The morning tends to start for me in the cathedral at 8am with Morning Prayer from Common Worship. I have come to find the receptiveness and the rhythm to be a real support for me. My one complaint would be that there are a lot of words and loads of scripture, much of which can wash over me a lot of the time, but nevertheless the rhythm and the discipline is a powerful way for me to start off my day.

In the cathedral we have the privilege of being able to move around different parts of the cathedral to help us pray during different seasons. During Lent we pray in the starkness of the crypt – not the cosy Ithamar Chapel which many will know and where the gathering gets together … but in the larger body of the crypt. It tends to feel very wilderness-y and is sparse, bare, grey etc etc etc.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the King James version this Lent all the BIble readings during morning and evening prayer are from the KJV. It’s been a long time since I even looked at the KJV but I have to admit that there is something about the poetic language of the version which can give a whole different image or impression to think about.

This mornings reading brought a smile to our faces: Jeremiah 4: 19 – end. In our normal NRSV version the reading starts ‘my anguish, my anguish’. The King James starts …’my bowels, my bowels’  … which produced a snigger as well as getting us to engage with the reading in a fresh way … certainly expressive! Maybe there is something in this ‘older’ language after all ….