Click here to see our schedule of Prayer Services via Facebook.

by Christina Brennan Lee.

What is The Daily Office? A place I used to go to before I retired. Well, yes and not quite!

If you were present during our Annual Meeting in 2022, or, perhaps watched it on SsAM’s YouTube Channel (or are planning to!), you might have heard and then looked through Danny Schweers’ Communication Committee Report. In it, he says, among other important information, that our Facebook page is used to share our church’s ambitious schedule of 17 weekly prayer services via video.

Ambitious indeed! It was our now-retired Father David who gathered us to join him as part of a team to offer daily prayer during the pandemic and so we continue his legacy, 3 times a day, 5 days a week, and twice on Saturday, live. Each of us broadcast these services on the Parish Facebook page in real time from our phones or computers, from home, or wherever we are.

This prayer practice is known as The Daily Office. Why Office? The usual use of the word is to describe a place where one does particular work for a living. In the case of The Daily Office (or The Divine Office as known by some faith traditions), it is one way on the path to a Spiritual Living.

The Daily Office is a practice that has evolved from the early monastic roots of Christianity.

The Daily Office was once only required for and accessible to monks, nuns, and ordained clergy. Its purpose is to slow us down a bit, to spend time with God ~ not to do something but to simply be with God.

Through the time we spend with it, the words of the various services, mostly Biblically based, we are opened for God to work through us. It reminds us of the gift of being part of God’s Creation and our call from Christ. It can transform us in ways that fill our thoughts and be reflected in our actions, even unconsciously. When done regularly, as with attending the Sunday Liturgy, it refreshes, renews, and anchors us.

The Office is our space where the work of the Spirit attends to us, feeding and nurturing our souls. It’s an easy space on Facebook Live, accessible through the Parish website if you are not on Facebook, or to connect with other parish events on and off the website through The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew Facebook page.

Prayer Service Schedule as of September, 2022

The Office is prayed Monday to Friday beginning with Morning Prayer at 8am by Dr. Wanda Smith, Evening Prayer at 5pm and Compline (kom-plin/night prayer) at 8pm by the rotating team members of Dr. Rosie Castelli, Mary C. Morgan, Adele Meredith, and me.

On Saturdays, currently, the team members offer prayer at 10:30 am.

Morning and Evening prayer may take 20-30 minutes. Compline and Noonday are about 15 minutes.

We generally use the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (BCP), sometimes A New Zealand Prayerbook, and other resources. We do the work, you come and listen, pray in your heart, and just be with God.

AND, the video sessions are all recorded and listed on the Facebook page under “view all videos” and available 24/7. Choose randomly or start with Compline or Noonday, even at 2:00 in the morning on one of those nights. It’s anonymous unless you choose to “like” or comment. You can add prayers requests, too! You are NOT on camera, it’s not Zoom. But you will be one of the two or three gathered and God will be in the midst of us even if you’re a month late!

Join us, it’s free and there’s a great spiritual payoff!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Every week, Christina Brennan Lee writes the Prayers of the People we use in our worship services on Sundays. She also leads weekday prayer services and serves on the SsAM Vestry. Click here to see her People’s Prayers website.

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