrong, and graciously to protect me tonight. For into your hands I commend myself: my body, my soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.
*Around the circle, then, are beads for the days of Lent plus the Sundays of Lent (a little larger, a different color to make them stand out), for, of course, the Sundays are all celebrated as “little Easters” and thus are not counted among the 40 days of Lent. First four Lent beads, then one Sunday, then the rest in groups of six and one. The last bead is Easter and may be larger and lighter in color than all.
Ash Wednesday:
Pray for one’s own sinfulness, asking for forgiveness and renewal of one’s heart.
1st Sunday:
Give thanks for God’s guidance through the wilderness of this world.
2nd Sunday:
Give thanks for the gift of faith for one’s self and for others.
3rd Sunday:
Give thanks for the Word of God as printed and proclaimed.
4th Sunday:
Give thanks for God’s healing and forgiveness.
5th Sunday:
Give thanks for God’s love and for all who are able to share that love.
Sunday of the Passion:
Give thanks for God’s greatest gift of all; the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Maundy Thursday:
Pray for the ability to follow Christ’s command to love others as He loved us.
Good Friday:
Pray for the ability to forgive those who crucify others daily – in little ways or in large.
Holy Saturday:
Pray for the help of God, that we may have good intentions and be able to carry them out, even as his Son fulfilled the punishments of the Law on our behalf.
The Resurrection of our Lord:
Rejoice in the fulfillment of the New Covenant as Christ rose from the dead, and commit oneself to new life in his service.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PETITIONS:
Weekdays:
- Peace in the world and in our hearts
- People you know with specific needs
- The lonely, depressed, those with mental illnesses
- The physically ill or handicapped, the dying
- The homeless, those who have no employment
- Those burdened with the cares of others
- People who are grieving the loss of someone they loved
- Someone you heard about in the news who needs help
- Someone who has hurt you
Sundays:
Poem by E.E. Cummings:
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings; and of the gay
great happening ilimitably earth)how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)Psalm 150:
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!*
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
April 26, 2008 at 5:53 am |
The very idea of praying with beads (or any external aide) is alien to most (if not all) Protestants. For Lutherans (in Australia at least) Rosaries are Roman and hence a no-go area. Even a Lutheran adaption of the Rosary, as above, would be considered a Roman-ward move and un-Lutheran. For Anglicans, the Rosary (in its full Roman form) is more the norm for Anglo-Catholics. Does that help??
April 26, 2008 at 6:10 am |
Episcopalians who wanted to be Catholic?
April 26, 2008 at 6:13 am |
It was more rhetorical than anything….
April 26, 2008 at 8:01 pm |
For the record…my Pentecostal neighbor asked me to explain the rosary for her. She thought it was cool. She also made me an exquisite rosary from freshwater pearls and schwarovski (sp?) crystals.
But Pentecostals are predisposed toward scarmentals anyway, even though they don’t realize it (prayer cloths, anointing oil, etc.).
April 26, 2008 at 8:05 pm |
That should be sacramentals, of course. I am the typo queen!!
April 27, 2008 at 3:33 am |
Typos are always forgiven and overlooked at TBC!
As to your main point about sacramentals… I have noticed that too. Nature abhors a vacuum, and as anti-sacramental and iconoclastic as some are, the thirst remains. What best might be called “Jesus Kitsch” – from Hummel figurines, to “prayer bracelets” with biblical-themed charms, to those little porcelain statues of Jesus playing the sport of choice for a young Evangelical… well this need and thirst to have real phyiscal sort of expression and experience remains well after the Roaries have been tossed in the trash, the icons burned, and statues smashed. The needs reasert themselves in new fashions.
April 28, 2008 at 2:46 am |
Smash my statues and I smash you! Greater penalties apply to any damage done to rosaries and icons.
August 12, 2008 at 8:18 pm |
In fact, Martin Luther prayed the rosary all of his life and there are pictures of him (and other Lutheran leaders of his time) holding prayer beads.
The Lutheran churches of Sweden and Finland (and other Continental Lutheran churches) are acquainted with the Marian rosary, to be sure. The new Lutheran prayer beads are of a decidedly non-Marian character. The Anglican rosary is likewise non-Marian but Anglo-Catholics have always made use of the Marian rosary.
John Wesley himself used a rosary and Methodist prayerbooks that I’ve seen actually advocate the use of a prayer-rope with ten knots in it, with larger, additional knots at both ends for repeating psalm verses and shorter prayers.
An excellent source for meditation on the Marian rosary is, of course, the Methodist Neville Ward’s “Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy.”
Alex
August 12, 2008 at 10:57 pm |
Doc Roman!
How very good to see you at TBC! I hope all is well in Canada, and hope you find your way over to offer comments more often…
As a matter of fact, your invite to join and become a Cordelia is still on the table!
March 11, 2009 at 7:06 pm |
The use of prayer beads predates Christianity so this isn’t about wannabee anything/anyone other than yourself. Beads also transcend faith traditions so there is no reason to think that Christian groups other than Roman Catholics might find a use for them. There are Lutheran prayer beads but I prefer to adapt the Anglican ones designed in 1985 and make them available to other Lutherans. There is also more material available for Anglican beads.
March 15, 2009 at 7:27 am |
John,
Forgive me if I over-think or misunderstand your thinking on my thinking… but this post, far from intending to malign Anglicans, Lutherans, or any other folks who use chaplets to pray as being “wannabee” was simply written and posted with the basic question (as presented) in mind of trying to discern how common or widespread a practice these forms of prayer and devotion are.
Curiously – or maybe Providentailly – I recently met a woman at one of my places of employment who was an earnest and enthusiastic supporter and crafter of “Anglican rosaries”. I came to find this out as I noticed she had a number of beautiful chaplets that she had made with her own hands that she was sharing with a friend.
(In a curious twist of fate, a number of them were replete with Russian/Byzantine crucifixes that I, as a wayward Russian major and practicing Byzantine Catholic, immediately recognized. This beautiful confluence of seemingly divergent traditions that were brought together for prayer to the same God who is One, was not lost on me. I digress…)
In the same spirit of curiosity that first lead to this very post, I asked her about how widespread and uniform these devotions which she – as an Episcopalian – practiced and made effort to share with others in her community were. More simply, I was curious as to what pride of place or uniformity this spirituality held in modern Episcopalianism.
She demured that it was neither widely practiced nor institutionally promoted. This in and of itself is just a neutral observation. The same questions in my mind that lead me to write about this practice of using beads of meditory prayer in Anglican and Lutheran tradtions lead me to the same answers: these practices are still very much the domain of folks who adopt them privately that are within these traditions. To call the chaplets of different individuals who self-identify as “Anglican” or as “Lutheran” or even “Methodist” “Anglican rosaries” “Lutheran rosaries” or “Methodist rosaries” is a bit of a stretch inasmuch as these private devotions of individuals of these traditions (which can allow for wide latitude in praxis)aren’t wholly the domain or widely the practice of these communities. These practioners of these devotions are a minority among the greater constituencies of these traditions. That leaves calling them “Lutheran Rosaries” or “Anglican rosaries” no more accurate or inaccuate than, say, labeling the way some individuals cook, drive, or walk their dogs “Lutheran dog walking”, “Anglican cooking” or “Methodist driving”.
Ultimately, as a Catholic, I would congratulate and encourage those who make use of these salutory practices of prayer and mediation.
March 26, 2009 at 5:44 pm |
That’s how I kew them, as the Anglican rosary, only after a while I’ve been told they are also being used for prayer vy christians..