The Invitatory in Anglican Daily Prayer
The Invitatory is the opening summons to praise in the Anglican Daily Office, most closely associated with Morning Prayer. It normally consists of an opening versicle and response, the Gloria Patri, and an invitatory psalm or canticle, especially the Venite (Psalm 95). In Anglican use the invitatory is not merely a preface to prayer but a liturgical act that gathers the congregation, orders the affections toward worship, and places the recitation of the psalms and lessons within the praise of God. Its form reflects both the inheritance of the western monastic offices and the simplified public prayer of the Book of Common Prayer.
Origins and Prayer Book Form
The term invitatory comes from the wider western liturgical tradition, where it denotes the invitation to begin the daily praise of God. Medieval forms of the office commonly used Psalm 95 as a call to worship, often with an antiphon suited to the day or season. The English Prayer Book tradition retained the essential idea while simplifying its structure for parish and household use.
In the classical Prayer Book pattern, Morning Prayer begins with sentences of Scripture, an exhortation, confession, absolution, and the Lord's Prayer, followed by the versicles: "O Lord, open thou our lips" and the response, "And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise." These words introduce the daily offering of praise and lead directly into the Gloria Patri and the appointed invitatory canticle. The best-known canticle in this place is the Venite, though other canticles may be appointed on particular days in some Anglican books.
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer gives the invitatory a stable public form. Later Anglican prayer books often preserve the same basic order while allowing seasonal antiphons, alternative canticles, or a shorter opening rite. These adaptations do not change the main purpose of the invitatory: it marks the transition from preparation and penitence into the common praise of the Church.
Liturgical Function
The invitatory serves several related functions in Anglican daily prayer. First, it gives the office a biblical opening. The words asking God to open the lips are drawn from the language of the Psalms and frame worship as a gift enabled by divine grace. The congregation does not begin with self-expression, but with a petition that God will make praise possible.
Second, the invitatory establishes the communal character of the office. Even when Morning Prayer is said privately, its language is corporate: "our lips" and "our mouth." This reflects the Prayer Book understanding that the Daily Office is the prayer of the Church, not only the devotion of an individual. In parish worship, the versicle and response also give the people an immediate spoken part in the service.
Third, the invitatory introduces the psalmody and readings that follow. The Venite calls worshippers to hear God's voice and not harden their hearts, making it a fitting threshold before the appointed psalms and lessons. The movement is therefore theological as well as ceremonial: praise prepares the hearer for Scripture, and Scripture is received within praise.
Variations in Anglican Use
Anglican provinces have treated the invitatory with both continuity and flexibility. Some prayer books retain the traditional opening of Morning Prayer nearly unchanged. Others provide seasonal antiphons for Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and other occasions, restoring a feature known in older western use. Contemporary rites may also permit alternatives to the Venite, such as the Jubilate or other scriptural canticles, especially where pastoral or seasonal considerations commend them.
The placement of the invitatory can vary according to the structure of a particular book. In some rites it follows confession and absolution, maintaining the older Prayer Book sequence. In others it appears near the very beginning of the office, with penitential material made optional or placed elsewhere. These differences reflect wider Anglican judgments about the relation of penitence, praise, and proclamation in public worship.
Despite such variety, the invitatory remains one of the recognizable features of Anglican daily prayer. It embodies the Prayer Book habit of concise biblical speech, shared response, and ordered praise. As a small element of the office, it shows how Anglican liturgy often joins inherited catholic forms with reformed simplicity and congregational intelligibility.