By Robin G. Jordan
Celebrating the office of Morning or Evening Prayer in a den, living room, or recreation room in a home, in the community room of an apartment complex, or under a picnic shelter in a park is different from celebrating the office in the sanctuary of a church. The acoustical environment is different. The ambience of the setting is different. The musical resources are more limited. The following suggestions may be helpful in tailoring the celebration of the office to the situation.
The worshiping group will need a lectern or reading standing for the Bible from which the lessons will be read. Standing with free hands is the best posture for reading the lessons, especially in a carpeted room where the carpet is likely to absorb sound. Standing with free hands enables the reader to fully expand his lungs and to better project his voice in a poor acoustical environment. Church Supply, Cokesbury, and LifeWay sell a number of relatively inexpensive wooden and metal lecterns and reading stands, which are adjustable. They can be stored in a closet when they are not in use.
The participants should also stand to sing for the same reason. In my experience overstuffed living room sofas and chairs are not conducive to good singing. The body is apt to assume a posture that does not permit the singer to expand his lungs properly. Living room sofas and chairs are low and even sitting on the edge of the sofa or chair does not help. The type of music used will determine the best posture for singing it. Taize chants and ostinatos can be sung while sitting on the floor. Psalms, canticles, hymns and worship songs, on the other hand, require greater lung expansion.
How the group sits will depend upon the setting and the seating. If the setting is a living room and the seating consists of living room furniture and the living room furniture is arranged in a semi-circular conversation area, a good place for the lectern or reading stand holding the Bible is an open space leading into the conversation area where it will be the focus of the group. Any additional chairs should be worked into the semi-circle. The best seating arrangement for a celebration of the office is not the typical seating arrangement seen in church sanctuaries with people sitting behind each other in rows in pews or ganged theater seats. The ideal seating arrangement for a celebration of the office is for the group to sit in a semi-circle around the lectern or reading stand or to divide into two smaller groups and sit facing each other choir-fashion with the lectern or reading stand between the two smaller groups but near one end of the room. Both arrangements can be done in an apartment complex community room with sofas and folding or stacking chairs. The second arrangement can be done in a picnic shelter with two rows of wooden picnic tables and a space in between them and the lectern or reading stand in the space at one end of the two rows of tables. If the group has any musicians, they sit with the rest of the group in the first arrangement or at the opposite end to the lectern or reading stand in the second arrangement. Their role is to accompany the singing or play special music. It is not to be another focus in addition to the lectern or reading stand. If the group sits in folding chairs in several rows or one long row at a distance from the lectern or reading stand, it discourages the group’s participation in the prayer, as well as works against the unity of the prayer.
Each participant should have a Prayer Book or a reusable service booklet. This service booklet should include the lyrics of a selection of the most commonly used hymns and worship songs of the group. Reading the service from two or three sheets of paper stapled together is a practice that should be avoided. The assembling of an attractive service booklet is worth the effort and the expense.
How the office is celebrated may help or hinder the prayer of the group. Singing, however, simply, helps to give unity to the prayer. If the group consists of four people or less, the group should say the sung portions of the service and omit the use of hymns and worship songs. A larger group may wish to learn a simple plainsong setting for the Venite and the canticles. Or they may wish to sing metrical versions of the Invitatory Psalm and the canticles. The availability of musical leadership—several strong voices that can carry a tune—and the acoustics of the room will be important determining factors.
Candles do add to the ambience of a living room when it is used as a setting for a celebration of the office of Evening Prayer. However, the group should understand that candles have no special significance. The exception is the light of the lamp in the ancient lucenary, or lamp-lighting, service, in which the lamplight was understood to symbolize the light of Christ. At the setting of the sun a deacon brought in a lit lamp and the gathered church praised God in song in the words of Phos hilarion, ‘O joyous Light,’ perhaps the oldest Christian hymn not found in the New Testament.
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer makes no provision for the lucenary service. However, Phos hilaron, in a metrical version, may be sung as the opening hymn of Evensong, as the office hymn—immediately before the Psalms or immediately before the Magnificat, or in place of an anthem before the Collect of the Day. The positioning of the hymn in the service will be determined by the time of day. It makes no sense to refer to the setting of the sun in a hymn when the sun may not set for an hour or more. If, however, the sun has begun to set at the beginning of the service, it is best to sing Phos hilaron there. If the sun is setting toward the end of the service, then it should be sung there. Otherwise, we are inviting the group to sing nonsense. This is the difference between treating a hymn or worship song as a part of our common prayer and treating it as an embellishment to the service. In choosing hymns and worship songs, we should always pay careful attention to the words that we are expecting people to sing and where we are expecting them to sing the words.
The pace of the service should be unhurried. An even pace assists the unity of the prayer. It helps to maintain the focus of the worship upon God and not on the words for their own sake. There should be pause after each lesson is read for silent reflection and prayer. The words of the text should be allowed to sink in. The Holy Spirit should be given an opportunity to minister to the participants in the silence following each reading. Plunging immediately into the canticle after the lesson can snatch the words of the text out of the hearer’s mind before it has a chance to do any good. The easiest way to conclude this silence is for the Officiant or leader to rise.
Those who gather to celebrate the office are no longer on human time. They are on God’s time. They are joining the church throughout the ages and around the world in offering prayer and praise to God. God speaks to them through his Word and they must turn from the hustle and bustle of the world and listen to what he is saying. They owe God their full attention.
In the place of a sermon after the conclusion of the office, a member of the group may give a teaching. Or the group may, in a Bible study, draw out the text’s meaning from one of the lessons and consider how it applies to them as individuals and a group. Questions to help the group in their study should be prepared ahead of time, and a member of the group should take responsibility for facilitating the study. The Officiant or leader may conclude the gathering with a suitable prayer.
The celebration of the office has a two-fold purpose. It is to give honor and glory to God that is rightly his. It is also to build up his people. Any teaching that is given at the conclusion of the office should fulfill one or both of these purposes. It may draw attention to God’s character, his attributes, or his might deeds. It may instill in those present a greater resolve to serve God in world and Christ in their fellow human beings. It may fire in them a stronger determination to reach their friends, neighbors, relatives, and co-workers with the gospel. It may offer practical instruction in Bible study, encouragement, personal holiness, prayer, and talking about Jesus. If the group is to gather for a celebration of Holy Communion on the following Sunday, it may suggest ways that the group members might prepare for the Lord’s Supper. If a Bible study takes the place of a teaching, it should serve the same purposes—the glorifying and honoring of God and the edification of his people.
In future articles in this series I will be looking at choosing a regular pattern of worship for the worshiping group celebrating the office, planning the celebration, making preparations for the celebration, and leading the celebration. I intend to devote an entire article to the recitation of Psalms and canticles and the use of music in an office celebration.
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