From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday

The Lord’s descent into the underworld

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

Each year I take a group of six students up to the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood to spend time in fixed hour prayer, silence, retreat, and service.  The monastic community at Holy Cross is always extremely gracious to us and I enjoy the opportunity to expose students to spiritual formation traditions that they probably have only read about and not experienced first hand.

Fixed hour prayer (often called The Divine Office or The Liturgy of the Hours) is one of those traditions that the monastic community does extremely well – especially this unique community at Holy Cross.  Prayer begins at 4:45 AM each morning and is scattered throughout the day at various, yet strategically placed, times.  When I say “prayer,” most folks might run straight to a petition-oriented format that puts us in the place of asking for health, provision, care, etc.  But fixed hour prayer has a specific focus on praying the Scriptures – mainly the Psalms and the various “songs” we find in the text of the Bible.  This is an incredibly formative way to pray; we take the Scriptures into us and let them both 1) speak to us and 2) provide the vocabulary, setting, and vehicle to speak back to God.  It’s a different way to think about and practice prayer for those who have experienced prayer as a “let’s pray real quick” moment before sermons, communion, offering, trips, and meals.  The encounter with God lies in praying the text – this kind of prayer is not a request for encounter in the thing that follows (although that is certainly an appropriate kind of prayer), but an encounter in the prayer itself.  Even more, this cycle of intentional renewal is the skeleton for our day – the day is anchored on these regular encounters with God.

This summer, I’ll be spending three weeks in seminar research at Calvin College looking at the development of fixed hour prayer in the early celtic church at Bangor (northern Ireland).  I’m pretty excited to see how these folks ordered their day and their spiritual formation around this kind of activity.

Most people who share my background have a hard time finding resources to help them explore fixed hour prayer.  I’m listing two below:

The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle at explorefaith.org

This is a great resource for those initially exploring fixed hour prayer from a protestant perspective.  Phyllis Tickle does a great job of organizing prayer into four sections of the day (morning, midday, evening, and night).  The website takes you directly to the prayers for the current part of the day – no searching required.  There’s also an iPhone app and print editions that do the same thing.  Tickle also provides a great introduction to the concept and practice of fixed hour prayer throughout Scripture and the life of the church.  It’s all free (except for the print editions) and it’s a great way to jump into fixed hour prayer and not get lost in all the complexity of it.

Universalis.com

Universalis is the O.E.D. (the big daddy) of fixed hour prayer.  It’s based on the catholic tradition from the west, but don’t let that scare you.  It gives you the full-meal-deal for all seven times of prayer throughout the day (based on Psalm 119:164 – “seven times a day I praise you…”).  Like explorefaith.org, it automatically takes you to the right place for the day.  They have a great iPhone app plus Mac and Windows apps.  It’s a little overwhelming for a first-timer, but it’s a great place to grow into.