Here’s our introductory video.
Welcome in the Name of the Lord
The Daily Office offers the Anglican services of Morning and Evening Prayer timed for the Western Hemisphere. Welcome, international visitors!
We also have a Daily Office blog timed for the Eastern Hemisphere; it’s here. We invite you to visit and subscribe to whichever site is timed correctly for where you find yourself, at home and as you travel.
The Daily Office is an ancient way to pray. It marks the passage of time by offering Morning and Evening Prayer as written in the Book of Common Prayer of The Episcopal Church, headquartered in the United States, with churches in 16 nations. (Our spellings are American.) Each service features psalms, Bible readings and prayers. We occasionally use other texts as well. All are available on a variety of devices, including laptops, smartphones and Kindle – no apps needed.
Please take advantage of these convenient features: e-mail subscriptions, comments and RSS feeds. Our two Daily Office blogs help achieve a worldwide outreach. Together our sites have had 2.8 million visitors from 100+ nations. And now *you’re* here!
Welcome. May God bless you richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Josh Thomas
Lay Vicar
October 25, 2012
A Key to Understanding Our Sites for Those Experienced with This Form of Prayer
If you’re simply looking for Christian liturgical prayer online, several good choices are available. Here you are entering a community; what makes us different is that our services are posted live twice a day.
This is a blog; it’s deliberately interactive. We invite your comments. We suggest that at each visit you glance at the Most Recent Visitors app and say a little blessing on the other folks who are here right now. When you come to each service’s Prayer List toward the bottom of the page, understand that those names have been submitted by our members all around the world.
If you like, you can get to know the people here by their comments. Our staff has met some great people here, which made us think, “What if they could meet each other and not just us?”
Our future plans, God willing, are to create a social network, where you can make lots of friends in Christ all over the world.
Meanwhile, this is the only Office site we know of that is posted anew twice a day, not maintained by a mechanical database. Here you’re not “praying to a computer,” but to God. Human beings compose and conduct this service, just like in your parish chapel. We have a worship leader, who makes choices. You may not always agree with every one of them, any more than you would with your parish priest or minister, but it’s good to have someone who’s prepared this service as a unique prayer event. In addition, we sometimes make mistakes! (So do the MySQL sites, where a database is in charge.)
For example, we do not offer Elizabethan language. We try to minimize patriarchal language. We do not let you pick or omit the lessons and prayers you’d like to read. Choice is good – but here, What You See Is What You Get. You’re part of a congregation here. This is so we can make it like walking into church, more than simply turning on your device. Every time we walk into church, someone has made decisions about what the service will be like; same here.
When the lectionary permits, we try to make each service a unified whole, with a consistent theme. The Prayer Book schedule of readings doesn’t always allow that, and the worship leader isn’t all-knowing in his choice of art, music and prayers. Yet those choices are part of what has made our services so popular. It’s why we have thousands of followers. We don’t think of you as visitors, but as members.
We try to keep the preaching to a minimum, because this is not a personality cult; Jesus is the attraction, not the preacher. Nevertheless, every service in this online church is conducted by a human being, who can’t help but steer our thoughts somewhat.
If you want to be your own worship leader, by all means do so. If your prayer is strictly between you and God, we understand and approve. But here, a congregation prays together, which is a major difference. To us church is always a “we” thing, not an “I” thing.
We think being together is the best way to go about our daily prayers.
The Vicar, Deacon and Subdeacons
May 30-June 14, 2013
The Daily Office 
it’s at the top – tope right hand corner by the word “Posts”
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I am a bit concerned that i had to go to the blog to get the MP. Are you OK josh? I am also wondering how all your on line works. i have sent a couple of emails from the home page and never received any info. on this site it seems as though the posts are all in the far past. Just mainly worried about you. I love the site and pray for you. Rev. Barbara
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Barbara,
I very much appreciate your concern. I am fine. The problem is our webhost, Network Solutions, which hasn’t been able to publish updates since last Tuesday. (“Engineering is working on it. All trunk lines are full. Please try your call again later.”)
We have updated the blog consistently all through this, so I don’t know what you’re referring to. Go to dailyoffice.wordpress.com and you get today’s Morning Prayer, right where it’s supposed to be.
I also don’t understand what happened with your earlier e-mails, because I reply to every one I get. I’m sorry that you sent something in the past and didn’t hear from me. That’s not supposed to happen. I love getting e-mails from the Office community and I always answer, even from (a certain person with mental problems). I tell her God hears her and so do I; that’s what she wants to know.
