Beginning Feb. 25, we will be adding Noon Day Prayers and Evening Prayer to our services on Wednesdays. Here is a selection from the book Opening the Prayer Book by Jeffrey Lee about these services and about the Daily Office in general:
"If the heart of the prayer book is the celebration of the paschal mystery of Christ in baptism and eucharist, then its soul may be the daily office. Christian identity is given and renewed in the celebration of baptism and eucharist; it is lived out and shaped by daily prayer and the call to various ways of life in the world. The Book of Common Prayer gives liturgical voice to these realities in a section titled The Daily Office, with liturgies for prayer in the morning, noon, evening, and night, and suggestions for daily devotions.
"One of the principal gifts to Anglicanism in the first Book of Common Prayer was the simplification of the medieval monastic tradition of daily prayer and the restoration of a vision of daily prayer as the work of the whole church, not just the clergy or monastic elite. Having said that, it is true that versions of the daily office in all subsequent prayer books, including 1979, are still heavily influenced by the monastic tradition, though simplified and adapted for the use of groups and individuals living active lives in the world.
"A few years ago the superior of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, Martin L. Smith, wrote in Episcopal Life of the popularity of monastic guest houses. Large numbers of people, he said, seem to be drawn to share the life of monastic communities for a time. He described the attraction of the "monastic impulse" by telling of a woman he knew whose daily practice was to watch the six o’clock news, have a drink, and read evening prayer on her patio. This is an example of monastic spirituality, said Smith, because it is completely ordinary and does not depend on how she happens to feel at any given moment.
"Daily prayer in the prayer book tradition embodies a spiritual practice that is practical, ordered, and not dependent on feelings that are subject to change. The daily offices of the prayer book are intended to be familiar, regular, and participatory leading to what one author calls a "divine monotony." Indeed, the word "office" is derived from the Latin officium, meaning the performance of a task or duty. The offices have a corporate familiarity that leads us deeper into the regular rhythms of the day and of our life with God. Whether said alone or in small groups or sung in a large gathering, the daily office is the common prayer of the church. Over time, faithful participation in this daily prayer can form a spirituality that is balanced, grounded in scripture, and genuinely corporate. In the parish I now serve the staff gathers morning and evening to sing the daily office. That usually means just three or four of us, but even when I find myself alone for some reason at the appointed time, I am aware that I am part of an ongoing and daily community of prayer.
"The psalms and scripture readings form the heart of the daily office. The daily praying of the psalms in particular—the ancient songbook of Jews and Christians, filled with their devastatingly honest blessings and cursings—can act as an antidote to the subjectivity and individualization of our culture. As Kathleen Norris writes in her book on the monastic impulse, The Cloister Walk, the psalter "counters our tendency to see individual experience as sufficient for formulating a vision of the world."
"Historically psalms and scripture readings form the main body of the daily office. In the 1979 prayer book this is the section from The Invitatory and Psalter through the collects. This section in both Morning and Evening Prayer includes psalms, lessons, canticles, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and versides and responses. It resembles the medieval monastic offices out of which it grew and is essentially the shape of the daily office in the 1549 prayer book.
"To the beginning of this main body of the daily office the prayer book of 1552 added a penitential beginning: an opening sentence and confession. And the prayer book of 1662 added a concluding section of additional prayers. A careful look at the rubrics reveals this three-part structure. For example, the instructions at the beginning of Morning Prayer indicate that the service begins with the opening sentence and what follows or directly with the versicle "Lord, open our lips" (BCP 75). Similarly, at the conclusion of the collects, the rubric reads that additional intercessions and thanksgivings may follow.
"The earliest form of the church’s daily liturgical prayer was characterized by a selective use of psalms appropriate to the time of day, short acclamations and antiphons, and the use of colorful ceremonial—the ritual lighting of lamps and the use of incense, for example. As daily prayer developed in the monasteries, it became increasingly elaborated and focused on the meditative recital of the entire psalter and other portions of scripture. This was the only approach to the daily office known to Archbishop Cranmer and the other Anglican reformers, who were concerned that the laity become thoroughly familiar with the contents of the Bible. The result was a daily office in which large quantities of scripture were recited and read. In Cranmer’s first prayer book all one hundred ftfty psalms were to be read in course monthly and the entire New Testament (with the exception of Revelation) three times during the year.
"In its plan for the systematic reading of scripture, called a lectionary, the 1979 prayer book offers more flexibility than previous prayer books. The Daily Office Lectionary is a two-year cycle, with Year One beginning in Advent preceding odd-numbered years. With a few seasonal exceptions, the psalms are designed to be read in a seven-week cycle. The Old Testament is largely read through once over the course of the two years, and the New Testament twice.
"The Psalter in the 1979 prayer book is a translation that takes into account current scholarship regarding the Hebrew text. It is also a liturgical psalter; that is, the psalms are arranged for the use of a worshiping assembly, and the cadences of the text lend themselves to singing or group recitation. The asterisk printed in the middle of verses indicates either a pause when the psalm is read or the conclusion of a musical phrase to which the psalm is being sung. If you look at Psalm 1 you will see the heading First Day; Morning Prayer; before Psalm 6 you will see First Day: Evening Prayer. Here the prayer book still provides for Cranmer’s scheme of reading the psalter in a monthly cycle. The Latin titles at the start of each psalm are printed as an aid to research and to the wealth of historical musical settings of the psalms.
"Two additional offices with readings and hymns are provided by the 1979 prayer book to mark the course of the day: An Order of Service for Noonday and An Order for Compline. The noonday office follows the traditional monastic pattern for minor offices during the day: Terce, Sext, and None, as they are called, or the "little offices/’ The psalms are those traditionally associated with these offices, and the prayers speak of the mission of the church and to events such as Christ hanging on the cross at this hour.
"Compline has become one of the most popular services of the church, especially at conferences and in small gatherings. Its roots can be traced as early as the fourth century, when it was the bedtime prayer of monks. Again, the psalms are those traditionally associated with this office: The Rule of St. Benedict specifies the reading of Psalms 4, 91, and 134, which are included here. The prayers ask for God’s protection "through the hours of this night," and the office concludes with the Song of Simeon with its antiphon: "Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace."
"Also new to the 1979 prayer book is An Order of Worship for the Evening. This rich and variable form for prayer in the evening is a recovery of elements that can be traced to the third century, and thus represents a style of daily prayer that predates the development of the monastic type of office. In the next chapter we will use An Order of Worship for the Evening to demonstrate how the prayer book can be a resource for pastoral liturgy.
"Finally, the section of the prayer book on the daily office concludes with Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families. These brief forms of prayer intended for use by individuals and families at home or work follow the basic structure of the daily offices. Their rubrics indicate how they may be expanded with appropriate canticles, hymns, the Apostles Creed, and so forth, though their brevity makes them especially useful for people who wish to offer the daily prayer of the church in the midst of busy lives."