I originally posted this article five years ago on the Western Kentucky
Anglicans blog. I have checked the links and replaced one of them.
By Robin G. Jordan
In this article I offer a basic guide to praying the Daily Offices. The four
offices with which Anglicans and Episcopalians in North America will be most
familiar are the services of Morning and Evening Prayer, the service of Noon
Day Prayer, and the service of Compline, or Prayer at the End of the Day. Some
may be familiar with the Lucenary, or Lamp-Lighting Service, called the Order
for Worship in the Evening in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer; others may be
familiar with the Litany, or General Intercession, used as a separate service.
What to Pray. The Daily Offices
do not require an ordained minister to lead them. They may be led by anyone.
Any individual, twosome, or group desiring to pray the Daily Offices will need
to first decide what office or offices they will pray, how often, when, and
where. They will need to decide what service book they will use. They will need
to decide whether they will use music and if so what music and who will provide
it. They will also need to decide whether their praying of an office will be
accompanied by a Bible study, sermon, or teaching, and who will lead the Bible
study, what Bible study materials they will use, who will preach the sermon, or
who will give the teaching.
Where to Pray. The Daily
Offices may be prayed in a wide variety of settings. They are not limited to
use in church buildings. Some settings, however, are more conducive to praying
the Daily Offices than others.
In the Medieval monastic church in which the whole cycle of Daily Offices was
sung throughout the day and night, the congregation, which was also the choir,
was divided into two sections who faced each other across a broad central
aisle. The congregation was the monks living in the monastic community to which
the church was attached. The Psalms of the Daily Offices were chanted
antiphonally, from side to side.
The split chancel seen in a number of Gothic style churches with choir stalls
that face each other across a center aisle is modeled upon the Medieval
monastic church. It is not a good arrangement for corporate worship in the
Twenty-First Century. The choir stalls clutter the chancel and form a visual
barrier between the Lord’s Table and the congregation. Since the members of the
choir are facing each other, they do not provide the kind of leadership and
support that the congregation needs from the choir for congregational singing.
The voices of the choir are carried away from the congregation. To compensate
for this problem, some choirs may turn to face the congregation as far as
narrow choir stalls and kneelers will permit them to do so.
The split chancel, however, is the best arrangement for singing the Daily
Offices when those singing the Daily Offices are both the choir and the
congregation. This is seen in English cathedral service of Evensong. The people
sitting in the nave are not the congregation. They are not expected to take
part in the service, except to join in the hymns, which technically are not a
part of the service. They are simply an audience. The men and boys in the cathedral
choir and the dean and any assisting clergy are the congregation.
The Daily Offices do not center upon the Lord’s Table. When the Daily Offices
are prayed in the main body of a church and the chairs of the congregation are
moveable, it is highly desirable to arrange the chairs in rows facing each
other across a center aisle and place a reading desk and a lectern in the
center aisle, facing each other. The rows of chairs should not be very long.
Two or three short rows on each side are preferable to two long rows. The
purpose is to create a compact worship space and to unite the prayer.
If the congregational seating is not moveable, it is preferable to find an
appropriate size space in the church in which moveable chairs can be arranged
in this fashion rather than sit one behind another in pews in the main body of
the church. If the group praying the office has no choice but sit in pews in
the church’s main body, the members of the group should sit closely together at
the front of the church and not scattered around the room. A lectern holding a
Bible may be set in the middle of the chancel or immediately front of the pews
in which the group is sitting.
An alternative seating arrangement is to sit in a semicircle around a lectern
holding a Bible.
In praying the Daily Offices with another person or in a small group in a
private home or similar setting sitting in straight-backed chairs set out in
one of these arrangements is preferable to sitting around a room on overstuffed
armchairs, love seats and sofas. The latter tend to swallow their occupants and
to hamper their breathing, reading, and singing. Some folks have difficulty
sitting erect, the best posture for recitation or singing the Psalms and
canticles, and other folks must struggle to extricate themselves from this type
of seating. A few folks might doze off. The acoustics of sitting rooms and
lounges are not designed for the Daily Offices and the scattering of the
members of the group around the room exacerbate the problem. If only two people
are praying the office together or the group is small, they may wish to sit at
a dining room or kitchen table.
