Ship of Fools: How to Use Common Worship:Daily Prayer?

Thread: How to Use Common Worship:Daily Prayer? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by A Sojourner (# 17776) on :

Not that long ago I started using the Daily Prayer website for the three Offices as a way of spending time with God and to read the Bible in a structured way.

However, it is internet-only so when I saw a copy of the book "Common Worship:Daily Prayer" for 75p in WH Smith I bought it, hoping to be able to do the Offices off-line. I also bought this year's lectionary.

My question though is how do you use the book? There are many ribbons, do the colours signify anything and where would you put them to mark which bits?

Also the book gives a far greater selection of canticles then the website uses, would you use these extra ones? And how would you go about using them (changing every day of week)?

Finally, is there any extra material on-line (or to purchase off-line) that you would think makes Daily Prayer better. Obviously I would like to get a hang of the book before adding anything but any suggestions would be useful?

As would any comments, hints or any other wisdom you may wish to impart to this thread... [Smile]

Posted by Gamaliel (# 812) on :

I don't know the answers to A Sojourner's questions, but I'd be interested to see them when they arrive.

I've sort of worked out my own rough daily office with lectionary readings but wonder whether there might be some patterns that might work better.

Posted by AngloCatholicGirl (# 16435) on :

CW:Daily Prayer takes a little getting used to, but once I got into the flow of it I really appreciated the way it takes you through the litugical year.

Firstly, A Sojourner, don't stress about the ribbons, they are simply there for your convenience to mark up any pages you need to turn to during prayer e.g. I will always mark up the psalm using the black ribbon, but that's my choice so I can turn straight to the day's psalm. I would recommend that you burn the end of each ribbon even if you don't intend to use them as they fray at the slightest provocation.

Likewise, don't worry about the extra canticles at the end of the book, every canticle you need is in that day's prayer, they are just all listed for reference at the end and some prayer days will give you an alternative canticle But this is completely up to you, you do not need to use them in your daily cycle of prayer

As we are in ordinary time, I would recommend just using the daily settings on page 113 on. Get into the habit of using each days prayer - and as you're also using the lectionary, say that days Psalm where the rubrics say psalmody and the two scripture readings where indicated.

I honestly wouldn't worry about anything else to start with, once you feel 'at home' with the cycle, you can start adding things in (like a different collect and therefore use more of those ribbons).

I really value daily prayer, but it took me a long time to work out all the extras. I guess what I'm saying is don't stress! All the extras are there for you but you don't have to use them.

I hope this helpful!

Posted by Oblatus (# 6278) on :

quote:
Originally posted by A Sojourner:
As would any comments, hints or any other wisdom you may wish to impart to this thread...

Nothing except to say welcome and thank you for starting this thread on my favourite topic (the Divine Office, daily prayer, breviaries, psalters, etc.).
[Overused]

Posted by Amos (# 44) on :

I remember going to a CME Day led by Bishop Andrew Burnham on CW Daily Prayer when it was still in its preliminary paperback form. He suggested fastening beads, crosses, or other religious charms to the ends of the ribbons.

CW Daily Prayer does have a lot in it. Here, we go through the seasons, and then, in Ordinary Time, go through the weekday order. You'll need a lectionary to get the psalm for the day, and the lectionary ought to tell you when there's a saint's day, which is likely to have a collect, and possibly a suggested canticle and prefatory sentence for the Benedictus and the Magnificat. There's a Litany, which we use on Fridays here, and there are different forms of intercession which come in useful sooner or later.

It will take you a little while to find your way around the book--daily use will speed this up.

I shall be thinking of you, Sojourner, when I open my copy this morning.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

I love it! I was used to the RC breviary and I'm aware of the Orthodox use of the office and I use elements from them - I won't spell it out as it would confuse you.

Personally I think two readings morning and evening except on feast days is too much and I only use one reading (NT in morning and OT in evening).

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

If you really managed to find a complete and undamaged copy of Daily Prayer for 75p, that must be bargain of the year. Although it's accessible for free on the web and can also be downloaded free in pdf, the book version usually costs at least £15 and possibly <£20. I'd almost be inclined to interpret that as a blessing intended to prompt you to use it.

