Dear St. Luke’s,

I have had a very eventful, joyful and hopeful couple of weeks. My time has been spent coordinating with our lay ministers about getting our ministry going this year, I have had the opportunity to reconnect with dear friends for the first time in over a year, and I even got to ride a rollercoaster with my brother. All of this has filled my heart, but it has made time a limited commodity. When I arrived for the vestry meeting this past week my head was spinning from changing gears from being family focused to Church focused, and I was eager to make sure that I had my ducks in a row during the meeting. I was trying to do the whole “calm presence”, but I’m pretty sure my anxiety was shining through. When 7:00 pm came along we asked Chip to open us in prayer. After an appropriately sanctified pause Chip began praying with the words, “Almighty God, we give you thanks for short prayers.” And everyone enthusiastically responded with “AMEN!”.

I remember the first time Chip offered this prayer I thought to myself that it was funny, but it would be bad if he used that prayer too often. To date, he has not caved into that temptation, and even more so, he pulls it out when those present need a bit of levity. I also appreciate that is subtlety lets people know that priests are not machines that pump our profound prayers on a whim. Sometimes, it’s just not in us, and a book of common prayer is not within reach, so we end up working with what we have.

In the spirit of Chip’s authentically concise prayers, I hope you enjoy this short devotion.

Blessings,

Nick