If the group has no choice but use a living room or lounge, they should sit on
the edge of the arm chairs, loveseats, and sofas, and as close together as
possible. I am not suggesting that everyone squeeze together onto the same
couch rather that they sit near to each other. This contributes to the unity of
the prayer. Squeezing together on the same coach would also impede breathing,
reading, and singing. It might inhibit prayer in other ways. The study of proximics,
the ability of people to tolerate the close proximity of other people, show
that people vary in how comfortable they are with the close proximity of other
people. Some need more space around them than do others. If another person
moves into this space, their comfort zone, they experience anxiety and may
become agitated. They will become focused upon the proximity of the person
invading their comfort zone and not on God.
One option that groups may wish to try is sitting or kneeling on the floor and
praying the office Taize style. A cylindrical pillow placed behind the thighs
can help prevent loss of circulation and “pins and needles” that accompany
kneeling for any length of time. Alternately one can kneel astraddle a wedged
shaped pillow or even wooden block. In a Taize style prayer service the service
leader and any musicians sit in the midst of the group. At Taize the brothers
kneel or sit in a block and visitors kneel or sit on either side of them.
When praying the office outdoors, a group should sit close together. On a windy
day they will have difficulty hearing each other and even on a windless day the
open space around them will absorb their voices.
Those praying the Daily Offices alone should find a quiet place where they can
pray unhurriedly and undisturbed. When their circumstances do not permit them
to do so, they should take whatever steps that they can to minimize
distractions. A young Roman Catholic woman with whom I worked for a number of
years locked herself in one of the men’s restroom in the back of the office
building out of which we worked. There were two men’s restrooms in a back hall,
which had locks on the doors. The women’s restrooms in the same hall had no
locks. They had individual stalls with locks. The thick concrete block walls of
the men’s restroom muffled most background noise. Few people used the hall
except to go to the restroom or to leave the building. In some cases turning to
face a wall to reduce visual distractions may be all that someone can do. Even
in the midst of noise an office will help to create its own atmosphere.
I have prayed the Daily Offices, sitting at a picnic table in the open or under
a picnic shelter, walking along a gravel road in the woods, or sitting
cross-legged among the tall grass on an overgrown dirt road.
How to Pray. We should allow
ourselves plenty of time to read each office. We should not rush through an
office at a gallop or even at a canter. We should take our time. If we come to
the conclusion of an office and we feel out of breath, we have rushed through
the office. Our reading of an office should be prayerful and even meditative.
We should provide time for the words to sink down into the deeper levels of our
minds and into the depths of our hearts.
We are meeting with God and we do not want to rush into His presence, gabble
our prayers, and then rush out again. Through Jesus Christ we are not just
entering into the throne room of the King but into His presence-chamber, the reception-room
where the King meets privately with His family members, friends and intimates,
those closest to Him. This is a great privilege and we should take care not to
squander it.
God speaks to us through His Word—through the Psalms, the lessons, and the
canticles. He speaks to us through the prayers and in the silences. If we sing
hymns or other songs, He speaks to us through them too. We need to be silent
and still, as well as read, pray, and sing with a listening heart, open to His
voice.
Even if we are praying the Daily Office alone, we should read the Psalms, the
lessons, the canticles, and the prayers aloud. This was the practice of the old
monks. When we read the Morning or Evening Prayer aloud, we are not only seeing
the words as we read them but we are also hearing them. The old monks took with
seriousness what the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “So faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ…” (Romans 10:17). We are listening
to God with both our ears and our eyes. We are also listening to him with our
heart.
Reading the office aloud also engages both sides of our brain while reading it
silently engages only one side—the visual learning side. If circumstances do
not permit us to read an office aloud, we should read it sub-vocally, under our
breath.
