Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families (1928 BCP)

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Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families (1928 BCP) is the household prayer office near the close of the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. It provides morning and evening forms for domestic worship, a shorter form for daily use, and additional prayers for family life, children, absence, sickness, birthdays, departed loved ones, the poor, work, and meals.

The office shows that Anglican common prayer is not limited to parish buildings. The household is ordered by Scripture, the Lord's Prayer, daily repentance, thanksgiving, intercession, and the Collect of the Day. In that sense, the family prayers extend the logic of the Daily Office into ordinary domestic life without making the home a substitute for the Church's public worship.

Household Prayer and Common Prayer

The rubrics assume that family prayer is a real act of common worship. The "Master or Mistress" calls the household together, but the office also permits "any other" appointed person to lead. The household kneels, repeats the Lord's Prayer, and may add the Collect of the Day, binding domestic devotion to the Church's calendar and appointed prayer.

The Master or Mistress having called together as many of the Family as can conveniently be present, let one of them, or any other who may be appointed, say as followeth, all kneeling, and repeating with him the Lord's Prayer.

[1]

Here may follow the Collect for the day.

[2]

This opening pattern matters theologically. The Prayer Book does not treat the home as a private devotional island. It orders the household by the same basic grammar that governs Anglican worship elsewhere: common words, embodied reverence, the Lord's Prayer, Scripture, and the Church's calendar. Joshua's public confession, "as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD," provides a biblical analogue for the household gathered before God.[3]

Morning Thanksgiving and Dedication

The longer morning form begins with praise for preservation through the night. It then turns immediately to dedication of soul and body for the day. The prayer is not vague optimism. It asks that daily life become "sober, righteous, and godly," echoing Titus 2:12 and placing ordinary work, speech, and conduct under baptismal discipline.

Almighty and everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being; We, thy needy creatures, render thee our humble praises, for thy preservation of us from the beginning of our lives to this day.

[4]

We here dedicate both our souls and our bodies to thee and thy service, in a sober, righteous, and godly life.

[5]

The office therefore links gratitude to obedience. Morning prayer begins from God's mercy and moves toward the day's vocation. It teaches children and adults alike that providence, sanctification, and daily duty belong together.

Grace, Judgment, and Daily Vocation

The morning prayers also give a sober account of human weakness. The family asks for the Holy Spirit's assistance against temptation and remembers the judgment of Christ. This is not morbid fear; it is Anglican moral realism. Grace is needed because nature is weak, temptations are manifold, and the Christian life requires active restraint from sin and incitement to duty.

Give us the constant assistance of thy Holy Spirit; that we may be effectually restrained from sin, and incited to our duty.

[6]

Keep us temperate in all things, and diligent in our several callings. Grant us patience under our afflictions. Give us grace to be just and upright in all our dealings.

[7]

This language joins household devotion to vocation. Family prayer is not withdrawal from the world; it prepares Christians for work, affliction, economic dealing, neighborly compassion, and the practical love of all people according to ability and opportunity.

Evening Confession and Reconciliation

The longer evening form begins with the Lord's Prayer, permits the Collect of the Day, and then provides confession with a deliberate silent pause. The rubric is pastorally direct: each person secretly confesses "the sins and failings of that day." Evening prayer thus turns the household from daily activity to penitence, pardon, and reconciliation before sleep.

Here let him who reads make a short pause, that every one may secretly confess the sins and failings of that day.

[8]

Make us deeply sensible of the great evil of them; and work in us an hearty contrition; that we may obtain forgiveness at thy hands.

[9]

The next evening prayer asks that no envy, hatred, malice, or wrath remain in the heart. This gives domestic form to St. Paul's command, "let not the sun go down upon your wrath."[10] The family is taught to end the day with charity, a conscience void of offence, and hope in the coming of Christ.

Intercession, Thanksgiving, and the Wider Church

The evening intercession widens the household's prayer beyond its own needs. It prays for all mankind, the light of the Gospel among the nations, the Church, civil authority, relations and neighbors, enemies, and all who are in trouble. The domestic office is therefore not narrow or sentimental; it forms the home to pray with catholic breadth.

Let the light of thy Gospel shine upon all nations; and may as many as have received it, live as becomes it. Be gracious unto thy Church; and grant that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may serve thee faithfully.

