St. Francis Episcopal Church

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Anglican Prayer Beads

Anglican Prayer Beads are a relatively new form of prayer, blending the Orthodox Jesus Prayer Rope and the Roman Catholic Rosary.

In the mid-1980s the Rev. Lynn Baumn created the thirty-three bead design.  A contemplative prayer group met for a deeper understanding and exploration of prayer and listening for God's voice in today's world.

The use of the rosary or also called prayer beads helps us to focus in contemplative of meditative prayer. It is important to "be in the moment" and think, pray and be in the presence of God—by use of mind, body, and spirit.

The touching of the fingers on each successive bead is an aid in keeping our mind from wandering, and the rhythm of the prayers leads us more readily into stillness.

 Centering Prayer

A method of quiet meditation in which a single symbolic word is used as a sign of one's willingness to wait on God and be available to God's presence.

This word is used as a point of focus.

The discipline involves setting aside twenty minutes or so for quiet prayer.

This apophatic method has been widely taught and practiced in the Episcopal Church since the early 1980s.

Thomas Keating's Finding Grace at the Center (1978) encouraged the practice of centering prayer.

Symbolism of the Beads

The prayer beads are made up of twenty-eight beads divided into four groups of seven called weeks.

Between each week is a single bead, called a cruciform bead as the four beads form a cross.

The invitatory bead between the cross and the wheel of beads brings the total to thirty-three, the number of years in Jesus’ earthly life.

 

 

 

How to Begin?

To begin, hold the Cross and say the prayer you have assigned to it, then move to the Invitatory Bead.

Then enter the circle of the prayer with the first Cruciform Bead, moving to the right, go through the first set of seven beads to the next Cruciform bead, continuing around the circle, saying the prayers for each bead.

Praying through the beads three times and adding the crucifix at the beginning or the end, brings the total to one hundred, which is the total of the Orthodox Rosary.  

Prayer and Silence

Say the prayers you have selected then follow it with silence which gives you time to meditate and reflect on the message of the prayer.

Silence provides moments to listen for God's voice.

 

Source:  King of Peace

Agnus Dei Prayer

 

The Cross

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

The Invitatory

 

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."—

Psalm 19:14

 The Cruciforms

 

Oh, Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world have mercy upon us,

Oh, Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world have mercy upon us,

Oh, Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world give us Thy Peace.

 

The Weeks

 

Almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless us and keep us.

Amen.

Evening Prayer

 

 The Cross

 

Glory 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.

 The Invitatory

 

Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim Your praise.

  

The Cruciforms

 

Guide us waking, O Lord,and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.

 

The Weeks

 

Jesus, lamb of God, have mercy on us.  Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us. Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.

 

Jesus, Redeemer of the world, give us your peace.