Spiritual Formation Daily Prayer Office
--Alternative Journal

1. A Collect for the Day--A short written prayer around which our thoughts collect.
2. A Confession of Sin--may involve both personal confession and a written prayer of confession. Alternately, a passage of scripture for self-examination, such as the 10 Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Fruit of the Spirit, and so on may be used.
3. One or Two Psalms
4. Scripture Readings-one from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament Epistles, and one from the Gospels.
5. One or more Hymns, Scripture Songs, or Choruses--can be interspersed with the scripture readings
6. Additional Prayers (Including the Lord's Prayer)-written and extemporaneous
7. Additional Reflections from Other Authors

Your daily office should involve all of the above elements. They should be chosen in a thematic manner so that they reflect on each other, as well as the reading from class. Your collect may be chosen from historic prayers recorded by others--helpful examples can be found in many denominational prayer books--or it may be written by yourself. Your personal confession of sin should not be recorded, but written prayers and/or scriptural self-exams should be. Likewise, you should include the texts of the scripture readings and psalms with the version cited (e.g. NIV, NAS, NRSV, NLT, etc.). Additional written prayers should be included. If the prayers are extemporaneous, in a sentence or two describe the matters the prayers will focus on. Additional reflections can include the class reading when appropriate, authors from the period we are studying, or modern authors. While not required, your daily office may include images and actions you plan to take in response to the office.

Finally, you should include a paragraph or two of reflection that explains what you hope to accomplish through your daily office and how it interacts with the day's class reading. This can include questions, related spiritual exercises, and some moderate self-reflection. It should be clear how your office reflects critical discernment of the class texts, as well as positive critique and/or appropriation of the ideas/themes in the day's text.

[Click here for an example.]

Some of you may find this exercise a bit foreign to your spiritual experience, especially the use of written prayers or the practice of praying the Psalms. While it is possible to pray the exact words of the prayers and psalms you choose to include, you can also use them as a pattern to pray by, applying key words and phrases to your own prayer. Or you can use them as another reflection followed by your own extemporaneous prayers.