From Richard Liantonio On the Road to Emmaus
Transcendence is what comes to mind, when I think of joining in the very prayers the Church has made from its earliest days. One type of prayer expresses what is in our hearts. Another type of prayer lifts us into an expanse far transcending the confines of our limited self. Prayers and hymns whose life extend to the second and third century, and earlier, are foundational constituents of the Daily Office.
After discussing the Christian Year as the backdrop upon which the BCP Prayer services are built, and then introducing the BCP itself, I am now going to lead you page by page in how exactly to use the Prayerbook to pray. Much of it is self-explanatory, but I have given a running commentary along the side to spell out exactly what is going on, in an attempt to make it perfectly clear. You may not need such explanation to begin. If so, just start using it and refer back here if you have any questions.
Text in Orange is to identify words that are actually on that page of the prayerbook. If anything is confusing, please comment and I will try to clarify.
NB: The intended audience for this series is people who have no experience in using liturgical forms of prayer so I have attempted to explain everything. My apologies in advance if this seems a little pedantic.
As I mentioned last time, it’s helpful for me to see all of the BCP prayer services as having four parts, in this order:
1) Opening
2) Psalms
3) Readings
4) Prayers
There are also four different prayer services that essentially use this same four-part format:
1) Morning Prayer
2) Midday (Noon) Prayer
3) Evening Prayer
4) Compline (bedtime)
This post will focus on the first section (the “Opening”) as it specifically relates to Evening Prayer. After we discuss the central four-part structure in Evening Prayer, I’ll show you some of the ways it is used in the other three offices.
To begin, you would open to this page in the prayer book. It will look exactly like this in every Book of Common Prayer (as long as it is the 1979 version).
“Daily Evening Prayer” means that this is the same order used for prayer every evening. The general structure stays the same with certain parts (the psalms, canticles, readings, etc.) changing for each day.
“Rite Two” indicates that this order is in modern english (“Rite One” is in “King James” English)
Notice the smaller font in italics. Those are the “rubrics,” which is a fancy way for saying “instructions.”
“Officiant” is the person leading the service if it is done in a group. If you are praying by yourself, you are the Officiant.
Evening prayer begins with an Opening Sentence from Scripture. Most of them specifically relate to evening/night time and so set the mood for a time of prayer in the evening. The rubric says you can also select one from Morning Prayer, which there relate to the Church Year rather than the time of day.
Simply choose one (or more) sentence(s), read it (them) prayerfully and move on.
Next follows the Confession of Sin. The rubrics say that this “may be said.” In other words, it is optional.
It is good to take a moment where the rubric says “Silence may be kept” to ask God to show you anything you need to confess and/or repent of from that day.
At “what we have done…” feel free to pause and specifically mention what the Holy Spirit brought to your mind. The same goes for “what we have left undone.” If the Holy Spirit didn’t bring anything to mind, don’t go looking for something, just keep going.
This is a blessing of forgiveness spoken over the people when prayed corporately. When praying alone, take a moment after confession to consciously receive forgiveness from God and ask for the grace to sin no more.
The formal beginning of the service is with “O God, make speed to save us…” which was established as the opening of Vespers by St. Benedict in the sixth century (meaning it was likely standard practice from much earlier). This is a common form in liturgical prayer called “Versicle and Response,” in which the Officiant and the People alternate responsively. When prayed alone, say both parts. This set is taken from Ps. 70:1 and begins the service expressing our desperate need of God’s salvation and active involvement in our lives.
Next follows the Gloria Patri, “Glory to the Father…” (2nd or 3rd century) in which the Triune God, the fellowship of divine love, is upheld at the center of all Christian prayer. Christian prayer, though in many cases springs from immediate problems (O God, make speed to save us…), it is centered amidst and stabilized upon the deep love of the three persons of the Trinity.
Immediately, the “Alleluia” is said as an exclamation of delight in the Triune God who will come to save us (although it is not said in Lent because it is a season of penitence rather than rejoicing).
The hymn, “Phos hilaron” is included as an opening hymn, though the rubrics on the previous page say that “some other suitable hymn, or an Invitatory Psalm” may be used. I’ll discuss Invitatory Psalms when we get to Morning Prayer.
The “Phos Hilaron” dates from around the 3rd century (read: its REALLY old!) and was a traditional hymn sung at evening time when the lamps were lit. I think it is a beautiful text, so I sing it every night. However, feel free to substitute in any hymn or canticle as a form of “opening praise.”
This brings us to the end of the first major section – “The Opening.” So far its pretty easy, eh? Next time, we’ll discuss the second major section, and my personal favorite – the Psalms.