I’m very sorry you worried. Thanks for writing to check on me. I’m fine, it’s Network Solutions that’s sick.
Josh Thomas
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Josh:
Although I am not from the Episcopal Tradition, after I encountered the Litany of Penitence for Ash Wednesday in a devotional I was reading for Lent, I was drawn to delve deeper into the prayers of the BCP. I found they touched me so deeply and profoundly that now I use it exclusively in my personal prayer life. In fact, the iBCP was the very first app I downloaded when I got my iPod!
But there is something that I’ve always wondered, and never found an explanation for, and I hope that you can help me: Why in the Psalter are Psalms 1-5 marked as First Day: Morning Prayer; Psalms 6-8 First Day: Evening Prayer; Psalms 9-11 Second Day: Morning Prayer and so on through the entire Psalter for a total of 30 days. (And what happens in a 31-day month?) I know that the Psalms usually are repeated every seven weeks, unless interrupted by other Liturgical Seasons.
While I still make use of my BCP for Morning Prayer–I’m a stickler for actual BOOKS, sorry Kindle and Nook!–since summer has finally come to my neck of the woods, I always use your site, bookmarked on my iPod, for Evening Prayer, outside on my porch just at twilight.
Thank you for your help.
Franklin
P.S. Is your iPhone/Pod/Pad app still in development?
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I just subscribed to your Daily Office through Kindle and I’m really disappointed. The Morning Prayer does have the entire office (thank you) but doesn’t have all three readings. Of all things to exclude, it doesn’t have the GOSPEL of the day – just the OT reading and the Epistle. My purpose for subscribing was to have a portable source with everything in one place – the office prayers and the changing daily readings. For this purpose, the subscription is pretty much useless as I need another book or source to obtain the daily Gospel reading. As a result, I will probably drop out before the expiration of the 14 day free trial. If you revise it to include the Gospel reading for the day, please drop me and email and I’ll re-subscribe.
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If we included the Gospel lesson in Morning Prayer, what lesson would we use for Evening Prayer? Or are we supposed to drop Evening Prayer because Diane doesn’t use it? “Of all the things to exclude!”
Our sites are free, so you’re on your own with the 14-day free trial, whatever that pertains to. Meanwhile I’d forward your comment to the Complaint Dept., but we don’t have one. We also don’t send e-mails asking anyone to subscribe.
We don’t owe you a thing; you owe us an apology.
Josh Thomas
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A civil response would have been nice.
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You got a more civil reply than you deserved, complaining as if we sent you the wrong pizza. You didn’t pay for it, you don’t have a right to complain. Nine hundred thousand page-views we’ve compiled, and you’re one of three people on earth to complain.
“I’m really disappointed”
“the subscription is pretty much useless”
“I will probably drop out”
“Of all things to exclude, it doesn’t have the GOSPEL of the day”
We never asked you to like us; we never asked you to come. But I’ll ask you not to in the future.
Josh Thomas
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Dear Josh,
I am relatively new to this blog and although I enjoy this and subsrcibe to it on my Kindle so I can easily do my morning and evening worship while traveling – I am confused why the feast days are one off on this blog (at least they were for this week , the last week of July 2010).
For instance this week on the offical liturgical calendar the feast day for the siblings in Bethany are on Thursday and Wilberforce & company on Friday, yet on this worshp blog you celebrate the Thusday Bethany crowd on Friday and the Friday Wilberfoce/musicians on Saturday- eah of thse one day off of where they are supposed to be.
I wonder if this is an error on your part (or have I made one), if this is done for a reason and/or will this be corrected at some point? I may be particular in this way, but I like to celebrate the feasts and fasts on their correct days. Thank you for what you do here and I look forward to hearing your reply.
Sincerely,
Peter
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Peter,
The major Feast of St. James the Apostle fell on a Sunday this year, and the Lord’s Day takes precedence. Thus all other feasts this week got transferred to the next day.
You can’t go by the printed calendar alone, but by the rubrics that govern it. You can find these rules of precedence on pp. 15-18 of the Book of Common Prayer and pp. 3-6 of Holy Women, Holy Men.
We will not observe the Feasts of St. Ignatius of Loyola (July 31st) and St. Dominic (August 8th) this year; they get “dispensed” to accomodate the other scheduled days. Don’t worry, they’ll be back next year.