My experience is that when I read an office silently, my mind moves too quickly
and I adopt a hurried pace. I do not focus on God as well as I do when I read
the office aloud. I am also less apt to pray the office from my heart. I do not
benefit from reading the office silently in the same way that I benefit from
reading it aloud. On the other hand, if I read the office very softly or in a
barely audible whisper or even mouth the words, I pray at a slower pace and
benefit as if I were reading aloud.
In
A
Priest to the Temple, or The Country Parson, His Character and Rule of Holy
Life seventeenth century Anglican poet-priest George Herbert
describes a number of ways a parson gains holiness in the character of his
sermons. One of these ways has applicability to reading Morning and Evening
Prayer and the other Daily Offices.
Secondly, by dipping, and seasoning all our words and
sentences in our hearts, before they come into our mouths, truly affecting, and
cordially expressing all that we say; so that the auditors may plainly perceive
that every word is heart-deep.
We dip and season the words of the prayers of the office in the prayer of our
heart and then pray them from the heart. This points to an important truth. Our
praying of the Daily Offices must be a part of a life of prayer and not our
prayer life in its entirety.
To this end a spiritual discipline that goes hand in hand with praying the
Daily Offices is
the practice of the presence of God. We live every minute of our lives actively
mindful of God’s presence with us. God is for us not a remote figure in a
distant galaxy that is light years away from us. He is our ever-present
companion, always at our side. We share our thoughts and feelings with Him
throughout the day. We enjoy constant fellowship and communion with Him. He is
the loving Father to whom we go with our joys and sorrows, our struggles and
our triumphs. He is the One to whom we pour out our troubles, to whom we admit
even our most secret desires and urges. He is the One to whom we speak our
first word upon rising from our bed in the morning and our last word upon going
to bed at night. He is the One to whom we speak in the silence and the
stillness of the night.
We should pause for self-examination after the Invitation to Confession. We
should review the events of the day, and confess to God in the secret place of
our hearts our offenses against him and against others, the things that we did,
and the things that we did not do, the evil thoughts and the sinful desires
that we entertained in our hearts, everything that comes between us and God. We
should ask the Holy Spirit to show us those things that we may be hiding from
our selves, those things that we did or did not do and which we do not want to
admit even to ourselves, much less to God. We should unburden ourselves to God.
When we pray the General Confession, we should pray it from a heart that is
truly repentant and desirous of God’s forgiveness.
We should pause for silent reflection and prayer after each Psalm, each lesson,
each canticle, and each collect or prayer. God may speak to us through the
Psalm, lesson, canticle, collect or prayer or in the silence that follows it.
He may speak to us in response to our silent prayer.
When we pray the Daily Offices alone, we may wish to pray aloud after silent
reflection during these pauses. Some people may be comfortable reflecting aloud
too. When we read the Suffrages that precede the Collect of the Day, we may
wish to pause after each Suffrage and then pray silently or aloud for whomever
or whatever the Suffrage brings to mind.
God may draw to our attention a particular word or phrase in a Psalm, lesson,
canticle, collect or prayer. The word or phrase will “shimmer” as those who
practice
Lectio Divina describe
the experience. We mull over the word or phrase silently in our mind, turning
it this way and that way as we might a gemstone, letting the light strike it at
different angles. We may simply repeat the word or phrase over and over again
in our mind, letting it wash over us. For those occasions we might wish to keep
a notebook with us and to jot down the word or phrase in the notebook. At
regular intervals throughout the day we mediate upon the word or phrase and
then pray to God about whatever our meditation on the word or phrase brings to
mind.
We should provide an opportunity for those present to share prayer requests and
concerns and to offer spontaneous petitions and thanksgivings, either silently
or aloud, immediately before the occasional prayers and thanksgivings or during
them.
Whether we are praying an office in a small group, with another person, or
alone we should observe a period of silence at the conclusion of the office.
During this period of silence the Holy Spirit will minister to us. This period
of silence may lead to further reflection and/or to further prayer.
