Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer Explained

I have been asked by a few people how to pray with the Book of Common Prayer. Most recently my friend Paul from Philadelphia purchased it and asked me about it. I searched a bit for a website providing an easy to follow outline but I couldn’t find one, so I have taken on the task. Below you will find simple (hopefully) instructions on how to pray the Morning Office. I will offer a brief explanation of how to pray the morning office, how I pray the morning office (showing the flexibility of the BCP) and a look at the traditional way to pray the morning office.

Introduction
Before I began let me offer a few brief introductory explanations. First the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is an Anglican prayer book. It offers prayers, both ancient and modern, to help guide communal and individual worship. Each nation has their own local book of payer and the BCP is the American book of prayer. These prayer books are revised every so often and I will be describing prayer from the 1979 BCP, which is the current version and the one most easily accessible. There are two different types of morning prayer (Rite One and Rite Two). The major difference between the two is that one is written in old english and the other in modern english. I will be describing Rite Two, which is in modern english.

Definitions
“Morning Office” – We call the morning prayer liturgy the Morning Office. “Office” simply means work and this implies that prayer is not passive, but an active interaction with God and our community.
“Officiant”and “People” – The morning office was designed to be prayed in community and thus there are instructions for an “Officiant” or leader and the “People”. However when praying alone, one assumes both roles.
“Rubric” - A rubric is an instruction to the reader that is not meant to be read out loud. These are in smaller, italicized type.
“Antiphon” – A response which was chanted in monasteries. Today it usually just spoken.
“Canticle” – A biblical passage that was originally a song. Mary’s Song (Luke 2) is a good example of this.
“Suffrage” – A series of short prayers read in a call and response manner.
“Collect” – A prayer that focuses on the theme of the day or season.
“General or Authorized Intercession” – Spontaneous prayer…the type of prayer most evangelicals are used to.

Brief Explanation
The Morning Office begins on page 75 of the BCP. Our prayer time begins with opening sentence from scripture that is based upon the current season. Since we will be in the season of Epiphany starting tomorrow, turn to page 76 and pray any sentence under the Epiphany heading. Next, we move to the Confession of Sin found on page 79. One may either say the entire paragraph or simply, “Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor”. After a period of silent confession, recite the confession paragraph. Then turn the page and pronounce the absolution (declaring what Jesus has already done) found on the top of page 80. Don’t forget to substitute “I” or “us” for “you”.

After this introductory section, we now move into a time of worship through the Psalter. A short response from Psalm 51:15 is recited, “Lord open our lips”, “And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.” Then the Gloria (“Glory to the Father…”) is said. After this an antiphon or short prayer, is said based upon the season. Find the one said during Epiphany on the top of page 81. After that is said, turn the page and pray either the Venite or Jubilate (rotating each day). You may then return to the antiphon prayed on 81 and repeat it or move on to the psalm (depending on local custom).

At this point one is instructed to read passages of Scripture. Feel free to devise your own reading schedule, including the Psalms (see below for an example). Upon completing the scripture reading turn to page 96 and proclaim your faith with the Apostles Creed (I will explain pages 85-95 in the traditional explanation).

After this comes the section on Prayer. While the entire morning office is a prayer, this section focuses on intercession. It begins with the Lord’s Prayer and then two sets of short sentence prayers (Suffrage A and Suffrage B – pgs 97-98). Feel free to alternate each day. After this a Collect of the Day (a themed prayer for the day) is prayed. You will notice that there are enough prayers for each day of the week. I usually pray the “Collect for the Renewal of Life” on Mondays, the “Collect for Peace” on Tuesdays, etc. But feel free to mix it up as well.

There are then three different prayers for mission on pages 100-101, which can be rotated. The morning office then closes with either the prayer of “General Thanksgiving” (pg 101) or “A Prayer of St. Chrysostom” (pg 102). After that there are three different general blessings that may be pronounced. And that is that. You made it through the Morning Office. Total time w/o scripture reading = 10 minutes.

My Morning Prayer
Rather then repeat what is above, I will point out the liberties I take with the Morning Office to show a few ways in which it can be adapted. I am a strange mix of high church liturgy, charismatic worship and evangelical study, but I am able to squeeze all that into the morning office without it feeling forced. I usually begin my time in silence in order to quiet my heart and mentally process some of the things I encountered the day before. We have so little time to reflect that I take some time to do that. If I am unable to be quiet, that is ok because I apparently needed to process things. Other times I will listen to a worship song to take my eyes off myself and put them on God. It depends on where I am at internally. After some time I begin as directed above.

If I am praying with others I always split up the Gloria (pg 80). The Leader will pray, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit”, with the People responding, “as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.” I also split up the Seasonal Antiphon (pgs 80-81). For example, in Epiphany the Leader would pray, “The Lord has shown forth his glory” and the People respond, “Come let us adore him”. Then as we pray the Venite or Jubilate, I have us pray it responsively, breaking at the asterisk. After the Venite or Jubilate, I go back to the Seasonal Antiphon and pray that responsively.

When it comes to scripture reading I try and mix reading large chunks of scripture with a few short passages for meditation. I keep a journal of the passages I read and either directly copy a verse or reflect on each passage I read. I do this in order to take my reading beyond intellectual exercise. I begin by reading three Psalms slowly and a Proverb. I then read a chapter out of the OT. I am currently going through the minor prophets. Here I look for general themes of God’s covenant faithfulness. After that I read a chapter from a NT Epistle. Since I cycle through the letters (Romans-Revelation) and its the beginning of my reading schedule, I am in Romans. After that I read a passage from one of the Gospels (currently John). I try and be more meditative with the Gospels. Sometimes I read an entire chapter and other times it’s just a few verses.

I respond to my time in the Word with the Apostles Creed and the Prayers (96-97). Sometimes instead of the Collect of the Day I will read the Collect of the Season (pg 214). I then read a prayer for mission. At this point I usually plug in my headphones and listen to song or two to help me pray. I usually do the charismatic pace and take some time to pray for my family, friends and the parish. When I feel “led” to stop, I end with one of the closing prayers (pg 101-102) and go off on my day.

Traditional Morning Prayer
Coming tomorrow…