[11]

Above all, we adore thy mercy in sending thy only Son into the world, to redeem us from sin and eternal death.

[12]

The thanksgiving is explicitly evangelical: all bodily and temporal mercies are received with gratitude, but the highest mercy is redemption through the Son of God. The office thereby keeps household devotion centered on the Gospel rather than on family feeling alone.

Scripture, Shorter Forms, and Blessing

The 1928 office also gives shorter morning and evening forms. These begin "After the reading of a brief portion of Holy Scripture," making Bible reading normal for household prayer. On Sundays and other convenient days, the longer evening form also recommends beginning with a chapter, or part of a chapter, from the New Testament.

On Sundays, and on other days when it may be convenient, it will be proper to begin with a Chapter, or part of a Chapter, from the New Testament.

[13]

After the reading of a brief portion of Holy Scripture, let the Head of the Household, or some other member of the family, say as followeth, all kneeling, and repeating with him the Lord's Prayer.

[14]

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night.

[15]

The family office commonly ends with biblical blessing. The longer forms use the apostolic grace of 2 Corinthians 13:14, while the shorter evening form uses the priestly blessing from Numbers 6:24-26. The home is thus placed under Trinitarian grace and divine peace.

Additional Prayers and Domestic Pastoral Care

The additional prayers make the office especially practical. They include prayers for the Spirit of Prayer, morning, night, Sunday morning, quiet confidence, guidance, trustfulness, joy in creation, children, the absent, those loved, the sick, operations, birthdays, departed loved ones, mental darkness, families of the land, poor and neglected persons, stewardship, general intercession, and grace before meals.

Give us light and strength so to train them, that they may love whatsoever things are true and pure and lovely and of good report, following the example of their Saviour Jesus Christ.

[16]

We commend to thy continual care the homes in which thy people dwell. Put far from them, we beseech thee, every root of bitterness, the desire of vain-glory, and the pride of life.

[17]

These prayers connect family worship with catechesis, marriage, sickness, grief, charity, and stewardship. They also show a characteristic 1928 BCP pastoral instinct: the Prayer Book provides words for recurring conditions of ordinary life so that Christians learn to bring each condition before God.

Anglican Theological Use

For classical Anglican and Reformed Episcopal theology, the family prayers witness to Scripture-governed devotion within the ordinary household. They teach the Lord's Prayer, repentance, thanksgiving, intercession, vocation, providence, charity, and hope in Christ without separating domestic piety from the Church's common prayer.

High Church and traditional Anglican Catholic readers can emphasize the office's continuity with the Daily Office, its use of the Collect of the Day, kneeling, ordered leadership, and blessing. Evangelical and low church readers can receive the same office as a deeply biblical pattern of household devotion, where Scripture and prayer shape the home in repentance, faith, and obedience. The result is a distinctively Anglican domestic asceticism: modest in ceremony, rich in doctrine, and ordered toward holy living.

See Also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Morning Prayer rubric, p. 587.
  2. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Morning Prayer rubric, p. 587.
  3. ↑ Joshua 24:15, Authorized Version.
  4. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Morning Prayer, "Acknowledgment of God's Mercy and Preservation," p. 587; compare Acts 17:28.
  5. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Morning Prayer, "Dedication of Soul and Body to God's Service," p. 588; compare Titus 2:12.
  6. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Morning Prayer, "Prayer for Grace to enable us to perform that Resolution," p. 588.
  7. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Morning Prayer, "For Grace to guide and keep us the following Day," p. 588.
  8. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Evening Prayer rubric, p. 589.
  9. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Evening Prayer, "Confession of Sins, with a Prayer for Contrition and Pardon," p. 589.
  10. ↑ Ephesians 4:26, Authorized Version.
  11. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Evening Prayer, "The Intercession," p. 590.
  12. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Evening Prayer, "The Thanksgiving," p. 590.
  13. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Evening Prayer rubric, p. 591.
  14. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Shorter Form, Morning rubric, p. 591.
  15. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Shorter Form, Evening, p. 592.
  16. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Additional Prayers, "For the Children," p. 594; compare Philippians 4:8.
  17. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," Additional Prayers, "For a Blessing on the Families of the Land," p. 596.
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