Evensong

THE OFFICE OF EVENSONG

Tonight, we welcome the congregation of the United Reformed Church at Brookmans Park to our evening service.

In view of your presence, and the fact that Cardinal Basil Hume has recently expressed the hope that he looks forward to the worship of the Roman Catholic Church being enriched by this particular form of Anglican worship, I thought it might be helpful if I looked briefly at the history, practice and value of this evening service'

HISTORY

This service is known as Evensong or Evening Prayer, and together with Mattins or Morning prayer, belongs to a class of liturgical prayer known as "offices". An "office" is the ancient name given to a non-sacramental service, consisting of psalms, Bible readings and prayers; used regularly at certain times of the day.

It is a form of worship which the early Christian church took over from the Jewish tradition. In the old Testament, the psalmist says "seven times a day do I praise you" and there is certainly evidence, in the Acts of the Apostles, of the early apostles regularly praying at noon and at midnight (Acts10.9, 16.25).

By the early 5th century, there is evidence of the monastic communities of Palestine, Egypt and Gaul offering regular worship, seven times a day. These offices consisted of Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline and the office of Mattins.

At the time of the Reformation, Thomas Cranmer, the author of the Book of Common Prayer of 1549, reduced these seven offices to two, namely Mattins and Evensong, which were renamed Morning and Evening Prayer in the Prayer Book of 1552 and retained in 1662. Mattins was derived from the former offices of Mattins and Lauds with additional material from Prime, and Evensong derived from the former offices of Vespers and Compline.

The rubric in the Book of Common Prayer, provides for these offices to "daily be said and used throughout the year" and "used in the accustomed Place of the Church, Chapel or Chancel". Also in notes, at the beginning of the Prayer Book "Concerning the Service of the Church", it is stated that the services shall be in the "English Tongue" so that people may understand. It also states that "All Priests and Deacons are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly, not being let by sickness or some other urgent cause" and that they "shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begins, that the people may come to hear God's Word and to pray with him".

These two daily offices, of Mattins and Evensong, continue to form part of the liturgical life of clergy and people of the Church of England today.

So much for the history of Evensong, let us now look briefly at the content of this Office of Evensong.

PRACTICE

The introduction to the Office of Evensong, added in 1552, states clearly the fourfold order or pattern of the service.

Firstly, it emphasises the confession of sin as man's duty at all times but especially as a preparation for worship. "Although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God: yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together".

Secondly, we meet together "to render thanks for the great benefits we have received at his hands and to set forth his most worthy praise". This we do in the psalms, canticles and hymns.

Thirdly, we meet together "to hear his most holy Word" and this we do in the two Bible readings.

Fourthly, we meet together "to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul" and this we do in the prayers.

So let us now look at this fourfold structure in greater detail.

Firstly, to offer penitence. The service begins with a prayer of confession by the congregation, followed by pronouncement of God's forgiveness by the "Priest". (It is interesting to note that whilst the word 'Minister' is used throughout the service, this is the only occasion of the use of the word 'priest'). The confession is not just of the sins of

individual worshippers but for the whole of humankind. It is corporate rather than private in intent. Hence the use of the word "we" as opposed to "I".

Some people may consider the language of the Confession to be rather excessive for the average worshipper. Expressions such as "We have erred and strayed like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own heart. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done, And there is no health in us" may appear to be a bit over the top. However, it is worth recalling the observation of Colin Dunlop when he says, that the "words of the liturgy express what we ought to feel rather than what we actually feel when we first use them. We make them our own by aspiration, by desiring that they may be true of us".

Secondly, to offer thanks and praise. The opening words of the versicles and responses are detached verses of psalms 51 and 70 and, together with the Gloria, act as a sort of 'lead in' to the psalms proper, which now follow.

The psalms have been described as the "Church's hymn book" from the earliest days. They were used regularly in synagogue worship and Jesus certainly shows evidence that he was accustomed to reciting the psalms. For instance, on the Cross he pours out His agony in the opening words of psalm 22 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" and likewise in the final moment of triumph, He breathes out His joyful trust to the Father in psalm 31. These Jewish psalms the Christian Church claim as their own by saying the Gloria at the end, and thereby stamping the psalms with the full revelation of God in a Trinity.

The Prayer Book version of the psalms comes from the Great Bible of 1539. It is the translation made by Coverdale from Latin and German versions and not from the original Hebrew. As a result, there are inaccuracies and errors in translation. In 1568, the 'Bishops Bible' sought to correct the situation with a new translation but met with resistance. When the second edition was published in 1572,both versions of the psalms were printed in parallel columns. However by 1611, when the Authorised Version of the Bible was published, only the Coverdale version of the psalms was included and has been used in the Daily Offices until recent times.

Cranmer arranged for the psalms to be recited on a monthly basis, and this can be seen from the Prayer Book with the psalms grouped together under the days of the month for both the morning or evening Offices.

Thirdly, to hear the Word of God. Next follows the two Bible readings; one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament, with a canticle separating them.