The major Feast of St. Mary the Virgin also falls on a Sunday this year (Aug. 15), but will be observed the following day.
Trust us, we know what we’re doing.
Josh Thomas
Lay Vicar
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Josh,
Thanks! You always have, and continue to have my trust, thanks for sharing your thought process behind your rubric choices – ones that I know can be made, but not all choose to make them. I appreciate you taking the time to answer!
Peter+
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Peter,
If the Sunday/Monday conflict had been a lesser feast instead of an Apostle, we’d have dropped the lesser one instead.
I got away with not observing John Calvin this year for that very reason. As far as I’m concerned he should always fall on a Sunday so I can dispense with him. But this is “a Prayer Book site, not a Josh site,” and I try to follow the rules the General Convention has written.
I’m glad you watch us closely. My feet need occasional acquaintance with the fire just like everyone else’s.
Josh
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Josh–I very much appreciate your providing the Daily Office this way. I’ve been doing mine from my Sony Reader for the past year, but doing it from your site looks much better. I’m planning to do that. It’ll work fine when I’m in my home time zone. But here I am at 4pm in Athens, Greece, all set to say EP and it isn’t posted yet! It is easy to see how much work and caring go into doing this on a daily basis; so asking for the posting of both offices at the very beginning of the day is asking too much. Ah weel, such is life.
Thanks,
Warner
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Warner,
Our main site, dailyoffice.org, is geared for Asia and Europe as well as the Americas, and always has both Morning and Evening posted together. Can you use our main site? (It does take one extra click from the home page to that day.)
We don’t want anyone going without!
Josh
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I was searching for an on-line prayer response and safely landed here at your blog.
The search engine was Google.
Learning from the ‘about ‘ of your blog that this has got to do with the Church of New Zealand ,being myself –not in New Zealand but in England , though a speaker of English as a second language – wanted to say my appreciation and love and then perhaps invite you to my personal efforts to please the Lord and His people ,while also warning those who do not fear the Lord…so that they come to the Land of the Fear and Love of The Good Lord-to the Church.
Being a young man,I might be too enthusiast but you will forgive me.
As a believer of an on-line,off-line….all-line prayers, just wanted to invite fellow friends in this town to a neighbourhood where ‘kids and infants ‘ have prepared (prepared for them) tables with coffee and tea…fruits and …vegetables…some main course meal…with wine ,of course…all sorts of food to enjoy…free of charge….fearing but hopping this sort of invitation is peaceful…
http://hisownkid.wordpress.com/
:- )
Hisownkid.
:- )
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So this is a little nit picky but I notice the seasonal antiphons for the invititory psalm are not included at morning and evening prayer. Is this on purpose? An oversight?
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Ryan, thank you for asking. Every priest I’ve spoken to about this has said the invitatory antiphons are “basically worthless unless they’re sung” (direct quote).
In which case, we sadly categorize them as “pious add-ons” which needlessly lengthen the service. This is a concern to us since the #1 objection people have about reading the Daily Office is “I don’t have time.”
When we first started, we kept the Office to the bare minimum allowed by the rubrics; Collect of the Day, Prayer for Mission and The End. Over time in response to requests we’ve included more prayers, but we rotate them in and out whenever the season changes. We also have a seasonal scheme for how often we say the Confession.
I care that someone has a special attachment to the antiphons or, say, the Collect for Aid Against Perils, but we can’t please all the people all the time. Some want the Office short and sweet, some want it more elaborate. We aim for the Middle Way.
Josh the Lay Vicar
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Maybe you should edit the post title About The Daily Office to something more suited for your subject you write. I loved the the writing all the same.
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I don’t think so.
The Vicar
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Hello Josh,
I have been trying to find an actual email address, but only links that don’t allow me to email you directly. I noticed that you used a picture of my daughter on Tuesday’s blog. I believe this picture was taken off of my Fiance’s flickr page without his permission (copyright) or mine (distributing photos of my daughter). I actually heard about this from a few people who get the “Daily Office” via email. I have a concern that my daughter’s picture was emailed worldwide without my consent. My fiance may be contacting you himself about copyright issues with the photo on flickr.
I would like to discuss this with you and can be reached via my email address. But, I do have some concerns about this practice, especially when names are attached to photos. Posting pictures of children on the internet without parental consent actually treads into legal areas of concern as well. I’m sure you meant no harm, but it is a good practice to check with people and, especially parents, prior to posting pictures of them or their children on any public space. Posting in one place on the internet does not grant general permission to post anywhere on the internet.
