Last week I read C.W. McPherson’s short book Grace at this Time, which is an explanation and commendation of the Daily Office as a form of daily prayer for Christians. The practice of the daily office – a structured form of daily prayer consisting of a prescribed order of psalms and readings with responses and prayers – can be traced back to early Christian practice and even arguably has roots in Judaism. McPherson gives a brief historical overview of the development of the office, tracing the evolution of “cathedral” and “monastic” forms of the office culminating with Thomas Cranmer’s reform of the monastic offices into the simplified morning and evening prayer services found in the Book of Common Prayer.

McPherson provides a walk-through of morning prayer (which is, in his view, the paradigmatic office) as well as a brief theology and spirituality of the office. Though the office is designed as a form of corporate prayer, McPherson emphasizes its usefulness as a form of personal devotion. The office, he argues, provides a certain stability in our prayer life as well as keeping us from getting bogged down in subjectivity. It does this be mandating a disciplined encounter with the Bible (through the praying of the Psalms and the lectionary readings) and by connecting us to the rich theological and liturgical tradition of the church.

One interesting point McPherson makes is that the office is compatible with a variety of spiritualities. For instance, he says, the psalms and lessons can be approached in the spirit of the monasitc practice of lectio divina. And he recommends introducing periods of silence for meditation and free prayer, especially when praying alone.

If the publishing industry is any indication, lots of people from various traditons have found a new interest in praying some form of the office. There has been a proliferation of books about this form of prayer as well as various specialty versions (Celtic versions, versions for times of grieving, etc.). McPherson’s book is helpful in laying bare the structure that unites various forms of the office and why it takes the form that it does. In essence, it’s a conversation with God wherin we alternate between hearing God’s word and responding (often using the words of the Bible to do so, as in the canticles).

The form of the office that McPherson recommends is that found in the current version of the US Book of Common Prayer, but most of what he says would apply to other versions just as well, at least as far as I can tell. I for one still find the BCP office a bit daunting in its rubrics and page-flipping, much less some of the more elaborate versions like the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, or the Anglican Breviary. However, it’s hard to take exception to the prescription of a daily dose of psalmody and scripture readings framed by some of the classic prayers of the Christian church.

There are a variety of simplified office books available, though most of them don’t seem to provide the range of scripture that one would get in using the BCP version. If one wanted to do a stripped-down version of the office one could simply follow the lectionary readings with appointed psalms and supplement them with the Lukan canticles, Lord’s Prayer, and perhaps the creed, though that wouldn’t get you the variety that the full version provides.