One of the gifts of the English Reformation was the reclamation of the Daily Office, the daily recitation of prayers at fixed times during the day. Historically, the Offices were limited to the monasteries, where communal prayer occurred eight times a day. But when the English Church separated from the Church in Rome, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) ingeniously adapted the historic offices into a twofold form that could be easily prayed by the common people, in any parish church or cathedral. In Cranmer’s version, the first Book of Common Prayer (1549) bequeathed to us Morning Prayer (Matins) and Evening Prayer (Evensong). In practice, these Offices mainly persisted in the English cathedrals, but in many Anglo-Catholic parishes, such as Good Shepherd, it has been a common practice to pray the Daily Office. Interestingly, with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, many parishes (unable to gather for the Eucharist at times) found themselves reclaiming the Daily Office, which can be led by lay persons. At Good Shepherd, Morning and Evening Prayer are prayed Monday through Friday at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. respectively. Morning Prayer is prayed at 9 a.m. on Saturdays.
The Daily Office, along with the Mass, is at the heart of our parish’s “rule.” A rule of life is a way of giving banks to the river of our prayer life. I will not say any more about what a rule is because this Sunday after Sung Mass you will have the opportunity to attend Dr. Donald McCown’s adult formation presentation entitled “What Is a Rule of Life?” Please stay after Mass for this first of our monthly adult formation classes on Sundays. A light lunch will be provided. I hope this presentation and conversation will inspire you to develop your own rule of life and consider what our own parish’s rule is. How can it deepen your own prayer life?
Then, having listened to Dr. McCown’s wisdom and partaken of some lunch, stay for Choral Evensong and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at 3 p.m. (Please note the time change from previous years.) Evensong is one of the great riches of the Anglican tradition. Very few parish churches sing Evensong on a regular basis, so these frequent services at Good Shepherd are a treasure. To help you appreciate the gift of Evensong, I’d like to share here what our own Organist and Choirmaster, Matthew Glandorf, wrote some years ago about Evensong.
EVENSONG: CRANMER'S REVOLUTIONARY IDEA OF PRAYING THE DAILY OFFICE FOR
THE PEOPLE. — Matthew Glandorf
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen.
In Cardinal Newman's great evening prayer for a peaceful night, we find encapsulated in poetry what Anglicans all over the world have been experiencing for about 450 years: the powerful experience of Choral Evensong. In a cathedral or parish church around twilight, the light of candles begins to overtake the natural light from outside, the organ plays in a vested choir. A bow toward the altar, a brief silence, and the responses begin: "O Lord, open thou our lips, and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise." This is followed by the appointed psalm of the day, usually set to what is uniquely known as "Anglican chant," a harmonized system of ten or twenty notes, in which the Psalms of David are recited. Two readings from scripture, to which the response is Mary's canticle the "Magnificat," in which we learn of God's plan for the rich and powerful, and redemption of the humble, meek and the hungry. The "Nunc Dimittis" draws us into the Temple when the aged Simeon holds the Christ child in his arms and exclaims that he can now depart in peace. This is concluded, as the original Prayer Book says "In Quires and Places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem" - a rubric that gives musicians ample leeway to sing music specifically designed to offer what one might consider a "musical sermon." The perfect symmetry of responses, psalms, canticles, the reading of scripture have guided the Anglican Communion into the morning (with Matins) and into the night (with Evensong) since its very beginnings with the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer did what Martin Luther initiated in Germany, namely to make the monastic offices available in the vernacular in the morning and the evening. It could be prayed with elaborate music, as in the cathedrals, or sung or recited simply in the village parish church, or even, recited quietly at home.
A NEW AWAKENING
It is interesting to note that despite the sweeping reforms of Vatican II, with its emphasis on lay participation, modern language, etc., in those places where Evensong is still sung with any regularity, most often it is done in its version from the Prayer Book of 1662 . This may seem at first somewhat counterintuitive. However, some of the greatest music written in English was composed specifically for Evensong, thus the settings of the Responses the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (known as the Evening Service) use the language of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Much ink has been spilled over the past forty years or so about declining church attendance and how to "reach out to the young" in a way that speaks to them, etc. Especially in England, the decline is church attendance and the increasing secularization of modern society has been profound. And yet, many cathedrals and more than a handful of parish churches have seen a marked increase in attendance at Evensong. What may seem puzzling at the outset can be explained by what this service has to offer: it is a form of worship that speaks through poetry and music. For the unchurched, those who are on the edges of the faith, and those who are simply looking for spiritual grounding, find a quiet space where nothing is asked of them, and they can enter through the "side door" as it were. Therefore, listening becomes "active participation" similarly to the act of standing in front of a beautiful painting and being given a revelation through the eye and imagination and vision of the artist.
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I hope you will join us for part of our parish’s rule as we sing Choral Evensong this Sunday, followed by the great devotional service of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, which is a time to rest, adore, and praise the living God in the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Come, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle