Diving into the Daily Offices

By Rev. Michael Erickson

How do I pray? What do I pray? What if I told you that you have access to a wealth of doctrinally sound, time-tested, reverent, and meaningful prayers all in one place? It’s true. Just look into the Daily Offices. Within your hymnal you will find an amazingly rich prayer book.

Think about prayer for a minute. It really begins by listening. Yes, that’s right, listening! Long-time Lutheran professor, Rev. Kenneth Korby, really helps us get a handle on praying in a right manner:

As human beings learn to talk by listening to others around them, so liturgical prayer must be learned by listening to the “Our Father,” the Word addressed to us, and to the company of the family of God among whom we live. Where that lively and life-giving Word is received in the heart of faith, the prayer that is “conversation with God” happens.

If you desire this conversation with God then I encourage you to pray the Daily Offices of the church. In them you will listen to His word and the language of prayer and they will shape your prayers accordingly.

The Daily Offices come from the Canonical Hours of the monastic community, which Martin Luther retained in the Reformation. The daily offices historically are: Matins (midnight office), Lauds (3 am), Prime (6 am), Terce (9 am), Sext (noon), None (3 pm), Vespers (6 pm), Compline (9 pm/ before bed).

What you are probably most familiar with from the Lutheran Service Book are these prayer services: Matins, Morning Prayer, Vespers, Evening Prayer, Responsive Prayer 1 and 2, and Compline. (If you’ve been to a Higher Things Conference, you’ve prayed most of these!) It is in these services, read out loud, prayed in your private devotion time, with your family or others that you can meditate on the Word and present your requests to your Father in heaven.

Why pray them? Aren’t they just the same old thing time and time again? Ah, but that is the richness of these services. Here are some good reasons to dive into the Daily Offices and pray to the Lord:

1. Loads of Scripture and Psalms, Psalms, and more Psalms.

This is exactly what you want—to have God’s holy Word on your lips and hear it in your ears. For if you to listen to His Word and pray it back to Him, you cannot go wrong. The Psalms are the Old Testament liturgies and you’ll find that they cover so many situations in life, even today.

2. The Offices come from an ancient pattern that has been developed over centuries of trial, experiment, and testing.

Services such as Matins and Vespers are not the new kids on the block. Letting the Daily Offices guide you in prayer is like taking an advanced course in Biblical and systematic theology—like sitting at the feet of some of the best theological minds in Christendom.

3. Even if you pray The Offices alone, it is never private.

Liturgical Christians are praying this basic structure and these words all over the world. The whole church of heaven and earth join in. These prayers never stop as the sun rises and sets all over different parts of the world.

4. There will be new meanings through constant use of the Offices.

When you think you’re getting tired of the words and phrases of an Office, something new and profound will hit you and you—something you can really ponder.

5. Using the Daily Offices sanctifies, or sets apart, different times of the day.

Matins/Morning Prayer separates time out for the Lord in the morning. Evening Prayer in the night time. It structures your prayer life.

6. Where else would you get to learn the canticles (scriptural songs) of the church?

These blessed songs of the saints are worth meditating upon and they can become a part of you.

7. All the Divine Offices contain the Lord’s Prayer.

It is the basis for all liturgical prayer.

8. If you include hymns you will find some of the most meaningful and theological poetic words and thoughts in them.

This means more gifts to rejoice in as you pray and sing!

9. The Offices point you to Christ!!

\The Scripture content, the fixed prayers, the wording worked through many years will point you to your one and only Savior from sin and death. Jesus will be front and center. His words. His work. His gifts.

So grab a Lutheran Service Book and find the Daily Offices and learn how to pray. In these Scriptures, collects, canticles, and more, you have a lifetime of prayer.

Rev. Michael Erickson is the pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Pampa, Texas. He is married to Jerri and they have two boys, Seth and Matthew. He can be reached at revzion@nts-online.net.