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“This Is a Completely Different Thing”: Praying with the Whole Church
Each of the four monks first picked up the Book of Common Prayer on his own and used it like any other devotional book, dipping in for a beautiful prayer now and then. None of them knew how it was meant to work. On this episode, they tell how that changed when they began praying the Offices with other people: at Evensong, at sung Morning Prayer, and in an empty church during COVID, where Fr. Toombs realized, “This isn’t just another devotional tool. This is a completely different thing.”
We talk about the Prayer Book’s threefold rule: daily Morning and Evening Prayer, personal devotion, and Holy Communion on the Lord’s Day. We look at how the Collect ties the week together, why the daily prayers lead toward Sunday’s Eucharist, and how God’s ordering of the days in Genesis shapes the Daily Office. Then we trace the rule from Israel and the apostles through St. Benedict to Thomas Cranmer, who gave the monastery’s prayer to every parish and household. We close with plain advice for anyone starting out: start small, pray often, and pray with others when you can.
This week’s practice: pray one Office each day, Morning Prayer (p. 3) or Evening Prayer (p. 21). If you have a family, try the Family Prayer on p. 587.
Mentioned: F. P. Harton, The Elements of the Spiritual Life; Alan Jacobs, The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography; The Valley of Vision; the Rule of St. Benedict and the Rule of the Master; Jeremy Taylor; the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Family Prayer, pp. 587–594; Michael Templin and the Lone Star Sound (on Spotify).
Everyday Monks is the parish podcast of St. Benedict’s Anglican Church in Rockwall, Texas: Belong - Believe - Become.
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