Pray without ceasing

7 March 2023

Church buildings are, first and foremost, places where people gather together to pray. How many days per week is there an advertised opportunity to gather for prayer in your local church?

In very many parishes, the answer is “one – on Sundays.” So let me be blunt – especially if yours is a single-centre parish, one is not good enough.

“Once a week church” is not Anglican. The preface to the Book of Common Prayer is pretty clear:

“And the Curate that ministereth in every Parish-Church or Chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the same [Morning and Evening Prayer] in the Parish-Church or Chapel where he ministereth, and shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin, that the people may come to hear God’s Word, and to pray with him.”

It was a key part of Thomas Cranmer’s vision that the daily reading and praying of Scripture should be the touch-stone of Christian community life. The priest is to set the example, but the people are to be encouraged to join her or him in daily devotion.

For those seeking to offer a style of Anglican worship and community that is at the more “Catholic” end of the spectrum, the daily office provides a touchstone of daily prayer that places the local worshipping community into a continuity of prayer with the whole church across time and place. What this might look like in 2023 will certainly be different from what it might have looked like in 1549 or even 1662. However the principle of there being a daily opportunity for priest and people to pray together has much to commend it, and can even be the thing that leads to growth not only in piety and vision but also in numbers.

As with the Sunday Eucharist, consistency is a key word here. In practice, in the busyness of contemporary life a vicar can easily find themselves “reasonably hindered” from being able to be present at a set time twice every day. I have found that unless a parish is multi-staffed or has a number of very engaged lay people who are prepared to take responsibility, it is best to programme only one advertised service per day – perhaps Morning Prayer – as a “minimum offer”. Morning Prayer can be led by a lay person if for some reason no priest is available (or even if they are!) As resources and scheduling allow, Evening Prayer or even a daily Eucharist may be added in to the mix, or not, as works best in each parish. In my own ministry, for example, for purely practical reasons Evening Prayer has usually been something I have said alone as my schedule allows. If I cannot reasonably guarantee that someone will be there to lead a service I don’t want to put it on the notice board.

Daily Prayer performs three important functions in a parish. First, it gets the doors open. Do not underestimate the number of people who may avail themselves of the opportunity to walk through an open door! Second, it provides an opportunity for people to make a daily commitment, or less ambitiously to add an “extra day” other than Sunday to say their prayers with others.  Third, it can offer an important pastoral function. Those who gather regularly for Morning or Evening Prayer will often become quite a close-knit core parish group. Perhaps there is coffee afterwards, or even breakfast. Especially for those who are retired or otherwise not in 9-5 work, this can be an invaluable opportunity for fellowship and community. I also like to make it known that I usually keep the half hour after Morning Prayer free for those who want a “quiet word” without making an appointment. There have been many times when this programmed availability has been a pastoral blessing.

There is another positive to having advertised set times for daily prayer – it is of huge benefit to the clergy to know that they are likely to be joined by others. In Australia there is not the same level of obligation for clergy to say the daily office as there is, for example, in the Church of England.* However the words of the 1662 BCP that “…all Priests and Deacons are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or some other urgent cause” retain at least a degree of moral authority. Parish ministry can be a lonely experience, and all clergy have arid times in our spiritual lives. How easy it would be to skip Morning Prayer when I’m feeling a bit jaded, or bored, or angry! But if I know that there are half a dozen parishioners turning up at 8.30am, then I know I need to be there too. It is both an encouragement and a motivation.

So, even if safety and security reasons mean that you cannot leave the doors of your church open for prayer throughout day the day every day, I would encourage you to fling wide the doors at least briefly, and invite the people of God to gather. Prayer is the engine room of ministry. Daily prayer can be the engine room for parish growth.

Next week - Daily and Weekday Mass

*Russell Dewhurst has very recently published an excellent and comprehensive summary of this question in the Church of England. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ecclesiastical-law-journal/article/seven-whole-days-the-obligation-of-the-clergy-of-the-church-of-england-to-say-daily-the-morning-and-evening-prayer/40FB1DC0C63E8B18E7B814C30079C4BF?fbclid=IwAR3qabs8JI8ojx8Uf4bPKppMEZvd7JBa4COaxeNsf9m5RIJhMfHqSjaGXdw