As I consider my Elul-lian* journey I am beginning to look at the areas of my life that I would like to change. One of those areas is getting better at the set time of prayer. I once heard a statistic that pastor’s on average spend less than three minutes a day in prayer. I certainly do not want to be average…never have – never will!
One of the things that I have come to admire and respect of my study into Judaism is the set times of daily prayer. These set times coincide with the sacrfices in the Temple and some even think they coincide with the death and burial of Jesus. There is evidence to show from scripture that even in the days of Yeshua the disciples were following a set time of prayer in their lives. Being as they were Jewish we can assume that it was the tradition of morning, afternoon and evening prayers.
To this day, people around the world gather at the break of day (Shacarit), in the middle of the day (Mincha), and at the beginning of the evening (Maariv) for set prayers. These times are traditional to the Jewish culture. One of the things that I found humbling and fascinating about this is that as people all over the world are engaging in prayer at these times and with the time zone changes all over the world, there is never a moment on this planet where one is not engaged in prayer in this tradtion. It is hard to feel alone when you know that somewhere in the world someone is with you in prayer.
So, one of the things that I am going to continue working on is setting aside the set time each day (3 times) to meet with G-d. What a wonderful gift. What a great means of accountability. For more on the set times of prayer click here.
Shalom,
Bill
* Do you like the new word I made up? This is the Hebrew month of Elul. Traditionally this is a time of repentance and self examination as we approach the fall festivals of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Being very similar to the tradition of Lent in the Church we can see Elul as a journey as well. Our destination? The Day of Atonement!
