In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul gives us a bracing challenge: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Pray without ceasing! How do you even get started?

There are many ways to approach the idea of constant prayer, but one way is through the ancient spiritual discipline called praying the Daily Office. There are a number of different Offices, but the easiest ones for modern working people are Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.

The Daily Office is a structured yet flexible format for prayer, offering a “backbone” of Scripture readings combined with a framework of traditional written prayers (most of which draw specifically on Scripture verses for their language), with “space” built in for extemporaneous, personal prayer. By making choices about what to include and what to skip, each individual can personalize the Daily Office to fit different preferences and amounts of time, from 15 minutes to... however long you want to pray!

First, it helps deepen and expand one’s prayer. We humans are creatures of habit, and it is easy to fall into just doing one type of prayer, usually petitionary or intercessory, when doing extemporaneous prayer. The structure of the Daily Office helps us grow by guiding us every day through all five main types of prayer: adoration, contrition, intercession, petition, and thanksgiving.

Second, it helps us internalize God’s Word. Many of the recurring prayers and canticles come directly from the Bible. By praying these every single day, the words of Scripture become engraved on our hearts and minds.

Third, it immerses us in the Word. Every Office has a Psalm plus a reading from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from the Gospel. What’s more, the Scripture selections go in order, so if you read the Daily Office every day, you will find yourself reading through entire books of the Bible in a disciplined way. Thus, we hear all of God’s word, not just our favorite passages.

Finally, praying the Daily Office is a discipline: it means praying regardless of whether you really “feel like it” or not. We learn to turn to God in prayer every day, and we are challenged to confront our misplaced priorities. It is far too easy to make time with God something other than #1 on my priority list. If I am “too busy” or “too tired” to pray on a daily basis, that means I am putting something else higher than time with Him.

That said, praying the Daily Office is not about racking up X number of prayer times per week. I tend to be a perfectionist, so my pastor was careful to remind me that while I should take the discipline seriously, it wasn’t something that I am locked into. The discipline of the Daily Office is all about making a commitment to spend time in prayer with God on a daily basis: a push-back against all the pressures of modern life that try to distract us from our relationship with Christ.

By now, I hope you are at least a little bit intrigued by this spiritual discipline!

But wait... HOW do you pray the Daily Office?!?  

There are several different ways to approach the Daily Office. I use the Book of Common Prayer, an Anglican prayer book that is readily available in any Christian bookstore or through Amazon. Created in 1500s England, it incorporates prayer from the earliest Fathers of the Church and prayers based on Holy Scripture, as well as prayers written by 16th century and later pastors. You can also find the contents of the BCP online here (in printable form) and also here at BCPonline.org.

The BCP contains the basic “structure” of the Office. Interleaved into this liturgy are the readings from Scripture, which are listed in the Lectionary in the back of the BCP so you can look them up in your Bible. The Office contains a number of different prayers, which you can skip over or include as you wish. When I pray the Office, I read the opening canticle, a Psalm, the Scripture readings, another canticle, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Suffrages (intercessory prayers). Then, at this point in liturgy, there is a suggested space for personal, extemporaneous prayer. Sometimes I conclude the Office immediately, and other times I spend more time in prayer, with the specific things that I have on my mind or in my heart at that time.

The Office concludes with a pair of Collects (short written prayers that are themed for each week in the Christian Year and each day of the week) and a closing sentence that comes directly from Scripture. Thus we have a clear ending to the Office, so that our personal prayers don’t just trail off into plans for the day. Instead, we conclude our prayers and start the day (or wind down the day) with words of Holy Scripture on our lips and in our thoughts.

Although the Daily Office seems complicated at first, it gets easier very quickly and I have found it well worth the time it takes to get into the habit. The mindful practice of spiritual disciplines like Morning or Evening Prayer can help us to grow in love and obedience to our Lord. Over a lifetime, even a very small step taken each day can add up to significant spiritual growth and maturity and a deeper relationship with Christ.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”