As long as I have known devout Episcopalians they have been lamenting how few people say the Daily Office. How to fix it? Focus on the Office as a devotional practice? Make the Office more accessible? Preach on/teach the Office? But SAYING the Office is the problem. (1/14)

I haven’t heard any conversation about how SAYING the Office may be a big part of the problem. Let me back up here, and by back up I mean the 6th century. There is no evidence that the Office of the Western Church was ever said. It was always, always sung. (2/14)

In our earliest expression of the Western office, St. Benedict says (RB 19) “Sic stemus ad psallendum ut mens nostra concordet voci nostrae” – So let us stand at chanting so that our mind may accord with our voice. The word psalm means chant. (3/14)

The idea that people would stand around and READ the psalms aloud would have been bizarre, and about as inspiring as a congregation standing up to read the verses of their favorite hymn. Just. . . why would you do that. (4/14)

The Episcopal Church, for all its venerable and beautiful musical tradition, has sawed away at the connection between the words of the Office and the music of the Office, as though these are separable things. And then there is surprise when no one is saying their Office. (5/14)

The Prayer Book offers no hint that musical settings for the Office are found in the Hymnal. The music is in a separate book, and it’s not that easy to find in the book, either. You have to be determined. (6/14)

In parishes where the Daily Office is said, there is this feeling that “adding” chant to it would make it hard for people to “participate.” (7/14)

Chant of the psalms and canticles is not an ADDITION to the Office. It is the whole point. SPEAKING the psalms and canticles is the later (and weirder) addition. It’s a big part of what makes the Office inaccessible to people. (8/14)

A said office is like going to a Broadway show to hear the cast read their songs aloud. Why. (9/14)

Until and unless chant (Gregorian or Anglican) is taught as the normative way of prayer, numbers of those praying the Office in any given parish are going to remain low. Because it’s ugly. It’s unedifying. It sounds as stupid as me reading the hymnal aloud. (10/14)

This is not a hard fix. For instance, the Catholic Church issues a one-volume Liturgy of the Hours that contains basic psalm tones and a skeleton hymnal. TEC can do the same, re-uniting the words of the Office with the water those words were meant to swim in: the music. (11/14)

In case you were wondering, learning chant is not hard. If you choose to use the traditional music of the Western office (Gregorian chant) that’s eight basic melodies to learn. The average American can hum 27.8 commercial jingles. I made that up. (12/14)

By treating chant as though it were difficult, we tear at the fabric of the Office and deprive Episcopalians of their birthright. (13/14)

Chief point: if you want people to do something, you don’t make it easy. You make it beautiful. You make it worth it. #singyouroffice (14/14)