What you are doing here is a wonderful ministry. I hope I can encourage you to increase the ethical internet practices you engage in as well.
Thank you.
Carly
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Carly,
You’re absolutely right, I’ve removed the photo and I ask your forgiveness.
What happened is that one of your friends posted it on Facebook and sent it to me.
We do have a need to illustrate baptism here, we get very few opportunities, and the photograph is quite beautiful. I didn’t post it on Flickr or Facebook, which first sent it worldwide. But the responsibility for posting the photo here, on our prayer site and blog, is mine and I deeply apologize.
God bless your child.
Josh Thomas
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Josh,
I don’t know if this will get to you. I am not a blog person, but someone showed me how to get your posts on my kindle. I am very grateful for what you do. It is quite a labor of love – thank you.
This morning I noticed the prayer request for Silas, the 2 year-old who is in intensive care. I am an Episcopal priest, and I live just a few blocks from that hospital in Norfolk. Do you know Silas and his family or the person who made the prayer request? Do they have someone supporting them and caring for them? If not, please let them know that I would be more than willing to do anything I can during this awful time. If I don’t hear from you, I certainly will continue to pray for them.
Peace,
Andie
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Josh, thank you so much for this website. I have begun using it daily and look forward to it every morning.
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Looking forward to starting this form of prayer
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We’re having some techno problems right now, xander, but we’re going to get them solved. Thanks for coming.
josh
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Josh, I have been wanting to comment for a long time. This is a great ministry that you do. I have been receiving a feed on my Kindle for over a year now. It is an important feature of my life as a Lay Cistercian of Gethsemani Abbey
Linda
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Thank you, Linda. But ya know, it doesn’t take a whole lot of smarts to post the Sermon on the Mount, our current reading. Just, “Dang, that Jesus guy knows what he’s talking about. We oughta put this on the intertubes.”
We’re glad for your Kindle, the Cistercians of Gethsemani and this year you’ve put in. Great job, keep it up. See you someday soon.
josh
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Where do you come up with the canticles?
Many of them are not in the BCP. but they are great
Fr. Lynn Chester Edwards
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Where do the canticles come from that are not in the BCP?
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Fr. Lynn,
I’m glad you enjoy the canticles we’re using currently, all from “Enriching Our Worship 1” from the Standing Liturgical Commission, approved by the General Convention in 1997 and published by Church Publishing Inc. in 1998.
It contains 19 canticles not included in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer; 16 are taken directly from Scripture, with the other three by Anselm of Canterbury and Julian of Norwich.
Our websites change our canticle scheme from BCP to EOW according to seasons, so come Christmas we’ll revert back to the Prayer Book, because we think people enjoy more traditional texts at that time of year. We hope our scheme of going back and forth by season introduces both expansive language and simple variety. The repetition of Prayer Book canticles writes them into our hearts, but an occasional change of scene is good for us too.
Josh Thomas
Lay Vicar
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First of all, many thanks for giving when possible the source of art, photos etc on the Dailu Office pages. For me, and I suspect for others, this is a genuine enrichment of the pages.
Secondly, how might one submit pix for consideration?
And finally, as I gather the site is in the process of change, the “comments & questions” link at the end of each page would be far more useful if it linked directly to the appropriate page, rather than leaving one helplessly wandering through the blog.
In closing, many thanks for your wonderful project, and my very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year!!
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Elizabeth,
Thank you for your kind words. I do want to tell the source of artworks and photos; I wish more bloggers and webmasters had that same drive to attribute their illustrations and respect copyrights, which I try never to violate.
We very much welcome art you might submit. Everyone is invited. Send it as an e-mail attachment to any of our staff; for example, josh@dailyoffice.org.
We don’t want to leave you helplessly wandering through the blog, and I’m trying to reconstruct how this happened to you, and what I could do differently with that link. I don’t want to have to change it constantly from the main site to here; I think the problem you had must come from not quite understanding the nature of a blog – or maybe it’s how our bloghost WordPress presents each entry. (Most people do find their way to the comments pretty easily; yours is the first such complaint.) The generic link to the blog’s main page, as printed on our main site, may not make Comments immediately visible; I’ll have to check. But with this or any other blog, when you wish to comment, click on the post title. That will take you to the specific entry, with comments either at the top or the bottom. It’s very simple, but I can understand how the main page, with its multi-post format, could confuse people. I’m sorry you had the trouble.
