We expect the Christmas Collects to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and they do. But they also surprise us by repeatedly applying the birth of Christ to the life of the Christian believer. Because he is light, we can know light. Because he was born, we can be born again. Because he shared the life…
Illumine the World: Reflections on the Midday Collects
The ordering for Midday Prayer can serve as a great way to refocus on something other than our own problems and to work on bending ourselves back out instead of staying bent in.
The History of the Lent Collects
The theme of the Lent collects is human sinfulness and our need for God. We “acknowledge our wretchedness” and are “tempted,” and our resistance is “weak.” We have “no power in ourselves to help ourselves,” have “disordered affections” and “unruly wills.” And so, what we need above all is “new and contrite hearts,” for “our…
Grief in the Psalms
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 13:1 Psalm 13 captures the heavy heart of Lent in this somber passage. Alone with his grief, the Psalmist cries out for God to see him. Similarly, Psalm 22 begins, “My God, My God, why have…
The Way of the Cross: An Invitation to Holy Week
Holy Week is the high mark of the church’s liturgical year. In it, we celebrate Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem, from his arrival on Palm Sunday to his death on Good Friday. Then, we celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday, with all the momentous events in between. There are many ways to commemorate the week,…
Lessons in Omission: Why Are Some Chapters Missing in the Daily Office Lectionary?
Many folks accustomed to reading Bible-in-a-year plans delight to find that the Book of Common Prayer (2019) includes 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 find that several books are missing…
The Book of Common Prayer: A Rookie Anglican Guide
You can’t be curious about Anglicanism for long without running into the Book of Common Prayer, commonly called the Prayer Book or simply the BCP, which forms the liturgical heart of the Anglican tradition. Of course, based on the title, you might reasonably assume that there’s just one Book of Common Prayer out there. However,…