The silence at the conclusion of Compline begins the Great Silence, which in
monastic communities lasts through the night until the first word of the night
office or the dawn office, depending upon the rule of the monastery. A group
attending a weekend church campout and retreat would normally retire for the
night after Compline. The campfire would be banked and the stillness of the
Great Silence would settle upon the campers.
Praying on a clear night under the wheeling constellations in the night sky or
in the very early morning, as the sun is rising, are experiences not to be
forgotten. They are times when we see God’s handiwork around us and the words
of the Psalmist are on our lips.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The
moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful
of him, And the son of man that You visit him? (Psalms 8:3-4)
Preparation. Praying the Daily
Offices does require some preparation. How much preparation will depend on the
office, the service book, and how the group plans to pray the office.
The different parts of the service will need to be assigned to different
members of the group. The role of the service leader is to lead the service,
not to do everything in the service. The readings should be assigned to other
members of the group, as may the Suffrages, the Occasional Prayers and
Thanksgivings, or the Litany, if the Litany is used. This assignment is not
something that should be done at the last minute, grabbing someone as he walks
into the room. Each person needs to be assigned his part well ahead of time so
he can read it over before hand and practice it. The service leader needs to
explain how each part fits into the whole service and how the group needs to
work together so that each part flows smoothly out of the preceding part.
The lessons in the Bible need to be marked with a ribbon and a slip of paper
with the verses on it. If the service is Morning or Evening Prayer, the Collect
of the Day will need to be marked with a ribbon in the service book and two of
the Daily Collects selected, traditionally the Collect for Peace and the
Collect for Grace at Morning Prayer and the Collect for Peace and the Collect
for Aid against All Perils at Evening Prayer.
The Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings that will be used will also need to be
selected. This should be done by the service leader in advance. Traditionally
these Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings are limited to no more than seven,
the number of petitions in the Lord’s Prayer. Some care and thought should be
used in their selection. The news web sites on the Internet can be helpful in
choosing the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings: they draw to our attentions
concerns for which we may wish to pray. One of the Occasional Prayers should
always be for the mission of the Church.
If the group is using music, the service leader will need to select what music
is to be used in consultation with the musician or musicians. If the group is
using CDs, MIDIs, or MP3s, after making the selection of music, the service
leader may need to assign someone to play the music at the appropriate times in
the office and make sure that they have the recordings and the equipment to do
so. The service leader may or may not be the person in the group who leads the
singing. This will depend upon the gift mix of each member of the group. In
some groups the same person may lead the service and the singing and in other
groups two or more persons may perform these roles. The service leader,
however, has overall responsibility for the service, which includes ensuring
that everything done in the service contributes to the prayer of the group.
Nothing should be left to chance.
The use of music in an office may also require the preparation of songs sheets,
a song booklet, overhead transparencies, or multimedia slides.
A well-prepared group will pray with much more confidence than a group that
does its only preparation a couple of minutes before it begins praying. The
desire for spontaneity is not an excuse for failing to take the trouble to
prepare ahead of time. The Holy Spirit, after all, brought order out of chaos,
and the Holy Spirit is present in a well-put together, well-executed service.
Advanced preparation does not stifle the Holy Spirit. Indeed the Holy Spirit
works through careful and thoughtful preparation.
Racing through a long string of collects with machine gun rapidity and without
any real thought to what is read is not spontaneity or the Holy Spirit. It is
also far from prayerful.
How to Recite. The Introduction
to Celebrating Common Prayer offers
these suggestions:
Whether singing or speaking, there are different ways in
which psalms and canticles can be treated. Some of the psalms, such as the more
personal or penitential ones, are perhaps best spoken by a single voice. Others
may be recited antiphonally (different individuals or groups taking alternate
verses). Other psalms may be recited together: this is particular appropriate
for the canticles. The asterisk at the half-way point indicates that a short
pause is appropriate.
