The General Confession and the Assurance of Pardon (Absolution) provide us with biblical and true answers to both sides of this equation. As we kneel to confess each week, let us do so with a sober examination of our lives and a grateful heart for Christ’s saving work of redemption.
How Anglican Liturgy Stewards Our Emotions
As someone raised within the charismatic tradition, I grew up believing that emotions played an important role in Christian worship. However, after seeing numerous worship leaders and pastors use certain practices to fabricate an emotional atmosphere within worship, I became disenchanted with certain worship styles and their façade of authenticity. I later had the opportunity…
The Nicene Creed: A Rookie Anglican Guide
First drafted by bishops gathered at the Council of Nicaea in 325, the Nicene Creed is now affirmed by all major Christian denominations as a fundamental expression of the faith.
Like Lost Sheep: Reflections on the General Confession
We easily fall into two ditches during our times of confession: we think that we have to grovel long enough for God to accept our repentance, or we skim over our confession and ignore our sins. The General Confession at the opening of the Office provides us the boundaries we need.
I Will Lift Up My Eyes: Reflections on the Midday Psalms
The meat of the Midday Prayer rests in its psalms. Four options can be read, though some prefer to read all of them daily.
He Is Risen: A Manifesto for Leavened Communion Bread
Let’s stop using wafers! Let’s return to regular bread. Pita bread from the store is better than wafers from an online store, but homemade bread is even better!
Why Do Anglicans Pray for the Dead?
For those new to the Anglican tradition, it may surprise you that the Book of Common Prayer, in all of its major editions, offers prayers for those who have died in the Christian faith. We don’t just pray for those who mourn but for the departed themselves. We see these prayers for the dead in…
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.
Hymn Guide: How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place
“How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place” is a hymn of longing and spiritual ascent. It is a paraphrase of Psalm 84 and began in the ancient Hebrew practice of pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Let Us Keep the Feast: Reflections on the Pascha Nostrum
The world God made is a world of rhythm and rhyme. Seasons change and come again before leaving us once more. There is a predictable stability in the constant diversity that God has made, something C.S. Lewis once brought out in his masterpiece The Screwtape Letters. As his fictional demon once put it, God has…
