Author Archives: Derek A. Olsen

Update on New Breviary Offices

Since my previous post, I’ve been able to log some significant time getting bugs fixed and features added to the new code base.

Morning Prayer in the new format is here: http://breviary.stbedeproductions.com/test/Morning_79_BCP.html

I’m happy to announce that Evening Prayer can now be found here: http://breviary.stbedeproductions.com/test/Evening_79_BCP.html

But…you might be saying…what if I don’t want to have to go to two different places to get my offices? Never fear, this is a temporary intermediate state while I get things functioning correctly. I’ve already thought of a number of possible end-states where you can go to one place and get the offices you’re after. As usual, I’ll play with a couple, and we’ll figure out what you like best…

Some items to note:

  • The Prayer for Mission is now a choice; all of the options are available, but one is made active.
  • If you’re overwhelmed by options, you can get rid of most of them with the “Simplify Options” button.
  • A number of things will appear now as they ought too—hymns, commemorations, etc.
  • The right creeds are with the right rites.
  • Kalendar selections exist now. There are only three options at the moment: Lesser Feasts & Fasts 2006 (the official Calendar of the church—more on this anon), Great Cloud of Witnesses (made available at General Convention but not yet published in tangible form), and my own idiosyncratic House Kalendar. I’ll add back more as time allows and as I receive requests.

There are some known issues that I am working on:

  • If you begin on a day with ferial psalm antiphons, select a kalendar that is observing a saint, then decide that you really want to go back and not celebrate the saint, the code has trouble recall the initial ferial antiphons.
  • I’m sure there are more waiting to be found…

There are some things I haven’t gotten to.

  • Chief among them is a way to capture/save/apply preferences. I think we’re really close on this one; I’m just trying to determine if there are some more elegant ways to make it happen rather than a basic brute force approach.
  • Non-current BCP adds. Some folks have recommended some additional changes not yet included. I am both sympathetic and supportive of these—but not right now. The mission on the SBS is to provide an office with full options that is licit within the rubrics and rules of the ’79 BCP.  I may well consider incorporating some of your earlier or ore far-reaching options once I can get the core material nailed down—but the core material does now and will always take precendence.

Things I’m mulling over…

  • Yes, both canticles deserve antiphons. And, I have a nice model for Evening Prayer in the Palmer Evening Office antiphon book where there are appointed Magnificat antiphons coupled with broadly seasonal Nunc Dimittis antiphons. However, that raises questions. What if the first canticle at EP is something else and the second is the Mag? Where does the Mag antiphon go? With the Second (Gospel) canticle? What about a good source for MP First Canticles?

Let me know what you think, and we’ll keep moving forward here…

Experimental Code for Morning Prayer

As promised earlier, here is a link for Morning Prayer in the new experimental version of the St. Bede’s Breviary code base:

http://breviary.stbedeproductions.com/test/Morning_79_BCP.html

As you’ll see, most of the usual breviary options are present. The two main areas that I intend to get to but have not yet fully addressed are the Calendar/commemorations and a mechanism to save individual options. However, on the latter I think you see that selecting options is no longer the hassle it could be with the earlier editions.

There are probably still some bugs lurking in it, some I’ve discovered, a few I probably haven’t. I am working on the ones I know about in addition to getting Evening Prayer up on line too. Let me know what you think of the new interface and if you run into any problems…

Duck Mode

I’ve been in duck mode for about the past month or so. All is quiet, but there’s massive amounts of churn below the surface… Hopefully this will be coming to an end very soon. Here are some of the things in progress:

  • I’m finishing up a major software project which is where most of my time has been focused.
  • I’ll soon be debuting a brand-new code-base at the breviary. Most of the code changes I’ve made at the breviary over the years have been fairly small and incremental. This isn’t. I’m seeing more evidence of complications with the preferences, especially with iDevices. This change should resolve that and should make navigating the options easier and cleaner. I will retain the “classic” format as the main entry point to the breviary, but will put up copious links to the new method and invite input. Additions/corrections will occur there until I’m happy with it, then that will become the default. I will likely keep the classic version somewhere as a backup.
  • The St Bede Psalmcast will resume from its hiatus.
  • In concert with that, I’ll be posting a lot more as I dive head first into the Cassiodorus/Psalms book projects.
  • Speaking of books—I’m now hearing June from the Forward Movement folks on the prayer book spirituality book, but I’ve seen cover art and internal layout! It looks fantastic, and can’t wait to share more…
  • Standing Commission on Liturgy & Music meetings have been happening, I’m again co-chairing the Calendar subcommittee and have some things to say about that. I’m also part of the subcommittee to discuss a plan for the process of revising the BCP. And, yes, I have thoughts there too…

But remember, all of this is my “spare time” stuff! The day job continues, dance competitions are springing up all over the calendar, and M will be starting her new job as rector of a parish in the area on Monday!

Pray for us…

Thinking on Hymns

I’m in the final stages of edits for my next book, the one on prayer book spirituality. It finally has a title: Inwardly Digest: The Prayer Book as Guide to a Spiritual Life.

As I went through the section on the Calendar yesterday morning, I realized that while I’d talked about the hymns in some seasons, I’d left others out. So–I spent some time with the hymnal, and put together some thoughts on those.

In going through that exercise, I was reminded just how much the early hymns of the West, those by Ambrose, Gregory, Venantius Fortunatus, Caelius Sedulius, and the the early anonymous compositions connect Scripture, liturgy, and doctrinal themes into a seamless sonic package.

