I’ve shortened my morning prayers and vespers to make them more appropriate for use alone, and brief enough to read before and after work. I’ve take out the provision for readings and all but the fixed psalms (and after looking for a portable New Testament and Psalter!) so I can use the one book. But… Continue reading A source of daily readings
Category: Daily prayer
Micro-alterations in liturgy
One of the principles I brought into my morning and evening prayer practice is that I would read the prayers as printed until became accustomed to them. I would borrow their voice and let it become mine as I learned the internal logic of the services. I refused to be trapped by my own sensibility:… Continue reading Micro-alterations in liturgy
A prayer at eventide
I’ve moved from a traditional Universalist prayerbook’s evening prayer to vespers — a related service, but very different in structure and tone — because it is more meditative, more focused on the night, and night as a foreshadow of death. But considering death then turns us back to life, so the experience isn’t gloomy, but… Continue reading A prayer at eventide
Daily prayer: “I will pray for you” (and mean it)
“I will pray for you” and its secularized version “I’m thinking of you” are still lively expressions of concern, and often deeply valued by the person thought of or prayed for. Friends have approached me, asking for prayer, only last week. “Of course,” I said. And I mean it, and I have a plan to… Continue reading Daily prayer: “I will pray for you” (and mean it)
Different ways to “sing” the psalm
Each evening, for vespers, I “sing” the Bonum Est Confiteri, Prasm 92:1-4 as it read in the rubrics, and included in the Coverdale version: ¶ Then shall be sang the following Psalm: Bonum Est Confiteri. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord: and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most… Continue reading Different ways to “sing” the psalm
Evening prayer alterations: Prayer for the President
Twice a day now, I pray for the President of the United States and others “in civil authority” as part of my morning and evening prayer practice. It is not only a hallowed practice, but one that gets its warrant in the same breath as a testimony made for universal salvation, namely 1 Timothy 2:1-4:… Continue reading Evening prayer alterations: Prayer for the President
Morning and evening prayer for myself
For the last week or so I’ve been praying an abridged version of Universalist morning and evening prayer (evening prayer, rather than the morning prayer and vespers PDF I posted) at home. Abridged in that I don’t read out the dialogues, opening words or anything to direct the congregation. No hymns and obviously no sermon.… Continue reading Morning and evening prayer for myself
A review of the daily office in 500 words
So many thoughtful and talented people have written so well about the development of the daily office, or the Christian duty of daily prayer, that it’s folly for me to do so in brief. Indeed, you may want to stop here and get a copy of George Guiver’s 2001 Company of Voices: Daily Prayer and… Continue reading A review of the daily office in 500 words
New “Union Prayer Book” and old “Parish Practice” arrived today
I’ll keep this brief because I came home feeling not-so-well today. Two books that I had ordered arrived: the hot-off-the-presses new addition of the Union Prayer Book, Sinai Edition, Revised And a used copy of Parish Practice in Universalist Churches, by Robert Cummins. The first is a modern adaptation of a classic Reform Jewish prayer… Continue reading New “Union Prayer Book” and old “Parish Practice” arrived today
Two more Universalist worship books at Google Books
Two more books for your reference; both may be downloaded as PDFs. Cantica Sacra, something of a sung daily prayer resource from the New England Universalist Publishing House (1865) A Book of Services and Responsive Readings: Used at St. Paul’s Church, Chicago, which has a liturgical fragment of interest — more about that later. (1891)