Morning Prayer (Part Two)

Morning Prayer takes about 20-30mins. It follows a set pattern of an introduction prayer, one or more of the Psalms, an Old Testament reading and New Testament reading, a couple of songs from the Bible (canticles), and then intercessions - for the world, the Church, our communities and the day ahead. In some churches they might add a song. If I'm praying Morning Prayer at home I sometimes add a modern Christian song that I listen to off Youtube. Some of the words of Morning Prayer change depending on what day of the week it is, or what season of the year it is (Advent, Lent, Easter etc.). That helps us even more to meditate on different themes over the course of the year.

My personal feeling is that because there's a kind of formality about Morning Prayer (although there's nothing wrong with you praying it on your sofa in your slippers with a cup of coffee), we also need a time each day when we praise God in our own words and talk intimately and informally with God about our own spiritual life and what's on our hearts. Personally I feel the best pattern is to combine Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer with a more informal time of prayer each day that focuses more on our own personal walk with God. I like the Daily Examen that I mention in another post...

You can buy a book called Common Worship Daily Prayer that has Morning and Evening Prayer written out in it. If you use that book (see the photo above) you also need a lectionary and a Bible with you so you can look up the passages for that day, then read them.

Alternatively (and much more easily) you can just go to this website which inserts the right Bible readings for you and makes sure you're reading the prayers for the correct day of the week or season: http://daily.commonworship.com/daily.cgi? or you can download the app here: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/join-us-in-daily-prayer.aspx

Morning Prayer (Part One)

You're probably already aware that the Jewish way of praying is to stop and pray seven times a day. (Muslims similarly stop and pray at certain times in the day). For centuries, Christians have also stopped to pray seven times a day, and in convents and monasteries they still do that. Obviously that's not possible for those of us who are studying or job-seeking or working! For people who aren't monks and nuns, the pattern has become a much more simplified Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer with perhaps Night Prayer (or Compline) at the end of the day.

Just like the worship in the Jerusalem Temple went on continually at these set points of the day, in the Anglican church our public and communal worship of God goes on continually with most Cathedrals keeping Morning and Evening Prayer going every day of the week. Some parish churches also maintain Morning Prayer and most priests in the Church of England commit to praying at least one, if not both, of Morning or Evening prayer every day.

Morning Prayer is quite different from the more evangelical "quiet time with God". Rather than it being a time to focus on my personal worship of God and my personal spiritual life, it's more of a communal 'priesthood of all believers' activity. The focus is on us praising God together, meditating on His love and His saving work throughout history, and praying for the world and our communities.

Morning and Evening Prayer are referred to as the Daily Office or Divine Office (meaning 'duty), because it's our duty to continually praise God and pray for the world. My understanding is that this sense of duty stems from our role as priests (in an Old Testament kind of sense). We pray Morning Prayer faithfully even when we don't feel like it. The Daily Office is for God and for the world rather than for our own spiritual benefit - although it does have the consequence of helping us get to know God (and the Bible) better and making us more outward looking...