Praying the Daily Office
The Daily Office
From the earliest days of the Church, a rhythm of prayer was an anticipated part of a faithful person’s life. The apostle Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The psalms speak of praying in the morning, in the evening, and at midday. Jesus often withdrew to a quiet place to pray.
The Daily Office (the services of daily Morning Prayer, Prayers at Noonday, Evening Prayer, and added to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, Compline) represent part of the genius of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in the creation of the first Book of Common Prayer. Cranmer took the prayer life of the abbey, and brought it to the people outside the cloister. He did so by combining the sometimes seven, eight, or nine times a day of prayer in the life of the religious community, into the two primary offices of Morning and Evening Prayer.
The services contain a reading from the psalms, one or ordinarily two readings from Scripture, canticles (edited together pieces of scripture often drawn from songs), and prayers. It also provides a Daily Office Lectionary where bible lessons and psalms are noted for each day on a two-year cycle. This encourages and helps to grounds one’s life in prayer and the Holy Writings.
We are offering seasonal recorded Morning Prayer for those who find that more engaging than perhaps just reading the words alone from the Prayer Book, or for those who are new to this service. You may pause the video and use the daily readings, or choose to reflect on the readings offer over the course of a liturgical season or period. More information on using the Daily Office Lectionary is available here.
Most of all, we hope you will find this one of a collection of opportunities to engage in prayer and the Scriptures, knowing that whether you do this alone or with someone else, you are part of chorus of common prayer that continues without ceasing.
At the Cathedral
At the Cathedral, we began a practice of offering Noonday Prayer and Compline on Facebook Live during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020. As that practice has grown and changed with us, we look for new ways to be in community with our siblings in faith. Prior to the pandemic, we held weekday services at various times in person. Now, in 2023, we have renewed our practice of in-person mid-day offerings, and we have kept our Compline services online. We also pray two offices on Sundays, in addition to our services of Holy Eucharist. As you explore your own faith journey, we hope you find this resource of services and service recordings a valuable tool.
In the following webpages, you will find several recordings of services that the Cathedral uses as a part of its yearly pattern. Further details about each service are present on the next webpages. We offer a model Morning Prayer service recording, appropriate to the season. We offer a Noonday Prayer service recording. As a part of our Lenten practice, we have a recording of the Stations of the Cross, prayed in person at the Cathedral every Friday. You will also find a link to our live Compline services, and we encourage you to be a part of this community of faith that joins to pray the Daily Office together.
Getting Started
If you are new to exploring the Daily Office, we suggest you begin with our model services and Compline. As you become comfortable with the Liturgy, please visit the Daily Office Lectionary Resource page. This offers several ways to navigate the lectionary for the Daily Office, as well as opportunities to include observances of feasts and saints days.
On Sundays, we offer both Morning Prayer and Evensong as a part of our Cathedral worship. Evensong is the office of Evening Prayer with music, and it is a much beloved service. Morning Prayer is offered on Sundays at 7:30 a.m., and Evensong is offered at 4:00 p.m. September through May. We observe two formats for Evensong: Cathedral Evensong sung by the congregation and Choral Evensong sung by the choir. Our full schedule of services, which includes our Eucharistic offerings, is available here.
If you would like to speak to a member of the clergy about your faith journey, please write to the Reverend Judith Schellhammer at jschellhammer@detroitcathedral.org.