You can always hit “E-mail the Vicar,” which is in a prominent spot upper right.
Finally I’m curious about your name. I had a very good friend in Cincinnati named Elizabeth Lilly. Are you her? (Proper English, “she.”)
If yes, Merry Christmas, Liz! If not, Merry Christmas, Elizabeth.
josh
da vicah
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Well, when I lived in Cincinnati more than 25 years ago, someone @ the church I attended asked me to write a piece on IHN (Interfaith Hospitality Network) for the diocesan magazine. After it was published, I discovered that there were at least 2 other Elizabeth Lillys in the diocese; one was a priest and the other did social work with the Appalachian community. One of my children said that this was a shame, as people wouldn’t know who wrote the piece; I pointed out that actually everyone would know, but a lot of them would be wrong
In any case, a Merry Christmas to you!
/e,
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Oh, what fun!
“My” Elizabeth Lilly was a social worker among the Appalachians, and as far as I know still is, in the Cumberland Gap. A dear person, someone I completely respect.
Now I know a new one. Thank you for finding your way to us. Please send me any art you think will glorify God. I would happily fill our sites up with pictures of the local Church or local needs (whatever local might mean), if only people would send them to me. Thank you for asking about that.
Josh
josh@dailyoffice.org
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Thank you for this help to pray with others
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I would like to be placed on the email list. This is an awesome way to access the daily office! Thanks be to God.
Godspeed joy to this community, Jackie
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Jackie, we see you got yourself signed up before I could reply. Welcome aboard.
Josh
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Dear Josh,
I am a loyal follower, subscribing on my Kindle Dx. However, since you migrated to the new site, your Kindle app has not been working properly. Each day, after I read an office, it disappears. And furthermore, all offices disappear, leaving only the content for February 1st.
It seemed to work right again for a few days, so I thought the Kindle problem had been fixed. But yesterday and today the problem has returned.
Can you crack a whip (in Christian charity, of course) at your Kindle e-engineers?
Thanks,
Lisa+
Lisa Tolliver
vicar of St. Alban’s Church
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Lisa…sorry to piggyback on this, but….
Josh,
I wanted to add that though things worked fine yesterday (Tuesday, Feb. 20th) I have already experienced by kindle e-subscription this Ash Wednesday morning “kick back” today’s offering, before I was finished with it, to Feb. 1st again. Very frustrating. I know I can read these on your blog, but it is easlier for me to engage in the prayers via my Kindle. If amazon cannot fix it, I am going to have to forgoe my subscription and try something else.
Thanks for anything you can do!
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Lisa and Peter,
You are the second and third people to describe this problem with Kindle, which is actually better on our end than having only one person working with us on it. We are very frustrated, as you are. We do know that unsubscribing and resubscribing via Amazon doesn’t fix the problem. We have been unable to locate a Help screen on the Amazon site where we could re-enter our correct URL – because that’s what changed.
We don’t know how we got signed up for this service in the first place, whether they pay us for charging you 99¢ a month, or how the service works. The one thing I can tell you is that Subdeacon Clint and I are working on it and hope to have it fixed as soon as possible. We are sorry for this weird difficulty.
Let me remind us that we didn’t have a choice about migrating from our old site, which became completely dysfunctional (and wasted half a year’s worth of webhosting fees).
If and when we get it fixed please leave another comment to say so. We will post announcements on this blog, Facebook and Twitter when the problem is resolved. Meanwhile, Peter, you’re right, I wouldn’t pay Amazon for a service that doesn’t work, even if it is just a pittance.
Josh Thomas
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Please send daily prayers
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Alice, see Subscribe by E-Mail in the right-hand column of the home page. We can’t sign you up, you have to do that yourself.
josh
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Re: Kindle subscription
Thanks, Josh, for having a look at this issue.
For now, I will patiently abide while you see if the leviathan (aka, Amazon) will be helpful to you.
I love your site– And sadly the only way I can get it on my current Kindle is through Amazon.
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Dear Vicar, pray for us, we are going up against that leviathan.
Josh
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Dare I say…it might be fixed? As an amazon customer I phoned on Friday and complained about the constant changing back over to 2/1/2012…I was transferred two more times and spoke to someone who assured me that it would be fixed in a few days. I received an email from them today telling me it was (and asking if I had not done so already to delete the version I had on my kindle and allow the fresh one to be reloaded).
Anyway, it appears to be working correctly, and whether I had a part in that or not, I am glad that it is fixed!
