Candles light up the choir stalls in Great Saint Mary’s, the University Church, Cambridge ... this morning we look at the development of the Liturgical Year and the Daily Office (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
TH 8824: Liturgy, Worship and Spirituality
Year II, 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., Thursdays, Hartin Room:
Liturgy 5: 27 October 2016
Liturgy 5.1: The development of the Liturgical Year and the Daily Office.
Liturgy 5.2: Traditions of prayer (2) seminar, readings on Reformation prayer.
10 a.m.: Liturgy 5.1: The development of the Liturgical Year and the Daily Office.
Introduction:
1, The Liturgical Year
2, The Daily Office (Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer)
3, The Collects and the Lectionary
The beach at Donabate bathed in sunshine … the church calendar, like other calendars, is marked by times and seasons (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
(1) The Liturgical Year:
We all function on a secular calendar, beginning on 1 January and ending on 31 December. But we all work with other calendars too. Examples include:
● The Tax year once began and ended on 25 March.
● The Academic year (is it divided into terms or semesters?).
● The football season.
● There is a political year (the opening of parliament).
● A court year (the law year began a few weeks ago).
● A social year, or family year, marks special events, with anniversaries, birthdays. We remember births, marriages and deaths in our own many families, and many regularly take holidays at the same time.
● The working year: the shipyard holiday had an impact on life throughout East Belfast until very recently.
So, the Church Calendar is both important for the life of the Church so that we remember the main events in the story of salvation, so that we do not forget others, and so that we do not forget to prepare for some of these events, marked by days and seasons.
The sources for the Church Calendar
There are two specific calendars for the Church, both working in tandem: the
Temporale and the
Sanctorale.
The
Temporale outlines the Christian Year, from Advent Sunday to the Sunday before Advent. The
Sanctorale follows the secular year. This lists the saints’ days, and other key days that fall on the same date each year.
An outline of the Church Calendar:
[
handout: Harold Miller,
The Desire of our Soul (Dublin: Columba, 1984), p 16.]
For the
Temporale, see
The Book of Common Prayer (2004), pp 18-19.
All Sundays celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. On no Sunday should that celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ be overshadowed by any other commemoration. Everything we do in Church on Sunday is done in the light of our Easter faith.
The principal Holy Days are:
● Christmas Day (25 December)
● Easter Day
● The Day of Pentecost
Of these, which are the most important?
1, Easter, which has 40 days of preparation, Lent, and is followed by a continuing Easter focus in the 50 days of Easter until Pentecost
2, Christmas, which also has season of preparation, the four weeks of Advent, followed by the 12 days of Christmas up to Epiphany.
3, Pentecost is the climax of the story of the Risen Christ as the Spirit is poured out on the Church, which is a continuing Pentecost.
Seven other principal days are marked in the Church of Ireland Calendar:
1, Epiphany (6 January)
2, The Presentation of Christ (2 February)
3, Maundy Thursday
4, Good Friday (most traditions say it is inappropriate to celebrate Holy Communion on this day)
5, Ascension Day (The Thursday 40 days after Easter Day)
6, Trinity Sunday
7, All Saints’ Day (1 November)
The Seasons
In a natural year, we have the four seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. There are five seasons in the Church year, named in
The Book of Common Prayer (p 19):
1, Advent
2, Christmas
3, Epiphany
4, Lent
5, Easter
Note how we name them:
● the Sundays of Advent, and the Sundays of Christmas;
● the Sundays after the Epiphany, the Sundays after Trinity;
● the Sundays before Lent, the Sundays before Advent;
● the Sundays in Lent; and the Days in Holy Week.
Then, we have separately Ordinary Time, which varies in length – depending on how early or late Easter is, and on when Advent begins.
These seasons explore particular theological themes. They provide us with opportunities to recall, to relive, and to learn afresh from particular parts of the Christian story, the story of salvation, as they are read and reflected on.
These seasons set a special mood for us collectively as the Church.
Apart from the seasons we also have days of special observance (
The Book of Common Prayer (2004), p 20), including Ash Wednesday, the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, and Easter Eve.
The Festivals are not all saints’ days. They include some commemorations of Gospel events, such as events in the life of the Virgin Mary:
1, The Birth of the Virgin Mary (8 September),
2, the Annunciation (25 March),
3, the Visitation (31 May),
4, but not her death (15 August), although this is observed in other parts of the Anglican Communion.
Some events in the life of Christ that are commemorated include:
● His naming or circumcision (1 January)
● His Baptism (Sunday after Epiphany)
● His Transfiguration (6 August)
● His kingship (The Sunday before Advent).
The Saints’ Days [The
Sanctorale] are also important reminders of the continuity of the story of salvation. The saints (see pp 20-21) include Saint Michael and All Angels, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, the Holy Innocents, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Mary Magdalene, the Apostles and Evangelists, and the three patron saints of Ireland. Normally we think of the saints’ days as the days on which they died, but we do not commemorate the Virgin Mary on that day, nor is this the case with Saint Michael and the Angels. And we remember two saints on other days too: Saint Paul (conversion, 25 January) and Saint John the Baptist (birthday, 24 June).