An asterisk is used in the 1928 American Prayer Book, 1979 American Prayer
Book, 1985 Canadian Book of Alternative
Services, as well as Celebrating
Common Prayer. In 1559 English Prayer Book, 1662 English Prayer Book, 1926
Irish Prayer Book, 1928 Proposed English Prayer Book, 1978 Australian Prayer
Book, 1980 English Alternative Service Book, and 1985 Alternative Irish Prayer
Book a colon is used in place of an asterisk. In reciting psalms antiphonally
it is best to switch voices at the asterisk or colon: one side reciting the
first half of the verse; the other side, the second half. The practice of
reciting Psalms responsively with a leader and the group taking alternate
verses or half verses is one of the most monotonous methods of reciting the
Psalms and should be avoided.
Ideally the Psalms and the canticles should be sung. However, a group may not
have the music leadership or the acoustical environment for good chant. One
option is to sing metrical versions of the Invitatory Psalm and the canticles
in place of the prose ones. Another option is to sing hymns or worship songs in
place of the canticles. If hymns or worship songs are substituted for the
canticles, they should echo the themes and imagery of the canticles. A third
option is to sing responsorial settings of the Invitatory Psalm and the
canticles. In a responsorial setting a cantor or small number of voices sings
the verses and the congregation sings a repetitive refrain. All three options
may be combined for variety.
In English village churches in the nineteenth and twentieth century the choral
recitation of the Psalms and canticles was developed into a true art form. The
first step to singing them to a plainsong tone, which is the simplest form of
chant and which can be sung unaccompanied, is to recite them together. A group
that regularly recites the Psalms and canticles together can over time learn to
chant them together. Chanting the Psalms and canticles, however, does require a
particular type of acoustical environment with just the right kind of
resonance.
Groups that do not have musicians will find a number of CDs, MIDIs, and MP3s
that are now available for small group worship. They include split worship
tracks and accompaniment CDs. The Community of Celebration’s Come Celebrate CD set includes
settings of the Invitatory Psalms and the canticles.
“Open Worship.” Some groups
praying the Daily Offices may wish to include in an office a time of “open
worship.” Appropriate places in the services of Morning and Evening Prayer are
after the second lesson or the prayers or Bible study, sermon, or teaching. A
Bible study that follows a service of Morning or Evening Prayer is technically
not a part of the service. Depending upon the service book the group uses, a
sermon or teaching may or may not be regarded as a part of the service. The
rubrics of the service book will indicate where a sermon may be preached or a
teaching given. In a time of “open worship” hymns and worship songs may be
sung, testimonies shared, hands may be laid on the sick with prayer,
spontaneous praise and thanksgiving may be offered, and so forth. It is a time
of ministry and sharing as well as worship.
How a group prays the Daily Offices will vary with the character of the group.
One group may recite the Psalms and the canticles and make considerable use of
silence for reflection and prayer. Another group may sing a metrical version of
the Venite or Phos hilaron and hymns or worship songs in place of the canticles
and have a time of “open worship” after the prayers.
Anglicans and Episcopalians seeking to adopt a biblically faithful and
authentically Anglican way of being followers of Jesus Christ and members of
One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church will wish to adopt the Daily Offices,
particularly Morning and Evening Prayer, as the basis of their daily prayer,
not only as the basis for private prayer but also for public prayer as
historically has been the tradition of the Anglican Church. The liturgical
movement of the 1960s and the Prayer Book revisions of the 1970s undermined the
historic position of the two services of Morning and Evening Prayer in the
Anglican Church. If we desire to see a renewal of genuine Anglicanism in North
America, we must work to restore the services of Morning and Evening Prayer to
their rightful place as regular services of public worship in the Anglican
Church alongside of the Holy Communion.
This Anglicans and Episcopalians desiring to recover this part of their
Anglican heritage can do so in their own homes, if not in their churches, forming
small groups for daily prayer. Lent and Easter are good seasons for launching
these groups. If dozens of such groups spring up, more groups are bound to
follow, and we may yet see a revival and reinvigoration of the Daily Offices in
the North American Anglican Church. In time these small communities of prayer
may become the nuclei of an entire new generation of churches—churches that have
a renewed understanding and appreciation of the Anglican Way and of common
prayer.
