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I understand the attraction. As a pastor and Christian, I have been especially concerned about the inadequacy of most Christian prayer for a culture in which many are formed by a weekly average of 28 hours of television.

Too often, people who pray do so only briefly, without discipline or organization. They pray "on the fly," winging phrases toward God while commuting, or squeezing in an occasional devotional. Such prayers are ad hoc and self-directed: made up along the way, according to mood, and not paying attention to the Christian year.

Rather than having help, support, or direction from others with maturity or experience, many Christians decide on their own what to do. As a result, they find themselves increasingly disconnected and isolated from other believers. They are subjective; guided by their feelings of the moment, they freely abandon prayer modes (confession, praise, intercession). In the end, these Christians find themselves increasingly disconnected from God.

This is part of my own prayer biography. In adolescence, I was reasonably disciplined in prayer until my sister, my only sibling, died of leukemia at age 17. This set off a huge faith crisis. At times I had nothing to say to God or did not know how to voice my prayers.

About two decades ago, on a whim, I bought a discontinued book by a famous Catholic priest. As a convinced evangelical Anabaptist, I was skeptical. But I was also curious. As it turned out, this book became the starting point in my recovery of a fuller prayer life through the daily office.

I've not been alone in this discovery, as my visits to a number of prayer communities quickly showed.

"The holiest place in all of England"
My first stop was the island of Lindisfarne (locals prefer "Holy Isle"). Its small village includes several churches and three retreat houses—Lindisfarne is possibly one of the few places in Great Britain where retreat houses almost equal the number of pubs.

Lindisfarne has been an important pilgrimage destination for centuries. From it sprang much of the early evangelization of England. Numerous Celtic Christian saints are associated with it, as is the gloriously illustrated Celtic manuscript, the eighth-century Lindisfarne Gospels. Alcuin, the medieval scholar and archbishop, once told Charlemagne it was "the holiest place in all of England."

Today 140,000 people visit St. Mary Virgin Church (now Anglican) each year. As the island's oldest building, its architecture reflects Saxon and Norman influences, parts of it preceding the 12th century. Behind it lie the ruins of an 11th-century Benedictine monastery.

St. Mary's also attracts visitors because its pastor, David Adam, is the popular author of more than a dozen books of Celtic Christian poem-prayers, including an office, The Rhythm of Life (Morehouse, 1996), which Adam wrote because so many people, including Anglicans, are unfamiliar with the office. Its short prayers and Scriptures can be memorized quickly, so those who use it can be nourished at all times and places. This office is getting around. Anglicans in the South American Andes are translating it into Spanish. Non-Anglicans elsewhere also use it, including a U.S. Navajo group and a group of Lapps in northern Finland.

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January 8 2001, Vol. 45, No. 1