On pp 22-23, we have the commemoration of saints and other important figures in our story as the Church. The red letter days are to be observed, but the others follow local custom.
Rules for Festivals
When one of these days falls on a Sunday, in Holy Week or in Easter Week, it is transferred, even though there may be cultural difficulties in maintaining this rule: some years ago, Saint Patrick’s Day fell in Holy Week – how many observed it on the previous Saturday? Or in that year Saint Joseph (19 March) on 1 April?
There is no celebration of a festival in Easter Week either. So this year, e.g., the Annunciation on 25 March fell on Good Friday [2016], and it was transferred to Monday 4 April, the first open day after Easter Week.
Commemorations
These days are usually remembered in their own part of the country (e.g., Saint Laurence O’Toole in Dublin).
Some of the other days in the Church year include:
● Rogation days (asking God for …) are marked as days asking for God’s blessing on fruits of the earth and human labour.
● Ember Days are days set aside for prayers for ordination and ministry. They include the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after the 1st Sunday in Lent, the Day of Pentecost, 14 September and 13 December.
These days are quarterly, so that four times a year we have these prayers before the whole church.
Days of Special Observance:
● Ash Wednesday (see p 338).
● Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, Easter Eve.
Days of discipline and self-denial:
● Lent.
● Fridays.
Dates of Easter and other variables:
These are given up to 2030 in
The Book of Common Prayer.
Other dates:
What do we do about other days in the Church year?
When is Harvest celebrated?
What about other dates such as 12 July, Watch Night services, Covenant services, Harvest services, Remembrance Sunday, National Days, &c.?
[
Discussion:]
We always need to remind ourselves that we are incarnational.
A note on Liturgical Colours:
Since fabrics – banners, stoles, vestments &c – have some colour or other, the historic Church has used colour to set the theme of worship. Colour choices were more diverse in the past, for dyes were expensive and it was not as easy as it is today to get fabric in any colour.
In modern times, a consensus has developed about the colours in the western Church: green, purple, white, and red, with gold or ivory as alternatives to white. Some traditions sometimes use blue. Black, for the most part, is no longer used. The Orthodox Churches use colours differently.
Green: Green is the default colour. Green is the colour of vegetation, the colour of life. Green is the colour for the Season of Epiphany and the Season after Pentecost. These two seasons are also called ‘Ordinary Time’ because the Sundays have no names, just ordinal numbers.
Purple: In antiquity, purple dye was very expensive, so purple came to signify wealth, power, and royalty. Therefore purple is the colour for the seasons of Advent and Lent, which celebrate the coming of the King. Since as Christians we prepare for our King through reflection and repentance, purple has also become a penitential colour.
White: Angels announced Christ’s birth (Luke 2: 8-15) and his Resurrection (Luke 24:1-8). The New Testament consistently uses white to describe angels and the risen Lord (see Matthew 17: 2 and 28: 3, Mark 9: 3 and 16: 5, John 20: 12, Acts 1: 10, and throughout Revelation). In the early Church, people were given white robes as they emerged from the waters of baptism. And so, white is the colour for the seasons of Easter and Christmas. White is often the colour for funerals, as the colour of the Resurrection, usually for weddings, regardless of the season, and for secular holidays observed in the Church.
Red: Red is the colour of blood and martyrdom, and so the colour for commemorating the death of a martyr. It is also an alternative colour for the last week of Lent, Holy Week, and also the colour for the Day of Pentecost and for ordinations and installations as the colour of fire and of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2: 3).
Gold: Gold or ivory are alternatives to white, and are designated especially for Christmas Day and Easter Day.
Blue: Blue is an alternative to purple during Advent. Some churches use blue during Advent to avoid the penitential connotation of purple.
Black: Black is the colour of clericals (cassocks are clericals, not vestments). Before modern dyes were invented, all dress clothes were black – look at 19th century formal photographs. Historically, black implied formality. Because we no longer wear black so often, it survives as a formal colour only at the most solemn occasions, such as funerals. For some people today, black immediately connotes a funeral. Black is sometimes, but rarely, the colour for funeral services, Good Friday, and All Souls’ Day (2 November).
Rose: Rose (a shade of pink) was sometimes used on the Third Sunday in Advent (
Gaudete Sunday) to signify joy. The use of rose has a strange origin. Mediaeval Popes customarily gave someone a rose on the Fourth Sunday in Lent (
Laetare Sunday). This led the Roman Catholic clergy to wear rose-coloured vestments that Sunday. As this gave some relief to the solemnity of Lent, it became a popular custom.
Originally, Advent was a solemn fast in preparation for Christmas, so the custom was extended to the third Sunday in Advent to liven it up a little too. And so the third candle in the Advent wreath became pink too. Now, Advent is no longer so solemn … and Popes probably no longer give out roses.
(2) The daily office, including Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer
The chapel in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge ... the daily office dates back to the prayer life of the monasteries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
In
The Book of Common Prayer (pp 78-153), there are two different orders of service, with different titles:
Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1: “The Order …”
Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2: “An Order …”
Other names for these services include: Mattins or Matins for Morning Prayer; or Evensong for Evening Prayer.
