1. Timothy 2,1-6. Rogate

 1. Timothy 2,1-6 2723

Rogate 41 

Pachomius, Abbot in upper Thebais, Egypt ✠ 348 

14. Mai 2023

1. ℣ With the voice of singing declare ye and tell this:

℟ Utter it even to the end of the earth (Isaiah 48,20c). 

O risen Christ, our redeemer; as You are seated at Your Father’s right hand, petition Him to bless and provide for us all temporal and spiritual needs, so that our body and soul may be daily comforted and refreshed.  Amen. (Morning Prayer of Easter Saturday antiphon; John 16,28 Versicles)

2. »First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.« 

 3. One of our Christian duties is to pray. We find faithful men and women throughout the Scriptures praying. The Gospels give us specific instances where Jesus prayed. Matthew and Luke provide for us the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus has taught His disciples. 

4. Our hymnal provides dozens of prayers, collects and litanies that we may pray. These prayers cover all the major necessities of temporal and spiritual life. Even the hymns can be prayed. One of my seminary professors opened each class by praying a verse from a hymn. 

5. Very early in the Church’s history the apostles and bishops began the process of having formal prayer offices. First century ad Jews often prayed in the morning and evening that coincided with the morning and evening prayers and sacrifices that occurred each day at the temple in Jerusalem; these occurred at shortly after sunrise and at 3 pm. The first Christian prayer offices aligned themselves with these times; this practice has continued to this very day as hymnals have a morning and afternoon service. Lutherans generally use Matins and Vespers for these offices. 

6. In 529 St. Benedict’s Rule established the pattern of daily prayers: Nocturns in the middle of the night (roughly 2 or 3 am), Matins and Lauds 5 am, Prime 6 am, Terce 9 am, Sext 12 noon, None 3 pm, Vespers sunset and Compline before bed. This was eventually modified to Matins sunrise, Lauds 6 am, Prime 7 am and the other offices remaining at their time of the day. Matins and Lauds were often prayed together since sunrise and 6 am often fall quite near each other. Matins and Vespers became lengthier prayer offices, and the others were briefer in terms of content and time needed to pray them (Prime 20 minutes; Terce, Sext and None 10 minutes each). These 8 times of prayer were referred to as the Daily Office, the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours. It is obvious that the average person simply could not undertake the daunting task of praying every 3 hours throughout the day, so eventually only pastors, monks and nuns prayed the entire Daily Office each day. After Luther left the monastery, he tried to continue this practice but soon realized it was simply impossible with his teaching schedule and other responsibilities. This is why most Lutheran hymnals focus on Matins and Vespers as the chief offices of the Daily Office, but will often have other briefer prayer offices for personal use. Lutheran Service Book has Matins and Vespers. Morning Prayer is lengthier modification of Lauds and Evening Prayer an alternative for Vespers. Compline rounds out the Daily Office in our hymnal. Although it is not specifically mentioned in the hymnal’s rubrics, Matins and Morning Prayer may be prayed together, and Vespers or Evening Prayer and Compline may be prayed together. 

7. The main features of each office is: a Psalm, a Hymn, brief Scripture reading and a few prayers. Each office has its own unique theme and prayers so that developed over the centuries so that there is quite a bit of variety in the Daily Office so that it doesn’t become monotonous. Lauds, for instance, centers around the reading of Psalms 148, 149 and 150; these are psalms of praise, and other praise psalms rotate throughout the yearly praying of Lauds. Evening Prayer incorporates themes of light and darkness as one’s prayers prepare to retire for the night. 

8. The ’60s were a time of liturgical reform across the Church. The Roman Catholic Church’s 2. Vatican Council made a number of changes that included transitioning from Latin to the vernacular language, removing Prime as an office and tweaking the Daily Office to make it more suitable for the laity to participate in on a daily basis. The Lutheran Church likewise was re-examining the Daily Office. The lcms published Daily Office in 1965 which was a resource that had daily propers for Matins and Vespers and included the other offices. In 1969 Worship Supplement was printed to field test liturgical material for the hymnal that would replace 1941’s The Lutheran Hymnal. Worship Supplement had a reworked Prime, Sext, None and Compline. Following the rcc, the lcms also dropped Prime from the Daily Office to streamline the hours. The offices in Lutheran Worship and Lutheran Service Book reflect these changes and others over the past decades. Daily Office was a ’60s Lutheran breviary much like Treasury of Daily Prayer is a 21. century Lutheran breviary. 

9. The Daily Office flows out of the Divine Service (Gottesdienst) of Sunday morning, so that in the Daily Office we orient our lives on a daily basis around the word of God and prayer without ceasing (1. Thessalonians 5,17). Our prayers rise to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, glorifying the Holy Trinity. We give thanks for Jesus Christ who died and rose to redeem us. May God bless us as we lift up His Name in prayer and praise. Jesus teaches:  »Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will return and will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.« (John 14,1-3).  To this we reply: Μαράναθά! Our Lord has come! (1. Corinthians 16,22. cf. Didache 10,6) 

10. Guide all our lives evermore

At all times according to Your will;

And when our journey’s o’er

Through Death’s jaws fulfill, 

When here our time has come,

Help us to die in merriment

And by dying inherit

Eternal life our home. (Zieh ein zu deinen Toren elkg 482,13 2021 Paul Gerhardt 1653) 

This is most certainly true. 

11. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

12. Let us pray. O almighty God, who hast caused the light of eternal life to shine upon the world, we beseech Thee that our hearts may be so kindled with heavenly desires, and Thy love so shed abroad in us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may continually seek the things which are above and, abiding in purity of heart and mind, may at length attain unto Thine everlasting kingdom, there to dwell in the glorious light of Thy presence,. Amen. (Rogate, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.) 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

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