THE DAILY OFFICE
MORNING PRAYER: MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, 8:30 A.M. (hosted by Saint Paul's Seattle), join using this Zoom link
EVENING PRAYER: MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, 6 P.M., join using this Zoom link.
Lay readers from Seattle-area congregations including the cathedral lead an online spoken service of daily prayer following the form of the Book of Common Prayer 1979, every weekday evening at 6 p.m.
St. Paul's Seattle, offers online Morning Prayer at 8:30 a.m., Monday–Friday, and members of the cathedral community are encouraged to participate.
NOTE: Evening Prayer (whether online or in person) is always cancelled when the cathedral office is closed for holidays or other reasons, or when a special liturgy is being offered in the nave on a weekday evening.
Please email Cathedral Sacristan Michael Seewer with any questions.
About the Daily Office at Saint Mark's
For more than 20 years, Evening Prayer has occurred every weekday evening here at Saint Mark’s. This worship ministry of daily prayer meets Monday through Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Thomsen Chapel (unless pre-empted by another worship service or event happening at the same time), led by a small but faithful group of Episcopalians. In this service, which marks the end of the work day for most of us, we acknowledge that all time is God’s time, and we give praise and thanks that all time is in God’s hand. The service usually lasts about 30 minutes.
History
Evening Prayer is one of four similar prayer services in the Book of Common Prayer 1979—the others being Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, and Compline. These liturgies, collectively called the “Daily Office,” derive from Christianity’s earliest centuries, and versions of these services are prayed by Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Orthodox and other traditions, to this day. At the time of the English Reformation a version of the Daily Office was crafted in English for the first Book of Common Prayer, combining elements of the medieval offices of Vespers and Compline, from which our service is derived—thus Evening Prayer is a distinctive part of our Anglican heritage as well.
The practice at Saint Mark’s was instituted in September 1998 by The Very Reverend Gerald Porter, Provost of the Diocese of Olympia at the time. Provost Porter viewed Evening Prayer at the Cathedral as one way of celebrating the unity of Saint Mark’s and other congregations in the Diocese as one people of God. Central to this vision was the invitation to licensed lay readers in Seattle-area congregations to serve as worship leaders.
The Daily Office Online
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020, the cathedral's offering of Evening Prayer was immediately moved to an online experience on the Zoom teleconferencing platform. Participants discovered that the liturgies of the Daily Office were uniquely well-suited to this format, and they strongly preferred to continue meeting online exclusively, even when in-person gatherings again became possible.
In early 2023, the community of St Paul's Seattle, located in the Queen Anne neighborhood, came together with the community of Saint Mark's to offer both weekday Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer to both congregations. Online Morning Prayer is hosted by St Paul's; online Evening Prayer is hosted by Saint Mark's; and all are welcome to participate in both.
If you have questions about the Daily Office, please write to dailyoffice@saintmarks.org. And if you are interested in learning how to become a licensed worship leader of Evening Prayer, contact Cathedral Sacristan & Head Verger Michael Seewer.