These names are used especially for choral or sung services.
Choral Evensong is a particularly beautiful piece of art. It was broadcast every Wednesday evening at 4 p.m. on BBC Radio 3, making it one of the longest-running radio programmes.
You can experience it in our cathedrals, including Christ Church Cathedral and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and in the Chapel in TCD.
[
Relate personal experience of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, and Lichfield Cathedral]
Matins and Evensong are ancient titles dating back to the monastic offices, which were used for the two services in the 1549
Book of Common Prayer. The titles were changed by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (
right) in the 1552
Book of Common Prayer.
Essentially these are offices of daily prayer, to be used daily throughout the year, but they were never designed as the principal Sunday service.
Their origins are found in the ancient monastic offices used by the monks at different times of the day:
1, Matins,
2, Lauds,
3, Prime,
4, Terce,
5, None,
6, Vespers,
7, Compline.
The monastic idea and ideal was that regular times of prayer lead to a life where prayer is a constant part of our relationship with God. Cranmer brought these monastic offices together, so that there was one simple office for the morning, and one simple office for the evening.
The offices were also planned and structured so people would be instructed by the word of God: the clergy were obliged to say both offices, openly or privately, and to toll the church bell before doing so.
Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer are part of the daily cycle of offices in cathedrals and churches throughout the Anglican Communion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer 1:
Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1: This is the 1662 rite in virtually every respect, with a history the goes back to Cranmer’s original ‘A …’ (1552).
Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer were formerly printed as separate rites. They have now been integrated as one office, with variations for morning and evening use.
They were first integrated in 1984 in the
Alternative Prayer Book. In
The Book of Common Prayer (2004), after the opening prayers and greetings, if we are not following Morning Prayer, we are invited to turn to page 93 for Evening Prayer.
Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer 2:
Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2 have a common beginning. Then after the Confession and Absolution, if we are not following Morning Prayer, we are invited to turn to page 109 for Evening Prayer.
What is common to both services?
There is a common approach to both services or offices. Although called “Prayer,” they are centred upon the reading of Scripture, through the Psalms, the Canticles and the Readings. Even the versicles and responses are taken from Scripture.
The different parts:
There are no section headings in Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1, unlike Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2. But it is important to know and identify these sections, so that we can understand the movement taking place:
There are four essential ingredients:
1, The Gathering of God’s People
2, Proclaiming and Receiving the Word
3, The Prayers of the People
4, Going out as God’s People.
The Gathering of God’s People
Greeting:
The opening greeting is more obvious in Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer 2, because it is specified: “The Lord be with you …” (Ruth 2: 4).
Sentence of Scripture (pp 78-83 and at the beginning of Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1).
The provisions of sentences of Scripture are in three different groupings:
● General, focusing on the nature of worship
● Seasonal, related to particular time.
● Penitential.
By getting to know the difference one can be much more appropriate in making choices. If choosing another sentence, one needs to avoid constantly using a favourite verse, carefully selecting one that sets the tone and theme. On the other hand, there is value in learning a variety of these verses off by heart.
Opening hymn:
Where is this placed: is it used as a processional? Is it announced first?
Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2 get this right by placing the hymn after the opening greeting and sentences.
Choosing the hymn sensitively and carefully allows one to set the tone for the service and its theme, so it ought to be related to the readings, prayers and address.
Exhortation:
This is not a prayer, and it is not addressed to God. In Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1 it opens: ‘Dearly beloved …’ In Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2 it opens: ‘Beloved in Christ …’
It is like setting out an agenda before a meeting: it tells people why we are here and what we’re going to do, it prepares us for the task ahead.
Confession:
The invitation comes first.
Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1: This confession was not in the earlier 1549 Prayer Book, and was introduced by Cranmer in 1552.
The general confession has resonances of Romans 7: 8-25, and of the parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15). It was probably written by Cranmer, and based on the confession in the Strasbourg liturgy.
In Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2, the confession provides for a time of silence for reflection, personal confession.
Absolution:
In Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1 (p 86), this is a vital step after confession. It is not just a declaration or affirmation of pardon and absolution, but it is assurance to a penitent heart of the power of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of the grace to live holy lives. It is a declaratory ‘prayer,’ pronounced by the priest in the name of God, but directed at the people.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Note the different place for the Lord’s Prayers:
In Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1, the Lord’s Prayer follows the absolution. This was the original beginning of the office. But in a service that combined Morning Prayer, the Litany and Holy Communion, the Lord’s Prayer could have been used five times. Now there is provision for using it only twice.
It is an introduction to praise. So, as an introduction to praise, Cranmer added the doxology: ‘… for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, ...’ At other times, when the Lord’s Prayer is used as an introduction to prayer and penitence, the doxology is omitted.
Proclaiming and Receiving the Word:
Opening Canticles:
There are different canticles for use at Morning Prayer and at Evening Prayer. Most of the Canticles are from Scripture, but some are from the Apocrypha, and others, such as
Te Deum, are hymns. They serve as preparation for hearing God’s word, as a response to hearing God’s word, and as a way of using God’s word to praise God.
