When did 'prayers of the day' arise during morning and evening BCP services?
yohan300
Shipmate
I am wondering when the practice of praying for Mrs Miggins, train drivers, and the end of the famine in Mozambique arose during morning and evening BCP services?
The BCP seems quite clear that after the optional anthem there follow five prayers (King's Majesty, Royal Family, Clergy & People, St Chrysostom, 2 Cor 13). Nowhere does it says "here the minister shall prayer for some random topical stuff in his own words").
The BCP seems quite clear that after the optional anthem there follow five prayers (King's Majesty, Royal Family, Clergy & People, St Chrysostom, 2 Cor 13). Nowhere does it says "here the minister shall prayer for some random topical stuff in his own words").
Comments
A ‘traditional’ practice has arisen in many places of bringing the set service of Morning or Evening Prayer to its close, and then following it with a hymn, sermon, prayers, and maybe another hymn and blessing to close.
This question is sparked by a comment I came across Pepys' diary in April 1660: "afterwards sat disputing, the parson for and I against extemporary prayers, very hot", and also a new minister in a place I visit occasionally, who seems to offer up not prayers but mini-sermons that are directed not at God but at the congregation, sometimes to the extent of haranguing them.
It was the main service of the day, hence the number of hymns (we had a fair-sized choir).
On the rare occasions I've officiated at said BCP Mattins at Our Place, I've left a time for silent prayer after the Third Colic, before continuing with the prayer for Clergy & People etc., omitting the unctuous prayers for Monarch and Royal Family on personal grounds.
I realise that this probably marks me as a Hellbound Heretick, worthy only of the Stake, but hey...
That's good to know. I don't think I've ever been to a BCP service which didn't have added stuff.
I thought the whole point of the BCP was it that it contained prayer common to all services across the country, and the Acts of Uniformity thus mandated no deviation from such commonality by people in various places getting on their various hobby horses etc
I was only too glad to escape long-winded extemporary prayers full of Wouldst Thou and the like, as used in the church of my youth.
We also change the preamble which introduces the lessons, though the precise wording is left to the individual lesson reader.
I agree, but equally there’s no indication that only the printed prayers for various occasions may be used.
Sure there is. Where the BCP says that you may use one of the occasional prayers and thanksgivings, the implication is that you may not use something that is not one of those prayers. Where the language is "one or more of the occasional prayers and thanksgivings, or such others as are authorized by the Bishop" then it's completely clear that extemporary prayer is not authorized (unless the Bishop has provided some sort of blanket authorization.)
I was assuming @Angloid was referring to the sort of extempore "prayer" that says "We pray for guidance for X, as he struggles with behaving like a total arse. Please, Lord, help him to understand that behaviour Y is not compatible with living a righteous Christian life, and guide him back to follow your path as a faithful servant of Christ".
It always tickles me when a prayer involves telling God lengthy and detailed information about a situation that given his omniscience he is well aware of.
That’s the line we take. Anything else (when relevant) comes from the other authorised prayers but the default is the three collects then the Grace. Ends.
I'd be very careful about that can of worms...
You know the sort of " lord we want to just really pray for Bob's great aunt Betty who lives in such and such a town with three cats and the following medical and psychological problems (lengthy list follows)..." kind of thing.
I just find it mildly amusing (the information is not for God's benefit its for those praying along with the speaker).
It's not purg so worm cans are left on the shelf.
I've seen a book of additional prayers titled After the Third Collect.
I remember +colin buchanan referring to cranmer's approach as being "meals on wheels" - can you add a salad? What about replacing the veg? Etc etc
ISTM that some form of intercessory prayer - or (perhaps preferably!) silent prayer - after the Third Collect is entirely appropriate, whether the service is the principal service of the day for the gathered congregation, or the Daily Office being said in church by minister and (maybe) a few laity.
I'm assuming, BTW, that the OP is referring to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Other parts of the Anglican Communion (and its breakaways!) have their own version(s).
+Colin Buchanan wasn't the only one to advocate sensible use and re-arrangement of the 1662 BCP services - the late +Michael Perham made some useful suggestions in Liturgy: Pastoral and Parochial.
Isn't this where the simple office of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament comes in?
In the services devised by Cranmer and included in the 1549 and 1552 Prayer Books Matins and Evensong ended at the Third Collect. The "State Prayers" were only introduced in 1662.
That's (very deliberately) not in the bcp though is it?
True. But then neither are most of the other alternatives suggested.
Thanks - I didn't know (or had forgotten) that!
Indeed it does, and it's what happens at Our Place at Sunday's Evening Prayer (though AFAIK they mostly use the Franciscan Office for the first part of the service).
The bit at the back of the book with the numbers doesn't seem keen....
To put it mildly!
Quite. The original context of the 39 Articles is so unlike our own, that the only way to use them is hyper-legalistically. And that is the let-out on this topic.
I know of evangelical bishops who have happily officiated at Benediction; although most Anglicans probably would not see much point in it (though plenty would), they would not see it as a big deal; the extreme conservative evangelicals are obsessed by other issues these days, so 'live and let live' seems to be the way forward. (Would that it were so with those 'other issues')
Nevertheless, my original comment was somewhat tongue in cheek, and there must be vanishingly few parishes these days which keep to the old Anglo-catholic tradition of Solemn Evensong and Benediction every Sunday. Apart from a certain neo-gothic shrine in the West End, where else?
Now Fridays according to their website.