The day of a funeral begins with grief. The family of the deceased feels the sharp pain of loss.
The Sunday and Holy Day Lectionary: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Each Sunday, Anglicans gather to hear God’s Word read out loud according to a set schedule of readings called the lectionary. The first reading typically comes from the Old Testament, followed by a Psalm. A second reading, usually drawn from a New Testament epistle, follows the Psalm, and the readings culminate in a selection from…
Birth and Our Rebirth in Baptism
A new awareness stirred within me of how our own entrances into the world reflect the rebirth Christ has given us.
O Ruler of the Universe: A Reflection on Magna Et Mirabilia
The 2019 Book of Common Prayer, however, draws on nearly 400 years of Prayer Book history; the canticle Magna et Mirabilia offers a wonderful example.
The Prayer Book at the Death Bed
As a home hospice chaplain this past year, I have spent more time with the actively dying than in my previous 10 years in parish ministry. Accordingly, I have become much more acquainted with pages 223–245 in the Book of Common Prayer (2019). Although the BCP works as a “plug-and-play” resource, I thought a few…
The Canticles: A Rookie Anglican Guide
The canticles are not liturgical garnish. They form part of the rhythm by which Scripture becomes prayer and prayer becomes praise.
Bless Me, for I Have Sinned
What I was really asking God for was relief, happiness, help, healing, strength, and understanding.
The Five American Prayer Books: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Neither the ACNA nor the Book of Common Prayer in our hands today is a present-day import from England. Our Prayer Book, like our Church, has been a native, naturalized inhabitant since 1789.
The Monthly Psalter: A Rookie Anglican Guide
In the Prayer Book, the Psalter follows a 30-day cycle, assigning Psalms for both morning and evening each day.
Why Anglicans Bow in Worship: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Bodily gestures like bowing cultivate inward devotion. Reverence shown externally helps train reverence internally. Our liturgical rituals are modes of teaching ourselves—bodily habits shape the soul.
Miserable Offenders and the Mercy of God
In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, we confess, “O Lord, have mercy on us, miserable offenders.” Those are deep, strong statements that reveal our condition and status.
The Standard of Prayer Book Worship (Jerusalem Declaration 6)
We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.