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Peter, you actually got someone from Amazon on the phone? I didn’t know that was possible! If you still have the number, please send it to me: joshtom@mediacombb.net
We apologize again to all our Kindle users. We are stumped at how to fix this. It’s an unforeseen result of our old site’s collapse, and we’re still working to repair a few things.
Josh Thomas
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With apologies…I inadvertantly lied. this morning I was delivered the “Feb. 1” issue again. I will have to go elsewhere (beyond my Kindle) to pray for the forgiveness of my sins…
Peter
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Peter, your sins are forgiven. Those of Network Solutions (our old webhost) and Amazon may not be.
josh
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Josh, I have thoroughly enjoyed having The Daily Office on my Kindle. Thanks so much for your hard work. Having all the readings in one place and with me wherever I go certainly helps me read the daily office more faithfully!
I was a bit disappointed by the last posts during Lent, listing major sins of other people. I went to the office with my mind and heart dwelling on my own sins and repentance for them and was somewhat taken aback to find these posts. I felt quite distracted from what I felt was most important for me to concentrate on during these last days of Lent.
I really do enjoy the beginning posts about the Saints on their days.
Thanks again for making this blog available for all of us.
God bless you!
Rita
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Thanks for your feedback, Rita. I must admit I’m nonplused by the description “major sins of other people,” as if we have nothing to do with them.
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Well, Josh, some of the sins I do have nothing to do with–for example, the child molestation by Catholic priests. Of course, as Christians in a somewhat free society, we are responsible for the laws of the land being enforced and it is disheartening to find that the Catholic Church seemed to have ignored them for years. And I do agree that as a part of our society, we should be aware of wrongs being done and work to see that these situations are bettered.
The sins you listed are things we need to think about, for sure. There is so much sadness and wrong in this world and it is good to realize that sin is at the root of all our problems. We should definitely all work to make the world a better place and fight injustice wherever we find it. I just thought today would especially be a good day to concentrate on the sins in my own life and on repentance for those sins. It is easier for me to point out sins of others than to admit to myself and God those sins of which I myself am personally guilty!
May you have a blessed Easter!
Rita
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Thanks, Rita. I don’t think we disagree. The difficulty I see is that we always concentrate on ourselves, on our own sins, during Holy Week, and after seven straight years of leading us through that, I needed to say, “Our definition of sin is too small.” Maybe I was wrong, I knew this would be controversial, and I didn’t want it to be unhelpful, much less harmful. I did want to say, “There’s this whole other level of sin we never talk about.” I don’t know when the right time is if it isn’t Holy Week, when we tell ourselves Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. What does that mean?
To me it means something more than the sum total (times six billion people, times all of human history) of “all the mean things we’ve said to Aunt Mildred.” It means war and poverty, racism and the exploitation of women and children, even if we’ve never directly participated in any of them.
But to anyone and everyone I offended, I apologize. This should come as no surprise, but I sin too.
josh
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I understand, Josh. The Old Testament prophets spoke of the sins of the nation of Israel and not every person was guilty of every sin. As the human race, we are guilty of everything imaginable (and some things that seem unimaginable!). It is certainly good for us to come before God recognizing the sins of the world.
How the evil being committed today must grieve the heart of God! And so it should also grieve our hearts too! Sometimes the thought of all the needless pain being experienced all over the world seems more than we can bear!
As we work to alleviate that suffering, it doesn’t hurt us to think of how all evil begins with selfishness and how that “mean thing I said to Aunt Mildred” shows that my heart is also inclined to being selfish and uncaring of others around me.
Love and peace to you, Josh.
Rita
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Happy Easter, Rita. I’ve just finished posting Easter Eve for the West and Easter Day for the East. I am looking forward, as promised, to 50 straight days of unadulterated beauty. I’ve got a folder full of those pix too!
Just think, seven full weeks of Jesus preaching while I do not!
The Tarnished Vicar
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Looking forward to the Easter posts, Josh.
BTW, since I’ve been thinking about the things we have discussed for several hours now, I guess your post was successful after all. Blessings to you.
Rita
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What a refreshing and inviting site Vicar Josh! I’m the founder of the Tau Community of InterSpiritual Franciscans in the USA, and we meet daily online for Morning Lauds and Evening Vespers. I’ve just discovered Grace Episcopal Church in Asheville which offers a monthly Taize service which resonates greatly with me.
