Hi all, more questions I'm afraid. When following the daily office home alone, especially evening prayer, should I say a phrase at the end of the Bible readings even if they are not written in the text of the daily office? I've noticed on Sunday's we say here endeth the epistle or this is the word of lord, thanks be to god. Should I/ could I say this after each offices reading or something similar?
There are a couple of offerings I have, Lord in the darkness, let your light shine May you word live in me and bear much fruit to your glory Sometimes a particular reading may simply evoke a line from and hymn or psalm. Use that. Try to be settled in the office, and let your responses be authentic. When we pray the office with others, clearly there is a great advantage is saying the common text, which is not so compelling when you are on your own.
This is an amazing resource for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/england.htm Here is what it instructs to be said after the reading of each lesson:
For private recitation of the Office, you don't "need" to make an announcement about the reading you just read. I sometimes pause and say "thanks be to God", but it's not a big deal.
"Could" and "should" are vastly different here. You can (could) say anything that you have on your mind or in your heart; you have liberty in Christ and can express joy, gratefulness, anything, or nothing. (If I had just read one of the genealogy passages, I'm sure I'd be inclined to say nothing of significance!) As for "should," which implies a requirement or at very least a certain level of 'religiously correct' appropriateness, I think that would elevate form over substance; when you are alone with God in prayer (communication) or in the Word, there is no reason to be PC (or RC) because I don't think God stands on formality.
I understand what you are saying, and yet those very genealogical passages are important in many ways. It reminds us that it is not just about laws, and it is not just about ideas, and it is not just about principals, it is about real people, people with parents and grandparents, it is about children and grandchildren, and it is about belonging. The begatitudes as I like to call them provide significant links to the continuity of God's care for his people, and now that we have the Epoch of Gilgamesh we also have some close parallels which really provide significant external support for the story of Abraham and the Abrahamic migration form Ur of the Chaldees. Clearly is Abraham came from that region, he would have carried with him, not simply bedding and a change of clothes, not simply camels and donkeys, but very significantly the stories, the traditions, and the stories of origin that had nurtured him. Even in Jesus time, you pedigree was part of your identity, and certified you as part of the story. So whilst in our time we may have lost some of the relevance, these stories were in the day of great significance, and even today they provide much in terms of us being able to earth this story, not as a myth, not as a philosophy, but as the veritable story of God's care for his people.