The word Canticle is Latin and simply means a song. Most of the canticles are known to this day by their Latin names, although Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2 attempt to give them simple English names:
Venite, Psalm 95;
Benedictus, Song of Zechariah.
The little red marks are pointed for Anglican chant. Are they distractions?
The canticles can be sung in a variety of ways, with versions in the hymn book, and other alternatives.
Traditionally, we have used different canticles for the two different offices:
Morning Prayer:
Venite and
Jubilate.
Evening Prayer:
Magnificat,
Nunc Dimittis, A Song of the Light,
Deus Misereatur (Psalm 67) and
Ecce Nunc.
The Easter Anthems are used during both Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.
The canticles set the scene for hearing God’s word.
Look at
Venite: [quote from page 87].
A Song of the Light has a new introduction, but this is an old Greek song, dating from the 3rd century,
Phos Hilaron (Φῶς Ἱλαρόν): it is not about the rising sun, and is appropriate for lighting the evening lamps when the dark is closing in.
There are different versions. See:
Hail Gladdening Light (
Irish Church Hymnal, No 699).
The first reading:
The first reading is placed here in Morning Prayer. This is one of the changes introduced to the traditional language version. In the 1926 edition, the opening canticle was followed by the Psalm(s). Now the Psalm comes after first reading in both versions of Morning Prayer.
This change was introduced because the new lectionary uses the Psalm as a response to the first (normally Old Testament) reading.
Some feel that three readings are too much for a morning service.
The Psalms:
The psalms no longer follow the pattern of day numbers in Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1 (
c.f. the 1926 version).
Cranmer set a pattern of reading the Psalter through each month. Our Psalmody is a legacy of the monastic offices and tradition. Benedict wanted the psalms read through in a week. So, from an early stage the psalms have been at the heart of daily worship.
Readings after the Psalm:
At Morning Prayer, the second reading and the Gospel reading come after the Psalm. In Evening Prayer, both readings follow the Psalm.
Note how the readings are introduced: Order 2 suggests: ‘A reading from … chapter … beginning at verse …’
How do you conclude the readings? Which version of Scripture can we use?
The second and third canticles:
At Morning Prayer, the second canticle is
Te Deum,
Benedicite,
Urbs Fortitudinis,
Laudate Dominum (Psalm 148), or another canticle from pp 117-135, except the
Benedictus. The third canticle is
Benedictus,
Jubilate, or any New Testament canticle on pp 117-135.
At Evening Prayer, the second canticle is
Magnificat,
Cantate Domino, or any New Testament Canticle on pp 117-135. And the third canticle is
Nunc Dimitis,
Deus Misereatur, or any New Testament canticle on pp 117-135.
Why are they here?
The major canticles are three from Saint Luke’s Gospel. They look back at and forward to the work of salvation. And they can be used thematically: there are provisions for harvest, for the Christian year (for example, did anyone think there was an opportunity for an appropriate choice of canticle to mark Saint Luke’s Day last week (18 October 2016)?
The sermon:
These were essentially daily services, so originally there was no place for a sermon. It was only over the course of history that these became regular Sunday services, and so the need arose to provide an appropriate place for the sermon. This office had normally ended with the grace. Now there was a need for another hymn before and after the sermon.
In other churches, including the Methodists and Presbyterians, the idea continues of the sermon coming at the end of the service. Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1 retain this traditional place. But Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer 2 place the sermon within the section of proclaiming and receiving God’s word, and before the Apostles’ Creed, a place that is similar to the place for the sermon in Holy Communion. This is the place where the Word of God is broken open.
The Apostles’ Creed:
The Apostles’ Creed is an integral part of the offices in the Anglican tradition, although, in the daily offices in the institute chapel it may be said at Morning Prayer 2 and omitted in the evening.
The Apostles’ Creed, historically, was not part of the offices of the Church until the Reformation. This creed was not written by the apostles, and its general adoption in the Western Church dates from about 1000 AD, when it was simply used as a baptismal confession of faith.
The Prayers of the People:
These take several different types:
● The Lesser Litany and
Kyrie
● The Lord’s Prayer (with or without the doxology? At this place it is without the doxology in Morning Prayer 1/Evening Prayer 1, but with it in Morning Prayer 2/Evening Prayer 2, because this is the only place it is used). There are two versions. The modern version comes from the English Language Liturgical Commission (except for the clause ‘and lead us not into temptation,’ which is used instead of ‘Save us from the time of trial.’).
● The use of the Versicles and Responses has its roots in the
Sarum Breviary. They are taken from Scripture (Psalm 85: 7; 1 Samuel 10: 24; Psalm 20: 9; Psalm 132: 9; Psalm 28: 9).
● The prayers for rulers, the clergy and people, the collect for peace, and the collect for grace then follow. In Morning Prayer 2/Evening Prayer 2, they are optional. They are best used when they are seen as a scaffolding or framework that allows one to build appropriate prayers.