When I think and write about the ways that liturgy provides interpretive lenses for both Scripture and Christian experience, I think these hymns play a particularly important role in not just making some foundational connections but handing them down and keeping them alive.

Meditation on these early Office hymns, what they teach us, and how they teach it is just as much a part of our patristic heritage as doctrinal treatises…

The St. Bede Psalmcast: Episode 9

Episode 9 is finally up; it came out on Sunday—the day the psalm being discussed was used.

This one tackles Psalm 32 as the psalm appointed for the Fourth Sunday in Lent. In addition to the usual discussion, there’s a good bit in there on the penitential psalms generally as 32 is the second of the seven.

Hopefully the next episode will be up in a more timely fashion, and hopefully I’ll be able to write more here. It’s certainly not from lack of things to say—more to do with a lot of balls in the air and many deadlines to meet…

https://soundcloud.com/user-657912221/ep009-psalm-32-lent-4-yrc

Purpose/Organization/Simplicity

A friend of mine just linked to this article on creating a life plan that is a promo for a new book on the topic coming out soon.

I’m seeing more and more of a theme here.

I subscribe to Pixel of Ink which sends me a daily email of free and reduced-cost Kindle books. It’s usually fluff reading (and, let’s face it, I’m not above fluff reading…), but I’ve been noticing over the past months a not insignificant trickle of books on organizing, simplicity, and minimalistic living.

Indeed, a quick google on “minimalist living” produces 19.5 million results in half a second…

Too, I’ve already written a bit about this topic when talking about the book Essentialism

Here’s the thing. The dominant culture is looking for answers when it comes to questions of ultimate purpose, how to organize life and its immediate material manifestations, and how to structure time and experience and environment in ways that align with purpose.

To the church I must ask this question: What exactly is our problem!?!

Particularly thinking of us as an expression of liturgical (which is all about habits and patterns) Christianity (which is all about living into and living out God’s reconciliation with humanity and all creation through Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) which is an heir of the Benedictine/Cistercian/Franciscan traditions (which emphasize discipline, clarity, and intentional simplicity), why are we not out front of all of this stuff? Why are we not offering a clear purpose undergirded by helpful pathways into proven disciplines for simple, intentional living? Why are we not viewing this urge towards purpose and simplicity as a classic praeparatio evangelica that is predisposing and asking leading questions of a seeking culture for something we’ve already found?

This ought to be right in our wheelhouse; but it’s not.

There’s part of me that wonders if the problem here is that we haven’t constructed the “missional” opportunity in these terms. That is, we haven’t said amongst ourselves, look—here’s an opportunity for us. They’re asking questions we have answers to. Now, here’s how we marshall our experience, tradition, and resources to provide a coherent answer to the population of people who are clearly asking these questions.

I suspect that’s a piece of it.

My fear, though, is that it’s not the bigger part of the answer. I think the bigger part of the answer is that we’re still part of that population who is looking for this same thing…

Speaking for myself, at least, we need to get our act together and figure out how our tradition has been telling us to do this all along, then actually do it, before we can credibly present it to others.

And there we have it: a simple (though certainly not easy!!) and central task for Christian spirituality in the 21st century West.

Good News/Bad News

Well, the good news is that between 9 AM this morning and now, I’ve mapped out a new book. It’s a collection of essays directly targeted for the “Spiritual But Not Religious” set from a “Spiritual But Then Religious” perspective. It wouldn’t be a strong linear argument, but more a collection of concepts to muse upon in terms of what a religious tradition is good for, how to use one and–ultimately–why I think one is necessary if we really are serious about being spiritual.

The bad news? I have absolutely no business doing anything with a new book now!! I’m right near the end of one, and not nearly as far on the others as I ought to be…

The Prayer Book book is moving rapidly toward being. We’re working up cover art concepts now, and I’m still dragging my feet as to whether the last chapter needs a transitional paragraph to start it out. Once the foreword, the afterword, and acknowledgements get hashed it out ought to be done and finally out sometime in Easter.

The Cassiodorus book is still lagging thanks to all sorts of busyness and that’s the one I really ought to be writing right now.

Oh well—into the idea file it goes…

 

Lenten Resources

As Lent swiftly approaches, here are a few things to remind you about as you consider how to keep a holy Lent…

  • Forward Movement has launched a new faith-in-families resource site called GrowChristians.org. Fr now, it’s conceived as a Lenten trial. If the responses is good, it may well continue on. I’m offering a “dad voice” and my first post—thinking about taking kids to Ash Wednesday services—is up. Take a read, and leave a comment!
  • Speaking of Forward Movement… I have been recruited this year as a Celebrity Blogger! I know there are mixed feelings around Lent Madness. While I’m sensitive to and agree with some of the criticism of it, I think its merits far outweigh its flaws. It is a great way to engage a lot of people in thinking about heroes of the faith, how and why they matter, and doing some solid education in a fun way.
  • For a more “out of the box” experience, check out the Lenten resources at the Godspace/Mustard Seed Alliance site where I also do some writing.
  • I’m going to continue focusing on intentionality, and I’m really stoked about the Lenten series on Rules of Life from the brothers at SSJEOnline. Not everyone is called to the monastic life, but our embedded expressions of monastic life from groups like the Society of St. John the Evangelist, Order of the Holy Cross, the Order of Julian of Norwich and others have valuable lessons for the whole church about the place of prayer and contemplation with an increasingly crazy world.
  • Last but not least, the St. Bede Breviary offers a full round of Daily Offices plus votives and the Great Litany. I’m planning some improvements that will probably appear in Lent, so don;t be surprised of things are a little different over there!