There are many excellent books on Lectio Divina, the sacred reading of Scripture. The problem with these books is that they are books—long and easily divorced from the actual contemplative practice. Instead, I offer a list of 46 “theses” or “chapters” on Lectio Divina. Each thesis is short, distilling thoughts and quotations into a single…
The Rev. Ben Jefferies is the rector of The Good Shepherd Anglican Church, Opelika, Alabama. He served on the Task Force that produced the Book of Common Prayer 2019. He is married with three daughters.
A Rule of Life: What It Is and How to Make One
What is a Rule of Life? Monks living in community live by a common Rule. Benedictine monks, for instance, live by the Rule of St. Benedict. The Rule governs every element of a monk’s life: when they sleep, work, pray, and eat, as well as how they work out community issues, etc. Oblates of monasteries—lay…
A Daily Examen
The Daily Examen is pretty straightforward: Somewhere towards the end of the day, take 10 minutes and prayerfully look back on what you did and thought, and bring your day into the light of Christ. Traditionally, the two categories of investigation are “consolations” and “desolations”—inner spiritual experiences that accompanied the acts of the day—that can…
A Self-Examination of Sin with the 10 Commandments
Try to be as practical as possible in making your list of sins in preparation for confession. Think concretely. Think about what several sins may have been involved in a single act. Be sure to distinguish proclivities and temptations to sin from actual acts of sin (acts that may be mental or physical). If there is ambiguity, feel free…
How to Make a Self-Examination of Sin
When a leech wants to snack on your leg, it secretes a local anesthetic so you do not become aware of its bite. This way, the leech can remain undetected and keep leeching. Leeches are horrible critters; I only bring them up as an analogy—sin is the same way. When we commit a sin, we…
E.B. Pusey: Knowing and Reading Oxford’s Priest-Scholar
The Life of E.B. Pusey Early Life Edward Bouverie Pusey was born in 1800 to a devout aristocratic family. Late in his life, when he was famous (and infamous) as a great theologian, he would often say that all of his theological convictions had their root in the faith that he learned from his mother…
Explaining Our New Prayer Book
When the first Book of Common Prayer was released on Pentecost in the year 1549, it was such a shock to the liturgical and theological intuitions of some portions of the Church in England that riots and rebellions broke out over the matter. Especially in Norfolk and in Devon, and most memorably in the city…
Where Did Christ Descend To? The Rationale Behind the BCP 2019’s Translation of the Apostles’ Creed
Where did Christ descend to? If you worshiped in an Anglican Church between 1552 (when the Creed was first printed in full in the Prayer Book) and 1979 you would answer “he descended to hell” because in the Apostles’ Creed as you would have learned it, that is what it says: “[He] was crucified, dead,…
The Bible in the Book of Common Prayer
From its inception in 1549, the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) has always been a text intertwined with the text of the Bible. Many of the prayers utilize phrases that have been extracted from the Bible. Verses of the Bible are quoted directly (for example, Opening Sentences in the Daily Office and Offertory Sentences in…
Lessons in Omission: Why Are Some Chapters Missing in the Daily Office Lectionary?
Many folks accustomed to reading Bible-in-a-year plans are delighted to find out that the Book of Common Prayer (2019) has a Daily Office lectionary that leads the faithful Anglican to read through the whole Bible in a year—at least, most of it. Those same folks are sometimes a little dismayed to then find out that…