As to how, I'd endorse what AngloCatholicGirl says. Also, treat it as a rule of life rather than a set of laws. You need to allow space for you to speak to God and him to speak to you, rather than to think 'I must get through the office come what may, otherwise the day will go badly'. That is superstition.

I'd personally disagree with Venbede about skipping some of the readings. If anything, possibly skip the office psalm at the beginning or if there is more than one psalm prescribed in the lectionary, replace the office psalm with some of the prescribed psalmody.

However, it's better to read one passage thoughtfully, than gabble through two in your head.

[ 30. July 2013, 15:49: Message edited by: Enoch ]

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
. You need to allow space for you to speak to God and him to speak to you, rather than to think 'I must get through the office come what may, otherwise the day will go badly'. That is superstition.

Not necessarily superstition. I’d say that for two reasons:

A I have just been through nine months of the most serious health crisis of my adult life, including a major operation. I have often know days of severe anxiety, depression or fear. I continued to say the daily office and often, nearly every day in the weeks before the operation, I would experience a totally unlooked for experience of hope and joy. It wasn’t the words of the office, if I noticed them, but entering into something bigger than myself, maybe the love and power of God embodied in Christian tradition.

B Not superstition – self discipline.

Although it’s not always possible to say a full office with other commitments, and it’s not something everyone loves as much as I.

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

I had a go at the draft version of CW Daily Prayer when it came out and I actually rather liked it. That is significant coming from yours truly who is usually a diehard BCP Office man. I found I dropped into the habit of reading it more or less 'straight' with relative few of the complicating options - basically just the major seasonal variations - simply because I do not like to have to think too hard about what I am going to read.

I found that I tended to drop into the habit of using the Benedictus at MP and the Magnificat at EP. After a while I found that I tended to drop Noon Prayer simply because the format did not appeal to me, but Compline - oops, soory, Night Prayer - tended to get read.

The main thing is not to worry about getting things wrong. In typical C of E manner, what is required is stated simply and firmly, and the rest is optional. It has been the only part of CW that has impressed me, unlike the Eucharistic liturgy, which, on the rare occasions I encounter it seems to be a little fussy/disjointed/muddled/something...

Cheers,
PD

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Common Worship: Daily Prayer is a direct descendant of Celebrating Common Prayer which has Franciscan roots.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

For some people, the virtue of the traditional Anglican office has been the substantial scripture readings. Others find it too heavy a diet. No problem: find what you are comfortable with and keep with it. The practical problem is that you need either a printed lectionary or an online one, plus a bible, as well as the actual office book. It would be good if the book itself could include a schedule of psalms (it already includes a short scripture reading for each day in the 'prayer during the day' section) so that it would be easier to use when travelling.

Other than that I find it an ideal form of the office. Some of the introductory prayers plus the extra opening psalm make for a bit too much wordiness, but you don't have to use them.

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :

It takes I think years to grow into the daily office. I was introduced to it as I moved up the candle thirty years ago, jettisoning Scripture Union "daily readings with circumscribed questions and answers" but not for many years growing into a love of the office. The readings are a little long, but to be honest that's only Readers Digest me getting impatient with being still in the presence of God for a while. A said office only takes about 20 minutes and these days I find it a pleasantly focussing way to start the day.

I admit the evening office has never really worked for me - the call of family duties usually means that half an hour in the church at peak meal/bath dog/chook/horse-feeding whatever time (depending on which of the last 30 years of family-rearing we refer to!) means that to the partner in the home the evening office can often be just an irritation making sure I eschew the evening crises.

I love compline - but usually use it only at conferences. By 8.00 p.m. I'm too buggered to be holy at home.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Zappa:
By 8.00 p.m. I'm too buggered to be holy at home.

Or too holy to be buggered. [Biased]

Posted by Carys (# 78) on :

I use all the ribbons and in fact want more. Colours aren't significant; our church copies have the colours in different orders so I've gone for order through book to stop them twisting up together over colours consistency.
First is in office for the day/season
2nd is in the intercessions bit (ideally would have 2 for this, 1 in cycle of prayer and 1 in a form of words) Least used.
3rd is in Sunday collect
4th is in saint's collect
5th and 6th are for psalms. In ordinary time one is for most days as we go through the 7 week cycle and other is for psalm 119 which occurs on a Wednesday alternating between MP and EP. Which is which depends on whether other days are lower or higher than 119. In seasonal times I use both as often multiple psalms are non consecutive.