Over the centuries, the portions of Bible read in services had been gradually reduced until it consisted of only a few verses in each of the Offices. Archbishop Cranmer sought to correct this situation and restore the Bible reading to the daily Offices. He arranged for the whole of the Old Testament to be read over the year, and the New Testament (save for the Book of Revelation) to be read three times allocated according to the civil year. This remained the basis until 1871, when a separate cycle of readings was provided for Sundays, since it could no longer be assumed that the laity would attend church every day. As a result of this, the Anglican Church is more Bible orientated than any other Christian tradition.

The Canticle, known as the Magnificat, is the Song which Mary sang when she learned that she was to become the mother of Jesus. It stands at the watershed of history. It looks back to the promise of the Messiah contained in the Old Testament, and its fulfilment in the New Testament and therefore comes between both readings.

The second Canticle, the Nunc Dimittis, is the Song which Simeon sang when he received Jesus into his arms at the Purification of Mary in the Temple. This acknowledges the coming of the Messiah to the individual believer.

The Apostles Creed is then recited. This is based upon the old Roman baptismal creed of the 2nd century. It is a simple narrative of the saving acts of God in history. It recalls the basic faith of the Church into which we are admitted at Baptism. Often, members of the congregation will sign themselves with the sign of the Cross at its conclusion, to recall the sign of the Cross placed upon their foreheads at Baptism,

Fourthly, to offer prayer. After the Kyries, the second Lord's Prayer is recited. The prayer is included twice in the Office, (although we omit the former), recalling the two versions of it in the New Testament in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. St Luke's shorter version is probably the original and the one in Matthew which contains the addition of the doxology is later.

The following Versicles and Responses are a form of liturgical prayer which has been described as "a ferment dialogue between priest and people". If you like, they are a piece of ecclesiastical "back chat".

The original daily office concludes with three collects. The first varies from week to week, reflecting the one used on Sundays. The name 'collect' comes from the Latin collectio which is used for the assembly of people. These are not found in the worship of Eastern Christendom where prayers tend to be much longer and diffuse.

The attractiveness of the Collects lies in their brevity, dignity of language and unity of thought. The composition of each collect follows the same basic pattern. Firstly an invocation to Gods' narne, such as "Blessed Lord". Secondly a clause containing the divine attribute, such as "who has caused all holy scripture to be written for our learning". Thirdly, a petition, such as "Grant that we may in such use hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them". Finally, the purpose for which special help of God is sought, such as, "we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life".

There is no doubt that Cranmer was at his best in the paraphrasing of the ancient collects of the church into the vernacular. The 16th century was undoubtedly the "Golden Age of English". As the late D Harrison observes, "Nowhere is Cranmer's sense of form and command of words more plainly seen than in the collects".

So much for the actual content of the Daily Office of Evensong, but what is the special value of the office form of worship for our spiritual lives?.

VALUE OF THE OFFICE

In his introductory essay in The Daily Office by the Joint Liturgical Group (1968), the Baptist scholar, S F Winward, makes the following three points which I believe sum up the value of the Daily Office as a form of worship for today.

Firstly, it is corporate. It is the means whereby Christians join in the perpetual worship of Christ with the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven. If you like, we tune into the continuous worship of the church, not only here on earth but also in heaven. The worship, like a radio or television transmission, is going on before we tune in and continues after we have switched off. It is so easy to feel lonely and isolated when we pray. By the use of the office the Christian can pray with the Church when the Church is not present. Basil Moss says, "I'm fed up with this ghastly picture of prayer as a private telephone line with or without a voice at the other end. It is much more like you and me playing our second fiddles in the unending heavenly orchestral symphony of praise and joy. When we pray we take up our fiddle, and when we stop, we put it down again - but the music never stops".

Secondly, the Daily Office is objective. It is theocentric. Its primary purpose is to offer praise to God. The office seeks to focus our attention upon God and not upon ourselves. True prayer starts with our eyes upon God and not upon our own particular needs. In other words the use of the office prevents our prayers becoming solely self-centred.

Thirdly, the Office is volitional insofar as it has to do with the will. In this respect it is helpful to recall that the word 'office' comes from the Latin word officium which means duty or service required. The Office has a sense of obligation about it. Hence St Benedict, the "Father of Western Monasticism", called it the OPUS DEI - the work of God. It is something that is done for God, for and on behalf of his creation. No wonder Martin Thornton describes it as "disciplined response to the love of God, crystallized into a system out of the living experience of the organic church". In other words we are not left to pray only when we feel like it because feelings are seldom constant. As Winward remarks, "Through the use of the office, we can learn to worship him with, without, or against our feelings, as the case

may be. We can refuse to build the house of prayer on a sand of feeling; we can build it upon the rock of the will, recreated and enabled by the Holy Spirit". In other words, "By means of the office we may move on from the spasmodic to the habitual in prayer".

CONCLUSION

I do hope this brief look at the history, content and value of the Office of Evensong, will enable you to appreciate one of the glories of the Anglican Church, which continues to be offered day by day, year by year in the parish churches and cathedrals of our land and which has enriched the spirituality of Christians for well over 500 years.