The Daily Office

The Lindisfarne Community is part of a grass-root movement of renewal in the church. Renewal is an interesting word. T o renew is to repair something, to replace something worn-out or broken, to return something to its former state. In the new-monasticism we have looked again to ancient practices of Christians. Monastic practices have been instruments of renewal since the desert mothers and fathers. The six practices that we encourage in Lindisfarne are: Eucharist, the Daily Office, Meditation, Mindfulness, Study, and Service. If you examine monasticism in east and west you will find these kinds of practice—at times some more prominent than others. Yet, I think it is true that these are the essence of anything we might call monastic. Where the new-monasticism differs is that we seek to practice in our everyday lives, immersed in the world, rather than in separate, closed communities. It is for that reason that I have taken to calling the new-monasticism “secular monasticism.” It is spiritual practice in the saeculum. To be in the world is important. “To be lost in the world,” to summarize Bonhoeffer.

I have been thinking about he Daily Office and its importance in our spirituality—that is, the daily rhythm of prayers, Psalms and readings. Here is my journey with the office.

I was first introduced to it in 1981 when I became a student at Northern Baptist College, Manchester. The college was very ecumenical and had begun the practice of the office, morning and evening, based on a publication of the Daily Office by the Joint Liturgical Group in the UK (1978). That office book was itself based to some degree on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, though rather simplified. Of significance was that it was a product of representatives of all the main churches and all “churchmanships,”—Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Congregational. I used the Daily Office in that form for a number of years. I did not then know that its roots were monastic. My next Daily Office was “The Minister’s Prayer Book,” a Lutheran publication. It was again a simplified prayer book, based around the church calendar with a daily lectionary, and full of readings of particular interest to ministers. I continued with that book until the Northumbria Community produced its Daily Office in, I think, 1990. The first edition was a loose-leaf “Filofax” binder and new months were added as the community produced them. In 1994, Marshall Pickering picked up the book and it was published first in two volumes (Celtic Daily Prayer and Celtic Night Prayer) and then in one volume.

We made our first office for the Lindisfarne Community in 1998 with a flavor of our own to reflect our particular emphases (including Celtic emphases, and inclusivity). The basis of daily prayer in our Office is the Daily Prayer of the Church of England with our own emphases.

Other versions of the Office that I use are these:

Celebrating Common Prayer, the Society of St. Francis, 1992. This was the first major office book for Anglicans since the Book of Common Prayer. It became the basis for the Church of England’s Daily Prayer published in 2002.

The Book of Common Prayer 1979. This the version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church USA. We have based our ordination rites around services here.

Contemporary Office Book 1995. This contains in full the two-year daily lectionary found in our Way of Living. As such, it is the most useful addition to our office and complements it perfectly.

A New Zealand Prayer Book, 1989. The Anglican Church of New Zealand.

Liturgy of the Hours, 4 volumes, the official Offices of the Roman Catholic Church

Christian Prayer, the one volume official daily prayers of the Roman Catholic Church. This is the same material as the larger work but excludes a number of services. It contains, morning and evening prayers, daytime prayers, and night prayer. The great advantage of this volume over others is that all the texts are in full. There is no need to have a second book. It has 2070 pages! Yet, it is quite compact.

For the computer literate, there are online versions of the office to be found in a number of places (just “Google” it). For those with iPhones, there is a very fine reading of the Liturgy of the Hours, morning prayer, evening prayer and night prayer called the Divine Office. It is free for clergy (Search Apps).

There is a remarkable similarity in these office books. All have their roots in an ancient practice that goes back to sixth century Benedict. It is thought that the Christian office had its roots in Jewish prayer hours.

Besides shaping spirituality, there is a sense of connectedness in the saying of the office—connectedness with the long centuries of Christian practice, and connectedness with people all over the world today who have the office as bedrock of spiritual practice.

+Ab. Andy