Thank you too for your page on The Gay Issue. What you said about inclusion is wonderful, and how people burned by the Church may not be ready—or may never be ready to enter back into a church building. We all have our baggage and our own ways of dealing or not dealing with it. When all is said and done, to provide like you do, a way for people to connect, that is what really matters, and that is why our community exists as well.
Peace to you,
Br. Tom
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Thank you, Br. Tom. I’ll have to make sure our volunteer Subdeacon Dinah knows about your community. We feature a monastic-type group every Wednesday morning; some more traditional than others, some ecumenical, some Episkie/Anglican. She’s just become a postulant of the Little Sisters of St. Clare. We want our members here to know about the whole variety of spiritual resources and communities available; a number of us are oblates and associates of various orders.
Blessings on the Tau Community – and stay in touch.
josh
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You are so very welcome!! Subdeacon Dinah can find out about us at our WordPress site: http://tauusa.com
Blessings to you as well,
Tom
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“The Daily Office is an ancient way to pray. It marks the passage of time by offering Morning and Evening Prayer as written in the Book of Common Prayer of The Episcopal Church, based in the United States.”
Actually, it’s not the BCP, unless you’re a Time Lord who brought back some future edition in your Tardis. For example, the substitute for the Gloria Patri and the text of the Apostles’ Creed are not from the BCP. What’s their source?
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“Enriching Our Worship,” approved years ago by the General Convention. Maybe you missed it.
FYI, we alternate various of the approved texts, such as the Gloria Patri, according to the season. Right now we happen to be using the gender-free Trinitarian formula and the Prayer Book canticles. Come Advent, we’ll switch.
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No, I hadn’t missed the publication of EOW (although I don’t belong to a parish that uses it – or the BCP, directly, for that matter). But EOW isn’t the BCP, but supplemental to it. If you say what you have on your site is the BCP, and a visitor goes to an Episcopal church and finds that the BCP text is actually somewhat different, won’t it confuse them?
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EOW is not “supplemental.” It contains fully approved texts. It is not lesser than the BCP, it is equal to it – and there are good theological reasons to prefer EOW, considering that the Episcopal Church may never print another Prayer Book in this digital age.
As for the confusion you say you fear, you’re the first one in 8 years and 2,000,000 site visits. If the statement above needs editing, I’ll change it.
Just don’t play “gotcha.” Every worship leader runs into rubric freaks trying to prove “you’re not doing it right.” After 23,000 services here, we do what we do. If you don’t care for it, editing 100 words on the About page won’t fix the problem.
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“EOW is not “supplemental.”It contains fully approved texts.”
Huh? Whether or not it’s supplemental has nothing to do with whether or not it’s approved for use by GC.
“It is not lesser than the BCP, it is equal to it.”
I’m not sure what you mean by “equal to it.” Use of EOW is contingent on the approval of the diocesan bishop, in a way that the BCP is not. Why? Because the BCP is the official liturgy of the Episcopal Church, while EOW is a supplement to it. It doesn’t replace the BCP, no one is forced to use it, and its use is directed by the diocesan.
I asked the question because last night when I came here in order for Evening Prayer, I saw that the text used wasn’t the BCP; I went elsewhere. As I wrote above, I don’t go to a parish that uses EOW, so I didn’t recognize the source of the Doxology or the Creed. I came back today to check out your About page to see what liturgy you were using, and was surprised to find you claiming that it was the BCP, so I posted my first comment above. None of this should make you as angrily defensive as you’re coming across.
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Dude, you’re the one who accused me of being a Time Lord with a Tardis. What was that rhetoric supposed to accomplish, except to be insulting?
Then you got your big payoff of calling me “angrily defensive.” I’m glad you got what you came for; we aim to pleaes.
Josh
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Really? Five months later?
I wasn’t trying to be insulting, and am sorry to have come across as if I was. I was trying to be funny. Giant fail, obviously. I stand by the rest of my comments about the BCP, EOW, and their respective statuses.
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Hi, Josh! I am Fred Crysler+, retired {Dio/ Of Ct}, living in Louisville & serving in the Dio/ of Indy as Supply & as Priest Associate at S/ Paul’s Jeffersonville where I was Interim Rector ’07-’09. This is a great prayer site! I go to it every day. When i am again able, I will support you $$$-ly. Keep it up !!!
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Fred+, it’s great to hear from you! I’m glad to know you’re active at J’ville and elsewhere; interim ministry is very important, as I can testify about another priest in Louisville who’s just finished two years at my home parish in Lafayette. The new rector arrives next month.