The Collects:
There is a provision for three collects in Morning Prayer 1/Evening Prayer 1, and for at least two in Morning Prayer 2/Evening Prayer 2, beginning with the Collect of the Day.
Note that the phrase ‘Collect of …’ relates to a particular occasion, while the phrase ‘Collect for …’ relates to subject. So it is not the collect of purity, and is certainly not the collect for the conversion of Saint Paul or indeed, as has been heard, for the Circumcision of Christ. And they are the collects at Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer.
It is worth memorising some of these, and to know the value of being able to call on them as extempore opening and closing prayers.
Occasional prayers:
The occasional prayers are not for use occasionally but for use on particular occasions.
It is important to watch the movement in prayers one writes, who is addressed, and how they are concluded.
Concluding Prayers:
Morning Prayer 1 and Evening Prayer 1 always conclude with the grace. The Prayer of Saint John Chrysostom is seldom used in practice, but its roots are in praying in our dependence on God.
The rubric in Morning Prayer 2 and Evening Prayer for concluding the office is simpler.
Going out as God’s people:
How do you end it? This is a long-standing conundrum. In the 1662 version, it was always with the grace. But then the sermon on Sundays was added on, and other things were then added on to that too: the offertory hymn, the dismissal, the recessional hymn, and the blessing.
Going out needs to be thought through too.
Note that there is an abbreviated form of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer on pp 136-138.
Saint Patrick’s Church, Donabate ... ‘The Book of Common Prayer’ provides a structure or guidelines for the Service of the Word, rather than a full service (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Service of the Word; Compline; LEO; the Litany.
(a) The Service of the Word:
The Book of Common Prayer provides a structure or guidelines, rather than a full service. The service can be put on one page, although the notes to explain how to use this structure take up three pages.
The influences on writing or the sources for the Service of the Word are:
1, The TEC
Book of Common Prayer (pp 400-401), which provides an outline for an informal Eucharist.
2, The Church of England’s
Lent, Holy Week and Easter (1984): Services and Prayers, which gives the bare-bones outline for Holy Communion and an agape meal.
3, The Church of Ireland,
A Service of the Word (1993): this pale green booklet was an experimental form authorised by the House of Bishops. It included an outline form of service, material that could be used in different slots, and four outline services. But the built-in danger was that people could and did opt for four worked-out services and did not work them out for themselves.
In addition to those three influences, there was a growing realisation that many parishes and clergy were devising their own services outside the approved parameters of services within the Church of Ireland … helped by advances in the manufacture of photocopiers and then the discovery of the OHP.
The Book of Common Prayer (2004) provides an outline only, and demands a lot of hard work and preparation on the part by the worship leader. It was not intended to be used straight from the book.
Should we provide service sheets?
Should we use Power Point?
Should we use an Over-Head Projector?
The Structure:
* A Liturgical Greeting
An invitation to worship
A hymn
may be sung
* Penitence
may be at this part or in Response
* Acclamation and/or A Song of Praise
Metrical forms of Canticles may be used, or a hymn may be sung
* The Collect
Those parts marked
* are considered essential to the structure of the service.
Because the service is so flexible, there is an even greater need for attention to detail.
The Preparation must include the following elements:
Some greeting of the congregation: And this should be liturgical. For example: “The Lord be with you …” But it could be a sign of peace.
Penitence: not necessarily in this place. This could be a perfect response to the Ministry of the Word. But it must be included somewhere. There is a variety of possibilities for the form of penitence, including confession and absolution, penitential kyries, and responsorial penitential prayers. But there is room to be imaginative and original.
Acclamation and/or a Song of Praise. Examples include
Sursum Corda,
Sanctus and Canticles, including
Gloria. If a time of praise is being included, this is the place for it.
Then all are drawn together with the Collect, which is about collecting all our thoughts and intentions. That links the Preparation with the Ministry of the
Word.
The Preparation is the starter, the Ministry of the Word is the main course – after all, it is the Service of the Word.
The main elements of the Ministry of the Word section are:
Readings from the Bible.
A Psalm or Scripture Song: this may precede or follow the readings. A Bible responsory may follow a reading.
The Sermon.
Then, a
Hymn may be sung.
All this may sound very traditional, but it does not mean all must be done in a traditional sort of way … quite the opposite.
Scripture readings could be presented as drama, with many voices reading, with creative interpretations of Scripture (e.g.
The Message). But the Word must come across with real power – and must never be omitted.
The place of the Psalm or Scripture Song – before or after a reading – is less important than its inclusion. But there is a variety of ways of singing or saying this: choruses, worship songs, responsorial psalms, solos, items by a music group, congregational parts …
The Sermon could be presented in different ways:
● Dialogue?
● Interview?
● Movie clip?
● Drama?
After the main course, desert is served. This is the
Response.
The Response includes:
* An affirmation of faith: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the renewal of baptismal vows, other creeds (e.g. a creed from Iona Community).
* The Prayers, including intercession, thanksgiving and (if not somewhere else) penitence.
A General Collect.
Then the whole section concludes with The Lord’s Prayer in one of its approved forms.
A
Hymn may be sung.
Our response might also include our
offering.
