Using the Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is full of liturgies that you can use to worship—any day of the week!

The Anglican tradition has always had a practice of daily prayer: Morning Prayer, Midday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline (prayer before bed). Together, these are referred to as the “Daily Office.” Here’s where to find them:

• Morning Prayer: beginning on p. 11

• Midday Prayer: beginning on p. 33

• Evening Prayer: beginning on p. 41

• Compline: beginning on p. 57

There are also shortened versions of each of this, called “Family Prayers,” on pp. 67-75.

If you’re not familiar with using the Book of Common Prayer, you can find some tips for Morning Prayer here.

The BCP also has a whole collection of “Occasional Prayers” on all sorts of topics, many of which might feel especially relevant right now. These are short, one-paragraph prayers, and they can be particularly helpful when you feel like you don’t really know what to pray. The collection begins on p. 642.

THE DAILY OFFICE ONLINE

There are lots of resources online for praying Morning Prayer and the other liturgies of the Daily Office.

The full text of the Book of Common Prayer is available here.

The site dailyoffice2019.com presents Morning, Midday, and Evening Prayer and Compline. It automatically loads the one appropriate for the time of day, but you can choose any of the others at the bottom of the screen. It also automatically includes the appropriate readings and collects.