At the time of this writing, I’ve spent 6 years using the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and Daily Office as my primary devotional tool.

Over the past couple of months, the New Testament readings have been jumping around in Revelation. It continued past Ordinary Time and into Advent.

While this is a fantastic Advent reading, it is also comforting to me. I spent most of my 20’s absolutely obsessed with Revelation. I wrote a Master’s Thesis on preaching the Year C Easter texts from Revelation.

As I turned the pages to my reading for today, I realized the Office has me in certain parts of Revelation for the 2nd time this year. While the Psalms repeat in the Office, to find myself in Revelation many times this year has been fun.

For those unfamiliar with the Daily Office in the BCP, it alternates between year 1 and year 2. At the beginning of Advent each year, the start of the church year, you finish up one year and begin the next. Beginning the year at Advent, instead of January 1. Praying (and reading) the Daily Office gives you a great way to keep situated in God’s time, rather than secular time.

It is a practice of re-enchantment.

I’ve been a fan of daily Bible reading for 20 years. For most of that, I focused on through the Bible plans. 90 and 180 day plans were my favorite. I was ok with a 365 plan, but I never liked how long it took and how the length of time made it more difficult to see the big story of scripture.

With the Office, you are still reading in a scattered way across scripture. Old Testament, New Testament, Gospels, and Psalms every day, with morning and evening Psalms readings. You don’t finish the whole Bible in a year. In fact, and I need to check this, I don’t think you read every single verse across the whole two year rhythm.

But about the old friend part…

It isn’t just the way scripture is read, but also the prayers. Since using the office exclusively for daily reading these past 6 years, what I’ve realized is that my morning devotion time is one of familiarity. Most of the regular prayers are memorized now. The confession is one that stays with me throughout the day, and I love how the subtle shift between morning and evening causes greater examination. I look forward to new parts of the church year and the occasional prayers it brings into the rhythm.

I know I’ve got a prophet's year in one of the cycles, and I always look forward to that. There is the “Revelation” year, and I get excited when it kicks back up. I love how much I go through each gospel, and get sad when we shift from one gospel to the next, not unlike a friend needing to leave the party.

The Office has made my devotional life like that of an old friend. There is expectation, familiarity, and an overall more holistic approach to the daily office. While you can get many copies of the BCP, this one is my daily driver.

If you are thinking about what Bible plan you want to start in the new year, consider the office. Yes, the plan starts in Advent, but one of the reasons I suggest it to so many people is how it is oriented differently and lets someone start it at any point in time in the year and not get FOMO for not starting out on a whole Bible plan.

Chad

PS. I made a video a few years ago with my friend Rev. Joshua Toepper. He is the one who really helped me understand how to use the office. Here is a longer conversation we had about it. ​