Words spoken by Ransom in Lewis' final book of The Space Trilogy. Crumbs daily fall on the floor. The mess needs to be removed. Without a daily cleansing eventually filth accumulates! Ordering this adjustment to clean things up permits life in the house to carry on as intended.
The Order for Morning Prayer in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is not just the opening service of the Cranmerian prayer book but, an indispensable part. It guides us through a daily adjustment or reorientation of our sinful heart to our God and Maker. It begins with a list of verses from the Old and New Testaments pointing to man's sin before the Law of God, i.e. law verses. It proceeds to a ministerial admonition for one to come humbly without dissembling. And then follows is a general Confession of sin, repentance, and petition for mercy. A pardon of sin is declared to all who "unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel." Cranmer's service shepherds the believer through a law/gospel dynamic of guilt and grace as the path of reconciliation to God.
At first glance, especially among Reformed, this hardly seems remarkable. One will find similar confessions of sin and proclamations of God's forgiveness in other church traditions. But I want to suggest something more profound is going on here. This prayer office is purposed as a restarting or redirecting of our wandering heart toward God. It is a daily reorientation that never expires, a necessary ritual for the redeemed in this life. It is a prayer of descent from pride to humility, guiding the believer from the default, illicit heights of his man-centered world to the intended and blessed God-centered kingdom that Christ has inaugurated. Created-out-of-nothing and prone to wander, we are re-adjusted to our Creator and Savior, ready to start the day.
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