The Daily Office
The Daily Office (Online)
The Daily Office - Society of St. Francis
A Version of
Celebrating Common Prayer
is available from the Hilfield Friary bookshop
price £12.50 + £3.25 p&p
CCP can be viewed on line.
Foreword by George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury
The fundamental purpose of Celebrating Common Prayer - The Daily Office SSF is this: to
help the Church as a whole to pray together daily in a reflective and structured way.
For many regular Sunday worshippers, personal prayer during the week is unstructured and
haphazard. This places even more burdens on the Sunday act of worship, which has to do
the task of nourishing and sustaining reflective prayer during the week as well as
celebrating and proclaiming the risen life of Christ in word and sacrament. A pattern of daily
prayer which complements eucharistic worship, such as this book, offers a major resource
to the Church. I hope many Christians will use it to engage in a common pattern of daily
prayer which will unite us all in prayer and praise and allow us to feed on a common diet of
psalmody and canticle.
Since the publication of The Alternative Service Book 1980, our knowledge of the origin and
purpose of daily common prayer in the early Church has grown enormously. As a result,
many people long for a return to a simple and more celebratory form of common prayer for
our time.
In this book, a large number of contributors have helped the Society of Saint Francis to
offer to the Church a pattern of daily prayer which meets many of the needs expressed by
Christians from a wide variety of traditions. There is a simple structure for Morning and
Evening Prayer, when desired. The services can be led by lay people as effectively as the
clergy. There is an emphasis on celebrating together rather than 'saying the Office' as a
private and exclusively clerical obligation.
As well as the texts, suggestions are made as to how the services might be celebrated in a
wide range of circumstances. The use of music of different styles and of a visual focus - the
Bible, a lighted candle, a large cross, for example - will enrich the worship for many.
Although the services are conceived for corporate use, they can also be adapted easily so
that people may use them when alone. We need to recognise and cater for the many
Christians who are not part of a family which shares their faith. We need to recognise too
that there are many occasions when people may have need of a structured form of prayer
when they are on their own, whether it is in hospital or on a commuter train, those peculiar
forms of isolation when there are many people around. It is in these situations, as well as in
other corporate gatherings, that this book will help us to know that we are sharing fully in
the Church's prayer. It is this - the recovery of a joyful partnership in common prayer -
which is at the heart of this welcome proposal.
Postal address
Hilfield Friary
Dorchester, Dorset DT2 7BE UK
Telephone +44 (0)1300 341345 Fax +44 (0)1300 341293
E mail hilfieldssf@franciscans.org.uk
The Daily Office - Society of St. Francis
A Version of
Celebrating Common Prayer
is available from the Hilfield Friary bookshop
price £12.50 + £3.25 p&p
CCP can be viewed on line.
Foreword by George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury
The fundamental purpose of Celebrating Common Prayer - The Daily Office SSF is this: to
help the Church as a whole to pray together daily in a reflective and structured way.
For many regular Sunday worshippers, personal prayer during the week is unstructured and
haphazard. This places even more burdens on the Sunday act of worship, which has to do
the task of nourishing and sustaining reflective prayer during the week as well as
celebrating and proclaiming the risen life of Christ in word and sacrament. A pattern of daily
prayer which complements eucharistic worship, such as this book, offers a major resource
to the Church. I hope many Christians will use it to engage in a common pattern of daily
prayer which will unite us all in prayer and praise and allow us to feed on a common diet of
psalmody and canticle.
Since the publication of The Alternative Service Book 1980, our knowledge of the origin and
purpose of daily common prayer in the early Church has grown enormously. As a result,
many people long for a return to a simple and more celebratory form of common prayer for
our time.
In this book, a large number of contributors have helped the Society of Saint Francis to
offer to the Church a pattern of daily prayer which meets many of the needs expressed by
Christians from a wide variety of traditions. There is a simple structure for Morning and
Evening Prayer, when desired. The services can be led by lay people as effectively as the
clergy. There is an emphasis on celebrating together rather than 'saying the Office' as a
private and exclusively clerical obligation.
As well as the texts, suggestions are made as to how the services might be celebrated in a
wide range of circumstances. The use of music of different styles and of a visual focus - the
Bible, a lighted candle, a large cross, for example - will enrich the worship for many.
Although the services are conceived for corporate use, they can also be adapted easily so
that people may use them when alone. We need to recognise and cater for the many
Christians who are not part of a family which shares their faith. We need to recognise too
that there are many occasions when people may have need of a structured form of prayer
when they are on their own, whether it is in hospital or on a commuter train, those peculiar
forms of isolation when there are many people around. It is in these situations, as well as in
other corporate gatherings, that this book will help us to know that we are sharing fully in
the Church's prayer. It is this - the recovery of a joyful partnership in common prayer -
which is at the heart of this welcome proposal.
Postal address
Hilfield Friary
Dorchester, Dorset DT2 7BE UK
Telephone +44 (0)1300 341345 Fax +44 (0)1300 341293
E mail hilfieldssf@franciscans.org.uk
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