Then, after desert, there is the coffee:
*A Dismissal Prayer.
A Blessing.
A Salutation.
In organising and preparing, it is worth remembering:
1, There must be a recognisable structure for worship.
2, The emphasis is on the word: reading scripture, reflecting on it through the Psalms.
3, The use of liturgical words (e.g., responses known to the congregation) … it is not a coming together of individual Christians who happen to be in one place, it is
ekklesia – the assembly or gathering of those who are called out.
When should we use the Service of the Word?
When the prescribed services of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Holy Communion may not meet the needs of a particular congregation?
Family services?
All-age worship?
Where people are not book-learned?
When there is a need for a more praise-and-prayer approach?
When there is a need for a more reflective, quiet time of worship?
When there is a need a service with a specific focus, or one that is more innovative?
When it is a service aimed at people who are not regular church goers?
Where there might be a large number of non-Anglicans, or non-churchgoers, without the same liturgical tradition?
As the first part of the Holy Communion? If so, Holy Communion would then follow from the Peace.
But there are dangers.
There is the danger of producing service sheets and then losing flexibility.
There is the danger of using it all the time, and then stop realising that it depends on a liturgical tradition that must be recognised and that must live and grow.
There is the danger of not making full use of the resources available, including:
Service of the Word (Church of England).
New Patterns for Worship.
Times and Seasons.
Resources from the Iona Community, Taizé, Corrymeela … other traditions.
But you will need to look at these sensitively. For example, particular Eucharistic prayers in the Church of England are not authorised for use in the Church of Ireland. What about using the prayers for the departed in
New Patterns of Worship? And there is the added problem of making multiple copies and compounding your copyright problems.
(b) Compline:
Compline was added to
The Book of Common Prayer in the Church of Ireland in 1933 as an Appendix. By then, it was still not in the offices of the Church of England, although it was in the proposed 1928 revision of
The Book of Common Prayer in England.
In 1933, an appendix was added to
The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland, in which Compline was described as the “Second Alternative form of Evening Prayer.” The “First Alternative form of Evening Prayer” was sometimes called the “Irish Vigils” and has not been included in the 2004 book.
However, Compline should not be seen as a new service. Compline was one of the offices of the Church until the Reformation. The name comes from Latin
completorium or the completion [of the day]. The Rule of Saint Benedict (42: 8), which we looked at last Monday and in chapel again this morning, has the oldest occurrence of the term
Completorium.
This office was maintained after the Reformation in a series of private manuals of devotion, beginning with Bishop John Cosin’s
Collection of Private Devotions (1627). It was restored to use in the 20th century, first in the US and Canada, in TEC’s
Book of Offices (1914) and the
Canadian Prayer Book (1918). So, the Church of Ireland was early in the restoration of Compline.
The service has an integral unity of its own, it can be used in small groups and in family groups, and Bishop Harold Miller even suggests ‘by married couples in bed’ [p 98]. It has become so popular that a proposal by the LAC for the revision of this service in the 1970s was rejected by the General Synod.
It is now well-loved, perhaps because of its beautiful imagery: ‘Brethren, be sober, be vigilant …’ ‘O Let no evil dreams be near …’ or asking God to keep me as the ‘apple of his eye’ to ‘guard us while sleeping’ and to ‘let thy holy angels dwell’ in our homes.
Late Evening Office:
This is a totally new office in the
Alternative Prayer Book (1984). It did not receive a trial period of use before its introduction. Yet it too quickly became popular. It was written by Dean Gilbert Mayes of Lismore, and is based on an order in use in Taizé, published in French in 1971 and in English in 1975.
It has a simple structure:
● An opening blessing of God.
● A prayer for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
●
Trisagion or
Sanctus, Holy, Holy, Holy, and the Canticle
Ecce Nunc (Psalm 134) or another suitable psalm.
● A New Testament reading.
●
Nunc Dimittis or a hymn.
● Prayer in short litany form, with responses: [
note] Lord have mercy and Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
The introduction of LEO was innovative in a number of ways, including the rubric allowing open prayer and silent prayer. It is an important departure because of its recognitions. But there is a need when you are using it to make clear as leader whether the congregation is entering a time of open prayer or silent prayer.
It concludes with appropriate prayer (Collect, the Lord’s Prayer) and a Blessing.
LEO does not work well if it is stretched out with too many hymns or with a long sermon in the middle.
(c) The Litany:
A litany is a set of short biddings or petitions followed by fixed responses or a series of fixed responses.
There are two forms of the Litany in
The Book of Common Prayer: the form found in the 1926
Book of Common Prayer (with revisions to remove political anachronisms) and the form from the 1984
Alternative Prayer Book. But litanies date right back to the early church. Think of:
Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison …
The earliest litany in the West was translated from the Greek by Pope Gelasius I (492-496). Later forms included the litany of the saints, which became popular in the 7th century.
The following elements of litany are charted by Paul Bradshaw (
Companion to Common Worship, 2001):
● An Introductory
Kyrie, followed by invocations of the Holy Trinity, with the response ‘Lord have mercy upon us.’
● The invocation of the saints.
