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| God has a wicked sense of humor |
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About Us
The purpose of this website is simple: to present an ancient form of Christian prayer called the Daily Office, easily understood and updated every day, for use in all times and places, by anyone who wants to visit.
From the beginning, Christians have found it helpful to pause for prayer at various times of day. We get so busy with our activities that it helps to set aside a few minutes to reflect on the majesty of God and the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Over the years, Christians developed a structure for such moments of worship, keyed to the time of day and season of the year. Each Office includes a psalm of praise, a passage of Scripture, and a brief set of prayers.
If you say the Daily Office twice a day, in seven weeks you'll have read the entire Book of Psalms; in two years, you'll have read virtually the entire Bible. That's the beauty of it: the Daily Office breaks down Holy Scripture into manageable chunks. Most people can't wade through 500 "begats" in Elizabethan language, so they quit reading the Bible; but by using these brief appointed readings, they can follow God's magnificent teachings one day at a time.
For some people, reading the Office is a beloved everyday discipline that bears amazing spiritual fruits; others don't always have the opportunity or take the time, but they enjoy the Daily Office when they get the chance.
Other sites, some of them quite useful, offer these prayers while promoting their institution and serving their constituents. The Daily Office can get all cluttered up with local references and pious add-ons, but we try to leave well enough alone. This site has no other agenda and uses the most memorable name: dailyoffice.org.
Now you can read along at work, at home, on the train or wherever you are. You don't have to fumble with books or even know how to pray. This website makes the Daily Office available anytime, anywhere.
We pray that you bookmark this site. (Be sure to do so from our Home page.)
HOW AND WHY WE BEGAN
Dailyoffice.org was started by an Episcopalian with something to celebrate: after years of wandering, he finally bought his first home. He thought, "I'll thank God for this house every day." But he didn't always.
He remembered the Daily Office, and when he unpacked his belongings, he put his prayer books and Bible by his special chair in the living room. Then he found he actually had to open the books for them to do him any good.
So he started reading. Sometimes he said the Daily Office twice a day, sometimes once—and sometimes not at all, for days at a time. Then he lost his place and forgot what day it was in the Bible calendar. He thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a website that has this stuff all figured out? Where all I have to do is point and click?"
And God said, "That's a fine idea. I nominate you."
God has a wicked sense of humor.
Thus the man created and built this site, and now maintains it, without fully knowing what keeps him going, but enjoying his journey. He wonders if the same odd experience happened to those who built two roadside shrines near his home. On a busy highway outside St. John, Indiana, someone built a memorial to the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a large statue and beautiful landscaping. Cars whiz by and almost no one stops; but every now and then you'll see a car there. Near Montmorenci, Indiana stands a Wayside Chapel, a tiny little building about the size of a walk-in closet (it seats six). This little outreach of the Christian Reformed Church isn't used much either; most people are too embarassed to be seen praying so publicly. And yet these places have stood for decades as silent invitations to pray; they witness to every passerby that in the midst of our busy lives, God is here, and all we have to do is stop.
One thing about this website: no one will see your car parked here.
ABOUT OUR TEXTS
We reproduce the Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer (1979) of the Episcopal Church USA.
We strive for accuracy, simplicity, brevity, ease of understanding, universality and eloquence in the worship of God. For brevity, we use every shortcut permitted by the rubrics. We believe more people will use the Daily Office if we "keep it simple, stupid." You can pray with a minimum of clicks.
We also strive for timeliness, as befits a website seeking to make holy the passage of time. When a tsunami, hurricane or other disaster hits, people have a need to pray, and this site seeks to respond in words and pictures.
We use several Bible translations, for reasons that are partly utilitarian and partly ecumenical. We want to offer the widest possible view of Christianity while minimizing sectarianism. Our main source is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission, all rights reserved. If it isn't the NRSV, we typed it ourselves. Some of our New Testament translations come from Good News for Modern Man, subtitled Today's English Version (TEV), © American Bible Society 1966, 1971. (These will gradually be eliminated in favor of more inclusive language.) A few come from the New International Version (NIV), © 1974 by New York International Bible Society. Old Testament readings include The New English Bible (NEB), © 1961, 1970 The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press.
Among the prayers, sources include The Daily Office Revised: Prayer Book Studies 27, © 1973 by Charles Mortimer Guilbert as Custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer. A few prayers are reprinted from The Book of Common Prayer (1928).
On rare occasions of great need or opportunity, when no other prayer seems apt, we offer our own inadequate petitions.
We strive to copy everything letter-perfect, with little editorial judgment or opinion. This site is for everyone who seeks God in the person of Jesus Christ. We don't care what your background is; the Daily Office is scripture-based, time-tested and nonsectarian.
Follow along for one of the greatest joys you'll ever know.
WHO WE ARE
To maintain this ministry and allow it to grow, we are incorporating dailyoffice.org as a non-profit religious entity. We have formed an electronic "vestry" (board members) who oversee spiritual and financial matters. We represent several Christian faith traditions and attend a variety of churches. Laypeople provide the leadership. Ordained clergy are set apart to lead congregations and preside at sacraments (and the Office is no substitute for Holy Communion). Thus it is right for laypeople to take primary responsibility for prayer.
Our mission is evangelical; we seek to spread Good News about salvation in Christ Jesus. Our primary audience is persons who know about Jesus in some way, and who can use some help in growing in the faith.
The way we do that is by praying.
Our mission is also catholic and ecumenical; if Jesus has a claim on people, his voice must be heard, not his thousands of competing interpreters. Every day in Evening Prayer, he alone is quoted.
Wherever you are, we urge you to participate in a local faith community. Christianity is, by necessity, a shared experience. Yes, it's very possible to "pray by oneself in the woods" (or online), but we're more likely to do it, and we get more out of it, when we surround ourselves with other people who are praying too.
But if organized religion is just not for you, you are always welcome here. God loves a rebel, and Jesus overturned the kiosks in the megachurch shopping mall.
We call special attention on this site to the Holy Spirit of God. It is the Spirit who is present in our lives on an ongoing, daily basis, if we recognize and respond to God. The Spirit is our Holy Comforter, our gentle Companion and daily Friend. We pray that you will receive the Spirit more and more.
People can picture God the Father, Creator of the world; and we can imagine the Son of Man as a real person who once lived among us. But God's limitless wisdom has provided another part of himself to be with us right here and right now. This is the Spirit, and he is precious indeed. Call to him and he will always be there.
Oh, the joy of living in relationship with Infinite Love!
HOW WE WORK
After a three-month trial period, our site officially launched on the First Sunday of Advent, November 28, 2004.
To accomodate our congregation across all the time zones of the world, we post seven days' worth of Offices at a time. From Australia to Hawai'i, we've got you covered.
We welcome volunteers, and we are asking for small donations (up to $50) to cover the cost of web hosting, Bible and Prayer Book CDs, upgraded technology and advertising. We have recently added music, creating an expense for legal, copyright-protected downloads. Our paperback New Testament is held together with a rubber band. The site has never broken even. So we do need your donations.
But this service, like God's grace, is free.
All we have done so far is to light one candle. But on the internet, as in heaven, one light can burn perpetually. Thank you for visiting—and come back tomorrow, to see what God has to say.
Josh Thomas, founder
dailyoffice.org
Kentland, Indiana 47951
August 27, 2004
(rev. 1/18/06)
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