Daily Prayer in the Home
West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod

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For a fully structured morning prayer with psalms and lessons for the day already included, click here and select morning, noon, evening, or compline.
While awaiting a major winter storm, we received a request for a worship resource that could be used in the home in response to an announced cancellation of the coming Sunday worship service in the church. One might immediately think back to the COVID-19 pandemic, an extended period of time during which we could not easily gather for corporate worship. Congregations scrambled to to find ways to meet the requests of the faithful, and the churchwide worship office offered its own recommendations. Not surprisingly, in this age of rapid media change, those resources were buried under the production of intervening years, but with a little digging, we've located some of them. This page includes some of the items we've found along with other resources. Use what you find useful for your situation; not everyone will find the same resources helpful.

We close this introduction with a little historical perspective. It was not uncommon throughout our synodical territory for the faithful to not have worship every Sunday morning. This was the frontier, and remained the frontier (in terms of population density) well after states to the west of us became major agricultural and industrial centers. St. Johannes Lutheran Church (Doddrige County), perhaps the most extreme example, did not call its first pastor until 1924, more than seventy-one years after its founding. During most of those years, it held corporate worship every other week and saw a pastor once a year (twice if they were lucky). Many other congregations did not see a pastor every week, and they either did not hold worship on those Sundays or they gathered as a community of prayer (with sermons often read from books). How did they survive spiritually? Daily prayer, Bible reading, mutual conversation and consolation, catechetical study, and the reading of devotional writings not only sustained them but strengthened them in the faith. Early American Lutheranism was profoundly informed by Pietism, and the spiritual disciplines of Pietism (those just named) were indispensable to the faithful.

We might think it a novelty to say, "Here's a resource for you in case we have a snow day." It only seems a novelty to us because we have forgotten our roots. While some of the particular forms provided here are different from those used by our ancestors, the general pattern is old. It is the old-time religion of American Lutheranism, the origins of which can be traced back to Muhlenberg, Francke, Spener, Arndt, and a former observantine Augustinian who believed everyone (not just the monks) could prayer.

While offered as a resource for use when congregational worship is cancelled, we hope that you will find at least one of these forms something to enrich your devotional life every day of the week.

Forms for Prayer

Most Basic Form — Luther's Daily Prayer

Luther included very short prayer forms for use in private and family devotion. These are found in the appendices to many additions of his Small Catechism. You will find a brief morning prayer and a brief evening prayer and also a prayer to be said before a meal and another to return thanks after the meal.

You can use the forms found in the Small Catechism as they are found or augment them with Scripture or devotional reading or whatever prayers come to your heart.

A Little More Structure — Suffrages

At least as early as the General Synod's publication of the Book of Worship with Tunes (1880), the suffrages were included. The suffrages are a simple prayer form whose origins go back to the little chapters of monastic foundations. From there, they migrated into cathedral and then ultimately into congregational use. In cathedral and congregational use, the suffrages were prayers said as part of matins (morning prayer), vespers, or some other prayer office. They can, however, stand alone. While designed for call and response in a group, the suffrages may be profitably used by an individual in private.

If you have a hymnal, you will find the suffrages as follows

  • ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006 — the nu-cranberry book)
    • Responsive Prayer (Suffrages), p.328
  • LBW (Lutheran Book of Worship, 1977 — the green book)
    • For morning — Responsive Prayer 1 (Suffrages), 161
    • For other times of the day and before travel — Responsive Prayer 2 (Suffrages), p.164.
  • SBH (Service Book and Hymnal, 1958 — the red book)
    • General Suffrages, p.153
    • Morning Suffrages, p.154
    • Evening Suffrages, p.155

More Structure — Simplified Forms for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer

During the pandemic the ELCA (churchwide) Worship Office produced simplified forms of the morning and evening prayer services found in the ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006). These may be downloaded for personal and home devotion.

Full Form — Matins, Vespers, and Compline

At least as early as the General Synod's publication of the Book of Worship with Tunes (1880), our hymnals included forms for morning prayer (matins) and evening prayer (vespers). In some places, morning prayer was used in place of what we might call the morning service (or usual Sunday worship service) when the pastor was not present or even when the pastor was present and communion would not be celebrated. While designed for use in a group, they may be profitably used by an individual in private.

If you have a hymnal, you will find the the prayer offices for morning (matins), evening (vespers), and the close of the day (compline) as follows

  • ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006 — the nu-cranberry book)
    • Morning Prayer, p.298
    • Evening Prayer, p.309
    • Prayer at the Close of the Day, p.320
  • LBW (Lutheran Book of Worship, 1977 — the green book)
    • Morning Prayer (Matins), p.131
    • Evening Prayer (Vespers), p.142
    • Prayer at the Close of the Day (Compline), p.154
  • SBH (Service Book and Hymnal, 1958 — the red book)
    • Matins, p.129
    • Vespers, p.141

Do I Have To Use One of the Above?

Of course not. These above are just some suggested resources from within our tradition. You are always free to pray freely, i.e., without a particular form, to read the Holy Scripture on whatever patter your like, or to borrow from other traditions (always testing them against the teachings of our catechisms — not all traditions are equal and some are downright heretical).

You might find the following ecumenical resources helpful:

  • The Daily Office — web-based rendering of the daily offices (morning, noon, evening, and compline) found in the Book of Common Prayer (ACNA, 2019) with psalms, prayers, and readings from Holy Scripture automatically updating for each day of the year.

Readings

We can think about readings in two classes: Holy Scripture (the Bible) and devotional writings.

Holy Scripture

One is, of course, free to read any passage of Holy Scripture as part of one's devotional practices. Some will want to follow the lectionary (Revised Common Lectionary) used by the church on Sunday mornings and feast days. The RCL will line up most Sundays with the lectionary employed by the ELCA, but there are some odd days, e.g., Reformation Sunday and some days in the summer. Still others, especially those engaged in daily prayer throughout the week, will want to use a daily lectionary

There are also lectionaries for daily prayer found in the hymnals of our tradition.

  • ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006 — the nu-cranberry book), p.1121 (in the back of the book) — this lectionary is arranged in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary. Year A begins with Advent 2025 and runs through most of 2026. Year B begins with Advent 2026. Year C begins with Advent 2027. The cycle then repeats.
  • LBW (Lutheran Book of Worship, 1977 — the green book), p.179 — this is arranged in a two-year cycle. Year One is for odd years like 2027, but it begins with Advent 2026. Year Two is for even years like 2026, but it began with Advent 2024. The cycle then repeats.

Lectionaries can also be found online:

Devotional Writings

Some will find the best way to engage in home worship or private devotion to the reading of a spiritul masterpiece. Such a reading can also be integrated into other forms of devition (like those provided above).

Sermons

Printed sermons have often served as devotional readings. Severl of Luther's sermons, e.g., were published in a collection for home. Known as the Hauspostille, the collection became a classic source of devotional reading  in many Lutheran homes. Click here to find a rather large collection of Luther's sermons online.

Created as a resource for synodically licesnsed lay readers, the Readers' Library provides links to sermons available online.

Other Devotional Writings

Luther's Small Catechism and especially the Large Catechism have long been sources for devotional reading. Certain other authors have loomed large in the Lutheran tradition, among them Gerhard and Arndt. We've also been blessed by writings from other traditions. While time does not permit to list all readings we might recommend, the following are commended to you now:
West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod,
℅ St. Paul Lutheran Church,
309 Baldwin Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
304-363-4030  +  Porter@WV-WMD.org