● The deprecations: supplications for deliverance through recalling various events in Christ’s life, with the response, ‘deliver us, Lord.’
● The obsecrations – supplications through various events in Christ’s life, with the response, ‘we beseech you to hear us.’
● Concluding devotions to the Cross and to Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God.
The litany was the very first service translated from Latin into English by Cranmer at the Reformation. It was first published in 1544, with a famous prayer for deliverance from the Bishop of Rome and his ‘detestable abnormities’; and with the invocations of the saints reduced in number to three in 1544 and then removed in 1549.
The contemporary language Litany is on p 175 ff, with the main headings and shape preserved in the same order today.
● Section 1: simple invocations to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the response is “have mercy on us”
● Section 2: supplications for deliverance …
The use of the Litany:
The use of the Litany is suggested on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. At one time it was often used once a month on Sundays with Matins or Evensong. But it seemed lengthy and tedious.
The Book of Common Prayer (2004) recommends its use on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, particularly in Advent, Lent and Rogation Days. It is good to use when we take things seriously.
The Mystical Supper by Michael Damaskinos … over 100 pages in ‘The Book of Common Prayer’ are devoted to collects and post-communion prayers
(3a) The Collects:
Over 100 pages in
The Book of Common Prayer (2004) (pp 241-337) are given over to the collects and post-communion prayers. They were first published in a small booklet a few years before
The Book of Common Prayer was published in 2004.
Many of the collects in
The Book of Common Prayer are popular, and well-loved. They are drawn from a wide range of sources, from Cranmer’s collects to modern collects, including some that were written specially for the
Alternative Prayer Book (1984).
What is a collect? A collect is a short prayer, focussing our thoughts on a particular day or a particular theme.
The First Collect is a collect of a particular occasion (e.g. The Collect of the First Sunday of Advent).
The Second Collect usually has a particular focus (The Collect for Purity, the Collect for aid against all perils).
When a collect is described by its place in a service it is the collect at the particular service (e.g., the Second Collect at Morning Prayer).
What is the function of a collect? Most of our Collects frame our prayers in strong Biblical ways, sometimes in direct Biblical language. They can often remind us of the paucity of our own prayers.
If used properly, systematically and regularly, the collects provide memorable prayers. Some examples include: ‘Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee O Lord …’
Or: ‘O God who art the author of peace and lover of concord …’
Or again, the collect of last Sunday: ‘… read, mark, learn and inwardly digest …’ Or, ‘Prevent us O Lord …’
‘Go before us O Lord ...’
What is the structure of a collect?
A collect contains:
1, An address to God
2, A relative or particular clause referring to some attribute of God or to one of his saving acts
3, The petition
4, The reason for which we ask
5, The conclusion
Sometimes, part 2 and/or part 4 are dispensed with, simplifying the structure of a collect. But, whether or not they are omitted, a collect still needs to be well constructed.
An example, at the Collect for Purity at the beginning of the Holy Communion service (p 201):
1, Almighty God: How we address God is worth attending to; we might simply say ‘God,’ or ‘Father’ or ‘Lord.’ We might be more elaborate, addressing him as ‘Almighty God,’ or ‘Heavenly Father.’
Normally collects are addressed to first person of the Trinity, but there are exceptions: for example, the collect of the 3rd Sunday of Advent opens: ‘O Lord Jesus Christ …’ Sometimes the injunction precedes the address to God: ‘Stir up, we beseech thee …’
2, ‘to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden …’ The collect goes on, in this example, to express our dependency on God.
3, ‘cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit …’ This is the petition, the heart of the matter … what we are asking God to do.
4, ‘that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name …’ This is the reason for asking God do the things we have mentioned in the petition.
5, ‘…through Christ our Lord, Amen.’ As we saw last week in our discussion of the Trinity and worship, Christian prayer is supposed to be addressed to the Father, in the power of the Spirit, and in name of Christ. Ideally, and generally, it should have a traceable Trinitarian movement.
Where do our collects come from?
At Holy Communion, Collects 1 and 2 are often a reworking of traditional language collects.
Advent 1: dates to 1549.
Advent 2: traditionally we had used the Collect associated with Bible Sunday on Advent 2. What we now use as the traditional-form collect on Advent 2 is a Collect once used on Advent 4, and that comes from the
Sarum Missal. But the new collect comes from
Celebrating Common Prayer (1992).
Advent 3: the collect was written for the 1662
Book of Common Prayer by John Cosin (1594-1672), Bishop of Durham.
Advent 4: the traditional-language collect for this Sunday was written in 1549, and was originally used on Advent 3. The contemporary language collect reflects a new focus on Virgin Mary in Advent. The collect comes from the Church of England’s
Promise of his Glory (1990).
A page at the end of this section in
The Book of Common Prayer gives the sources.
How are collects used in the liturgies?
We use collects in every Holy Communion service, in every service of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, and in every Service of the Word.
But they are used in different ways.
In Holy Communion 1, Holy Communion 2 and Service of the Word, the collect acts as a kind of hinge between the Gathering or Introductory material and the Proclaiming and Receiving of the Word. We are now focusing down into prayer and the congregation is preparing for the Ministry of the Word.