As well as an extra in intercessions I'd like 1 for canticles in case I decide to use one of the alternatives suggested on a saint's day.

I also have 4 bookmarks in the Bible I use for MP OT, MP NT, EP OT and EP NT. If it's a day that interrupts the nearly continuous reading I'll justified them when needed so the Next day marks are still in continuous places.

Carys

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

quote:
Originally posted by A Sojourner:

My question though is how do you use the book? There are many ribbons, do the colours signify anything and where would you put them to mark which bits?

I’ll refer mainly to Morning and Evening Prayer.

You can use the ribbons however you find helpful, eg one in the current office, one in the psalms and one in the collect of the day. I find they get frayed and use a lot of postcards, but I use more fiddly bits.

If you find the material confusing you could follow the basic option, ie you can just use the material with a red line beside it, - Opening response, psalms, reading’s gospel canticle, prayers, collect (jus the one printed in the main office if you find looking up another distracting), Lord’s Prayer, final blessing.

quote:
Originally posted by A Sojourner:
Also the book gives a far greater selection of canticles then the website uses, would you use these extra ones? And how would you go about using them (changing every day of week)?

Personallly, I tend to use the OT canticles as in the Benedcitine breviary followed by the praise psalms (148, 149 or 150), as in Benedictine practice and then only one reading.

quote:
Originally posted by A Sojourner:
As would any comments, hints or any other wisdom you may wish to impart to this thread...

In Night Prayer I don’t use the weekday and seasonal alternatives: traditionally Compline was invariable.
Midday Prayer is arranged as an outline for private prayer, as far as I can make out, as an alternative to Morning and Evening Prayer.

[ 31. July 2013, 08:10: Message edited by: venbede ]

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

PS Canticles - how don't have to use any apart from the gospel canticles (Benedictus and Magnificat) - see the basic outline above.

Posted by Mama Thomas (# 10170) on :

I don't think the print version takes THAT long to get used to. It's far easier than many others out there.

At first, I loathed the suggestions that the readings come together one after the other but soon learned to love this position very much.

I've been doing the online edition with fairly recently has rearranged the structure to be Lesson-Canticle-Lesson-Canticle a la BCP rather than the more straightforward and ecumenical: psalms-canticle-lesson-lesson-responsory, as is printed in the Daily Prayer.

As with all prayer books, I've found the never have enough markers or ribbons or cards and have had to add more to facilitate flipping.

It's a wonderful method of prayer and almost anyway you do it is "correct" according to some scheme or other. Just start praying. Soon it will become second nature.

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :

I agree that it's good that you're starting in ordinary time which means you can go through each day as it comes.

I use my markers in an order that makes sense of how they are bound into the book. In my book yellow marks the place in the office I am currently using. Red goes in the collect for the day, blue goes in the collect for the current/next festival. Black sits in the canticles for when I want to use an alternative canticle, and green and purple are used for the psalms. I also have a paper marker in p. 109 for the Thanksgivings which I sometimes use in place of the invitatory psalm. If I had other markers I might put one in the intercessions.

For starting I would simply use the plain bog-standard choice of canticles etc. offered within each day's office. On festival days you will sometimes see a specific seasonal office is suggested, and responsories for the Gospel canticles (Benedictus and Magnificat). Use them if you find it helpful.

Once you get into the routine and are familiar with the regular offering then, from time to time, you may want to vary the canticle of the day, or use a prayer of Thanksgiving or even one of the forms of penitence which are provided.

You may find it a helpful discipline to put the marker ribbons in for each office at the end of the preceding office, or you may find the 'marking up' of each office a helpful quietening preliminary to prayer.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Mama Thomas:

I've been doing the online edition with fairly recently has rearranged the structure to be Lesson-Canticle-Lesson-Canticle a la BCP rather than the more straightforward and ecumenical: psalms-canticle-lesson-lesson-responsory, as is printed in the Daily Prayer.