We’re glad to have you here. Come back often!
Josh
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I’m glad you are here. And I have owned a Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book since 1962. 🙂
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Josh,
As I go about praising God and singing in the choir this Easter Day, I will be thinking of you and the others who pray on this web site. God bless us all!
Tom Alloway
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This is my favorite daily office website. Have you considered an app for this. Helpful on mobile devices such as iPhones, Androids and Blackberry’s, tablets, etc.
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Sandra, thanks. Our bloghost, WordPress, automatically makes most apps unnecessary. I’ve seen us myself on iPhones, Androids and iPads, and we look great. (There may be a device out there where it doesn’t work, but if so we haven’t run across it.)
We’re available on Kindle, too. They charge readers to carry us, so we set the price as low as possible, 99¢ a month.
We’re glad you’re here.
The Vicar
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I look forward to reading the Daily Office. Thank you
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The Footwashing pictured here is a serigraph by John August Swanson.
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Thank you, Andrew. It sure is.
We always appreciate corrections and attributions.
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Thanks, Josh, for making all this available. Our mutual friend Warner White has introduced your website to me, and I’m developing a routine of saying the Office. Or rather, since I don’t sing, “chanting in my mind’s ear.” One of the deterrents in the past has been having to look things up, especially in the morning. Now it’s all on my Blackberry, or if I prefer I can read the Lessons book in hand because you’ve told us what they are. The pictures you add are a gift toot, especially (for me) the Icons.Many thanks,
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I like your site but cannot use it because the text is too small. I have only my phone so I have to use Mission St. Clare. Can you help?
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Cornelia, you can always make the type bigger. Just Google “make text bigger on phone” and you’ll find directions for your make and model. The same thing for desktops, laptops and other devices; sometimes we all need bigger type. Stick with us! 🙂
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Hi Josh!
Blast from the past here, this is Dinah Danby, one-time subdeacon for What’s New. I dropped out a couple of years ago after every single convent in the US turned me down (I told them all I was bipolar upfront, and no one gave me the time of day after that). Now I’m inquiring with the Third Order Franciscans, who are dispersed and don’t have the same fears about me, and once again saying the Office. I saw the Mental Health Prayer with my name attached today, and just had to write. Thank you for keeping that prayer!
Peace,
Dinah
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Dinah, it’s wonderful to hear from you! You didn’t have to tell me who you are – that prayer has never left our Thursday rotation since you were here. I’ve had a constant reminder of you – and if (as I tell myself) it’s true that “the work is the prayer” as I make up each service, then I’ve been praying for you all along, and we have.
We have a Third Order Franciscan who is a key part of our MP webcast group. Francesca is an officer of some kind, though I don’t remember what her title might be because she talks a lot more about the Third Order than about her job with them – and even more about her prison ministry. But I know that the Third Order website links to us because of her, that she has talked us up among their members, and we feature photos of them when we can. They come up on our Prayer for Monastics rotation, which you also worked on for us.
So yeah – hi Dinah!
I think we should add your name to our active list while you go through your inquiring phase with them. And I want to invite you to drop in on our morning webcast (6 a.m. Pacific) or Friday night service (6 p.m.) whenever you like. Chances are good you will meet her if you haven’t already. She can’t attend every single time but “if not prevented,” she never misses. In fact, she ends every service for us with a blessing for those who will watch the recording later.
Meanwhile, I observe as a former mental health professional that you handle your issues very well and have always been an asset to our organization – a responsible person I’ve trusted, and a dedicated minister in your community. On a personal basis I want to ask you about all you’ve seen and done since last we talked! We ran a photo of Dorothy Day recently after the Pope mentioned her in his speech to Congress, and of course I thought of you then because of your involvement with the Catholic Workers. So catch up with us whatever way you want to, whatever feels right, and know that you are always in our prayers. You are one of us; you are one of God’s.
Josh
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I do hope that the pastoral letter and the subsequent “editorial’ can come down or at least be reduced to links, with the full text elsewhere. I’ve read them thoroughly and am tired of scrolling endlessly on my phone to get to Morning Prayer. Enough already!
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All you had to do was ask; keeping it “sticky” was an oversight. But no…
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Many thanks, Josh!, for your reply & everything else that you so commendably and beautifully do. I assumed you had left them up for a while to make sure everyone saw them, or I would have asked sooner
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