It often helps for the congregation to be quiet for a moment before the collect. And so, on occasion, the collect may be introduced with a few carefully chosen, short words.
During the Seasons, there is a general thematic connection between the readings and the collects, with the readings and collects chosen to fit the particular Sunday of the year. In Ordinary Time (Green), the collects and readings run on different tracks, and have no necessary connection with each other.
In Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, the Collect of the Day is used as one of the two or three collects after the Lord’s Prayer and, when they are used, after the Versicles and Responses. The function of the collect here is to begin our prayers, which then widen out to more specific concerns.
In Daily Prayer (Weekdays) [see pp 136 ff], the Collect of the Day is used in a different way. Instead of leading into the intercessions, it becomes the prayer that rounds off the intercessions before the Lord’s Prayer.
Post-Communion Prayers:
Professor David Frost, speaking under a portrait of Archbishop John Bramhall of Armagh in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge … the author of Post-Communion Prayers used by the Church of Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The provision of one Post-Communion Prayer for each occasion is relatively new. Previously, there was a very limited selection of Post-Communion Prayers. Then, in 1984, the
Alternative Prayer Book provided some Post-Communion Prayers that became very popular. For example, ‘Father of all, we give you thanks and praise …’ This was written by Professor David Frost, until recently the Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge, who also compiled the Psalter for the
Alternative Prayer Book.
Another of these popular Post-Communion Prayers from the
Alternative Prayer Book is: ‘Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us …’
These Post-Communion Prayers show a rich and varied way of addressing God, and they are drawn from the rich range of Biblical language:
● Light eternal,
● God of glory,
● Generous God,
● God of tender care,
● God our Creator,
● God of hope,
● God of our pilgrimage.
The sources for these Post-Communion Prayers are varied too. One comes from the liturgy of Malabar (Trinity 8): ‘Strengthen for Service, Lord, the hands that holy things have taken …’
The prayer for Maundy Thursday is associated in the Roman Catholic tradition with Corpus Christi, but its use in the Anglican tradition goes back to the
Scottish Prayer Book (1929).
The Risen Christ and the Four Evangelists in John Piper’s window in Saint John’s, Lichfield … the Lectionary provides for readings from all four Gospels in different years and seasons (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
(3b) The Lectionary:
[See Harold Miller, Chapter 2 (pp 35-46).]
Why do we use a lectionary? And what are the sources for the Lectionary?
Cranmer was anxious to provide Old Testament and New Testament readings for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer every day.
The
Revised Common Lectionary emphasises need to have Old Testament, New Testament and Gospel readings available, along with a Psalm. The roots of the
RCL are in a rediscovery of the meaning of the Liturgy of the Word both in the Liturgical Movement of the last century and at Vatican II.
The lectionary is based on having three readings and a psalm, over a three-year period. This is the value of story-telling rather than a thematic approach. You could compare the impact of the lectionary readings with a soap opera. We can enter at any time, and catch on quickly to what the main characters are doing and how they interact with each other.
Year A: Saint Matthew
Year B: Saint Mark
Year C: Saint Luke
Saint John’s Gospel, then, is used for the high points.
In essence, it is a Eucharistic lectionary.
There are exceptions, so that sometimes there is a thematic approach:
● The Second Sunday before Lent: the creation theme is an alternative.
● Sunday before Lent: Transfiguration theme.
● Sunday between 23 and 29 October (last Sunday, 23 October 2016): Bible Sunday theme.
● Sunday between 20 and 16 November: the Kingship of Christ.
Other exceptions and variations include:
● The first reading during Eastertide is from the Acts of the Apostles.
● The major festivals of Christmas are provided with readings not according to Years A, B and C, but Series I, II and III.
Some questions:
How do you feel about readings from the Apocrypha?
Which versions of the Bible can we – and should we – use (p 26 gives a gentle hint that we should use the New Revised Standard Version)?
Why are weekday readings not provided?
The Book of Common Prayer (p 26) allows for occasional diversity from the lectionary during Ordinary Time, but is there a danger or a benefit in allowing variation from set readings?
What are the pitfalls in following the
Church of Ireland Directory?
There is not complete ecumenical acceptance of the lectionary, and there are some variations among Roman Catholics, or even between Anglican churches.
Next:
5.2: Traditions of Prayer (2): seminar, readings on Reformation prayer, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Jewell, Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrewes.
Richard H Schmidt,
Glorious Companions: Five Centuries of Anglican Spirituality (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
Philip Sheldrake,
A Brief History of Spirituality (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007).
Gordon Wakefield (ed),
A Dictionary of Christian Spirituality (London: SCM, 1999).
Next week (3 November 2016):
6.1: The nature and theology of sacraments;
6.2: Traditions of prayer (3): seminar, patterns of prayer today (including all-age worship, participation of children in worship, worship and youth).
(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism, Liturgy and Church History, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This lecture on 27 October 2016 was part of the Module TH 8824: Liturgy, Worship and Spirituality on the MTh course.
