The Lord’s Prayer is one of the most well-known features of Christian worship. Many Christian denominations, even ones that don’t use pre-written prayers in their worship services, still teach children this prayer in Sunday school. However, to many Christians, Anglicans included, it can easily lose its meaning through rote repetition. So why do we pray…
I Will Lift Up My Eyes: A Commentary on the Midday Psalms
The meat of the Midday Prayer rests in its psalms. Four options can be read, though some prefer to read all of them daily.
We Praise You, O God: A Commentary on the Te Deum
The Early Church has furnished us with a wellspring of liturgical resources. Studies in this area have seen a minor renaissance as modern Christians, particularly Evangelicals, have expressed a desire for a living tradition to hold on to. [1] They desire for this tradition to not simply be the accepted beliefs and practices of those…
Getting Started with the Daily Office: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Let’s face it: to the modern ear, “Daily Office” sounds more like your workplace than your prayer routine. However, while this “office” is not the workplace that it sounds like, it is, in a certain sense, a task or, more appropriately, a vocation. The odd name comes from the Latin officium divinum, which means “divine…
Family Prayer: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Do you want to introduce the Daily Office into the life of your family, but the length of those prayer times is a bit daunting for your small children? Or do you want a quick version to do yourself when you have a busy workday? Family Prayer is here to help! It is for exactly…
Midday Prayer: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Our days are busy. Life is a nonstop hustle from the time we finish breakfast until we get home from work or school. Lunch itself may be eaten on the go. In the midst of it all, we often neglect Paul’s instruction to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes. 5:17). However, Midday Prayer is here to…
When Two or Three Are Gathered: A Commentary on the Prayer of St. John Chrysostom
Introduction Few preachers in the Patristic Church are as admired and enduring as John Chrysostom.[1] Born in A.D. 349, John developed a love for the written word that his mentor, Diodore, heavily influenced. In response to the rising trend of allegorical interpretation, Diodore and his apprentice emphasized that the Bible should be taken in its…
Compline: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Compline as Night Prayer Many of us are accustomed to saying a quick prayer before bed. The church has a formal tradition of doing this called Compline, the final of four prayer times collectively called the Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer. Unlike the two principal offices, Morning and Evening Prayer, Compline (as…
Evening Prayer: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Evening Prayer can be a great way to transition from the busy rhythms of work or school into a more restful, reflective last chapter of the day. Multiple authors have explained the value of such prayer for finding God, emotional stability, and even verse memorization. Like all our offices of daily prayer, it can be…
An Introduction to The Daily Office Podcast
Finding time for prayer can be really difficult. I’m an Anglican priest (which means I pray for a living, right?), and I know that as well as anybody. It feels like, as our culture of work takes over our lives more and more, we have to fight tooth and nail to spend time with the…
