![[prayer booklet]](acp98.gif)
oremus follows a common pattern for daily prayer, used by various groups for nearly two thousand years. The heart of the office is the recitation of the psalter and the reading of the bible, with prayers of thanksgiving and intercession. oremus normally consists of an opening formula, including a short sentence from a non-scriptural source, then the psalm and bible reading. This is usually followed by a hymn and then the prayers concluding with a collect and the Lord's Prayer. Finally comes a concluding sentence.
During Ordinary Time (the 'green seasons'), the Psalm is appointed according to an eight-week cycle, based on the cycle found in 'The Office--Simple Celebration' in the Society of St Francis' Celebrating Common Prayer: A Version of the Daily Office SSF (1992). The version of the psalms used in oremus is also from this book. The eight-week cycle follows first the four-week CCP simple psalm cycle for Morning Prayer and then the four-week cycle for Evening Prayer.
The lectionary for oremus provides one reading for each day of the year. It is based on the Office lectionary found in Celebrating Common Prayer. The CCP lectionary provides two lessons for use in the morning and two for the evening, and this is adapted for oremus so that it covers most of the Scriptures over a course of four years and could provide a good basis for bible study.
On feast days and some other occasions a more appropriate reading is substituted.
Hymns are often selected to reflect on the occasion or the Scripture reading, from a wide range of hymnody, with appropriate hymns being selected for festivals and other occasions. It would certainly be appropriate to sing these parts, but they can also be prayed by reading them.
The intercessions in the Prayer section are usually based on forms appearing in the 1993 Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and reflect a wide-ranging scope of concerns and help us to broaden the focus of our daily prayer. The compilers of oremus hope to experiment with other forms of intercession in the coming months.
On feasts and some other occasions these intercessions are replaced with appropriate material from a variety of sources from Canada, England, New Zealand, the USA and elsewhere.
The Intercessions usually include excerpts from the list cycle and from the Anglican Cycle of Prayer.
The Collects come from a variety of sources, often depending on the current compiler. Simon Kershaw uses as his primary source The Christian Year: Calendar, Lectionary and Collects, published by the Church of England in 1997 as part of the major revision process of the English Alternative Service Book, supplementing this with other collects as necessary. Steve Benner uses recent liturgical provisions from the Presbyterian Church, USA, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Australia, the Church of the Province of New Zealand and the Anglican Church of Canada. Occasionally, Collects are composed specially for oremus.
The invitation to the Lord's Prayer and the closing
sentences most often come from Midday Prayer in
Celebrating Common Prayer, although
other sources may be used.
What Calendar is followed?
The Calendar is an eclectic one, but from October 1995 it broadly
follows that in The Christian Year: Calendar, Lectionary and
Collects, supplemented by feasts from other national churches
of the Anglican Communion, and elsewhere. You can see a copy of that
Calendar in the semi-official Church of England book Exciting
Holiness at:
http://www.oremus.org/liturgy/e-h/
which also contains the Collects and other propers corresponding to
this Calendar, together with other resource material.
Suggestions for additions or other alterations to the oremus Calendar should be sent to compilers@oremus.org.
Each year, the Anglican Consultative Council publishes a
prayer cycle. In general, each Sunday, one Province or
Church of the Anglican Communion is prayed for. On
weekdays, the list cycles through the dioceses of the
Communion, usually covering two dioceses each day.
Archbishops and bishops are mentioned by name, but the
cycle is not just a cycle of prayer for our bishops
(important though that is). The cycle enables us to pray
for all our fellow Anglicans throughout the world. We
also share the same prayer subjects each day.
The cycle is available as a small book each year published by:
Forward Movement Publications
412 Sycamore Street
Cincinatti,
Ohio 45202
U.S.A.and: Church House Publishing
Church House
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3NZ
England
The book form contains maps of all the dioceses, information about each province, and prayer requests from many dioceses.
The 1998 Cycle is also available from Forward Movement on disc.
This cycle includes the names of all members of the list at the time it was compiled. The grouping of members is broadly geographical, so at the same time we are also praying for those areas of our various churches.
The prayer cycle now extends over a period of several months and is usually updated in monthly increments. The present version of the List Cycle is compiled by Patti Scollay. Those who regularly use oremus on the Web are invited to register by emailing compilers@oremus.org to be included in the list prayer cycle. Those who subscribe to the oremus email list are automatically included.
Yes! If you would like a prayer request added to the oremus just write to the compilers and ask.