Liturgy: “Studying All Day, and All Night”

What is the King’s Liturgy? King’s Liturgy defines our experience together as a Christian community. It outlines the rhythms we celebrate with the Church at large: Scripture readings, Sabbath habits, and celebration of Holy Days and historical events.

This Week’s Lectionary Readings:
Acts 2:42-47
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
Psalm 23

This week’s liturgy is contributed by Dr. Benjamin White, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies:

During graduate school, my institution’s final week was virtually identical to King’s—the last week of term was also exam week. I can remember attending a three hour ‘lecture’ in which we learned new material in the first half of class and took our final exam in the second half.

My first semester on this kind of schedule was particularly trying because I was enrolled in New Testament Greek and was still trying to discern whether I was any good at it. The final week of term presented the worst possible scenario for a planner like me: having to push my studying for Greek until the night before the exam.

I ultimately did well on the exam, but the whole week I was over-tired and anxious. I’ll admit that I didn’t always depend on the right things to get me through that week. The old saying “you’re too busy not to pray” seemed a bit trite at the time. Instead, I took in a healthy dose of chocolate and listened to plenty of classic rock to keep the adrenaline going. Beyond my dedication to studying, the one bit of evidence I have for my sanctification was that I consistently went about it with a dependence upon God’s presence and a series of ‘whisper prayers’ asking the Lord for help in my studies.

The twenty-third Psalm says that God walks with us through “the valley of the shadow of death” (v. 4). Some translations render this phrase as “the darkest valley,” which reflects the text’s intent—not so much to refer to death but to the worst times in our lives. This includes those late nights at your desk, your self-doubt, and your totally justified fatigue.

As you’re writing or studying this week, you’re going to feel very stressed—that’s natural. You can only control how you respond to it. Some comfort food and a planned study break or three are certainly in order. Beyond that, if you can at least go about the week conscious that God is with you, that he’s not absent during hard times, you’ll find that you’re more confident and more able to find joy in these trials. Even better, read Psalm 23 several times and ask this God—the one who accompanies us in darkness—to get you through this. During a global pandemic, this request is relatively simple and easily answered: exam week is finite and, in just a few days, it comes to a merciful end.