Whenever I've attended a said Daily Prayer service in church, they've always done OT reading - canticle - NT reading. They are still thinking of the BCP. A pity the online version is following the same order. (Even if I use two readings, I read them after the psalmody, and in the morning include the canticle with the psalms with a praise psalm afterwards.)

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

I'd have to look, but I'm sure the order of OT reading, canticle, NT reading is one of the options given at the beginning of CW:DP. It's definitely an option in CCP.

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

When I am using CW:DO - which is admittedly fairly rare - I tend to go psalm, OT, responsory, NT, Gospel Canticle...

but that's just me

PD

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
I'd have to look, but I'm sure the order of OT reading, canticle, NT reading is one of the options given at the beginning of CW:DP. It's definitely an option in CCP.

It's certainly an option. But so is having the readings after the psalmody and canticle. Which is what I use and would prefer. As I said, I've never experienced it in public worship.

Posted by AngloCatholicGirl (# 16435) on :

quote:
Originally posted by venbede:

quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
I'd have to look, but I'm sure the order of OT reading, canticle, NT reading is one of the options given at the beginning of CW:DP. It's definitely an option in CCP.
It's certainly an option. But so is having the readings after the psalmody and canticle. Which is what I use and would prefer. As I said, I've never experienced it in public worship.

Both are indeed options, one of the things I love about CW:DP is its flexibility. Mind you, it does mean that if you go to Morning or Evening prayer elsewhere, it can seem like a completely different liturgy even though the same prayer book is being used [Big Grin]

Posted by Carys (# 78) on :

quote:
Originally posted by venbede:

quote:
Originally posted by Mama Thomas:

I've been doing the online edition with fairly recently has rearranged the structure to be Lesson-Canticle-Lesson-Canticle a la BCP rather than the more straightforward and ecumenical: psalms-canticle-lesson-lesson-responsory, as is printed in the Daily Prayer.

Whenever I've attended a said Daily Prayer service in church, they've always done OT reading - canticle - NT reading. They are still thinking of the BCP. A pity the online version is following the same order. (Even if I use two readings, I read them after the psalmody, and in the morning include the canticle with the psalms with a praise psalm afterwards.)

I'm glad the online version has shifted to lesson canticle lesson gospel canticle because that's what I do. But maybe having it as option one can choose would be better.

Carys

Posted by A Sojourner (# 17776) on :

Thanks for all the replies, they have been most useful.

One further question: If you wish to continue the MP/EP cycle on Sunday what readings would you use?

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :

There isn't a prescription for what you should use. Sundays are not part of the weekday cycle of readings. The printed version of the CW Lectionary, which includes readings for Sundays and the Eucharist, hints that you should use the Sunday Third Service readings for MP, and the Second Service Readings for EP. If, however, I was in a setting which meant I couldn't attend Sunday worship I'd probably choose to use Psalm and readings from the Principal Service Lectionary for the Sunday in question.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

The Sunday readings and psalms are very unsatisfactory, particularly the third service used as a preparation for the eucharist later in the morning.

I use psalms and canticle from the Benedictine breviary (93, 100, 63, Benedicite, 150) and readings from the first service, although I will be hearing them later at church.

Or you could use the short reading from Prayer during the Day.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

More often than not, the church I go to on a Sunday morning uses only two of the three readings at the Eucharist. Hence I will use the other one at Morning Prayer. One reading is enough when church takes up so much time.

I usually use the short Prayer during the Day reading at Evening Prayer each day.

Posted by Olaf (# 11804) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
More often than not, the church I go to on a Sunday morning uses only two of the three readings at the Eucharist.

They do realize that on an average Sunday, cutting a reading saves a whopping 50 seconds or so, right?

One particular reductionist pastor I dealt with in the past was trying to get our service down to sixty minutes. Although I am highly in favor of sixty minutes as opposed to seventy-five, he tried to go about it the wrong way: cutting a reading, the Psalm, the Great Thanksgiving, the Creed. Time savings? Six minutes. Experiment fail.

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