I was a new Anglican, trying to participate by watching everyone else. I heard a voice shout "Please stand" and then "Blessed be God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!" As a cross passed, some people bowed their heads. Parade of Clergy? Everyone stood up as we sang a hymn. I was looking upfront and nothing seemed to [...]
This is the fourth in a series on sacred hymns, the story behind them, their text, a recording, and a simple companion devotional. “When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea, thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me.” - Charles Albert Tindley Every Hymn Has a Story Charles Albert Tindley was born in Berlin, [...]
This is the third of a series on sacred hymns, the story behind them, their text, a recording, and a simple companion devotional. “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.” ~William Cowper Every Hymn Has a Story William Cowper was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England [...]
This is the second of a series on sacred hymns, the story behind them, their text, a recording, and a simple companion devotional. “A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” - St. Francis of Assisi Every Hymn Has a Story St. Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. Although never ordained to the Catholic [...]
This is the first of a series on sacred hymns, the story behind them, their text, a recording, and a simple companion devotional. “Many a man who has labored in obscure places, practically unnoticed and un-praised by his own generation, has achieved a fame after his death that grows in magnitude with the passing years,” E. E. Ryden says of [...]
Now that the family is together every day and worship is virtual, families begin to wonder how to keep their children growing in the faith. Family devotions begin to seem more necessary. But how to begin? How to keep everyone’s attention? Maybe you’ve tried before, but things didn’t seem to work. You want family devotions to be a joyful family [...]
Are you at home for the Easter Vigil? We have created an webpage with a guided tour of the Great Vigil of Easter, BCP 2019, with music links for streaming. You can learn more about Holy Week and the Easter Vigil here. Visit the Great Vigil of Easter Page The liturgy normally assumes a church gathered, but this has been [...]
For the past three Sundays, we’ve joined Christians around the world in worshipping from our living rooms. As a mom of three children under five, it’s heartbreaking to see their disappointment at not being able to go to church. They miss church. Of course they miss it—so do I! On Palm Sunday, as we marched around the living room with [...]
Earlier this week, the Evergreen Project hosted a panel of Rectors from Anglican churches in the US and Canada to talk about how they are navigating online worship and plans for this coming Holy Week & Easter. The webinar began with greetings from Archbishop Foley Beach who prayed for our Rectors and joined us for the entire presentation. He even [...]
We recently received a question from a reader looking for "Good Friday liturgies that would work well for home worship," given the global COVID–19 pandemic. Greg Goebel pointed out that the 2019 BCP's Good Friday service could easily be adapted for use at home. If you're looking for liturgical materials for Holy Week and Easter, you should know that you [...]
Quite a few new priests have never officiated a funeral. We have had many requests for a simple overview, and we reached out to Fr. Lee Nelson for such a post. We also include a funeral planning guide that can be used to work with individuals and families in planning. This post assumes the ability to hold a public funeral [...]
“The Psalms are the single best guide to the spiritual life currently in print.” – Ellen Davis, Getting Involved with God “The Psalms are inexhaustible, and deserve to be read, said, sung, chanted, whispered, learned by heart, and even shouted from the rooftops. They express all the emotions we are ever likely to feel (including some we hope we may [...]
The following is an excerpt from the Anglican Church in North America’s catechism, To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism (Crossway, 2020), pp. 81–87. You can download a PDF of the entire catechism here. A Rule of Prayer: Scripture, Prayer, and Worship 224. What is a “rule” of prayer? A rule of prayer is a regular discipline by which I cultivate a life [...]
We first enter through the bright red doors of an Anglican church, a preteen and two teenagers in tow. Questions permeate my thoughts, how will our children endure this shift, especially at this stage of their spiritual development? Is this even the right choice for our family? We have all grown up within the church; however, never exposed to liturgical [...]
Many people coming into the Anglican tradition from other traditions have questions. Quite often, these questions center on the sacramental nature of the Church. This pattern makes sense. After all, the Anglican Church emphasizes sacraments more than some other branches of the Christian Church. All churches have preachers of the Word. Not all have a developed sacramental theology nor a [...]
Those of us in the Lay Reader Ministry love God’s word. We love to share the life-giving message of the Lord to his people in the context of Sunday worship. And when everything goes well, we have plenty of time to prepare our readings so that we are equipped for whatever the lectionary throws at us: crazy Hebrew names, complicated [...]
The Prayer of Humble Access is a traditional part of the Anglican service of Holy Communion. I recently found out how beloved the Prayer of Humble Access is to so many Anglicans when I posted about it on Twitter. I posted what I thought was a slightly humorous tweet poll which indicated some questions I have about the placement of [...]
If your church has adopted the ACNA's new Book of Common Prayer 2019, one change probably threw everyone off. And it was a change of only two words. For those who learned liturgy, even just a little, from the 1979 Prayer Book or in the Roman Catholic Church from 1970 to 2010, it was nearly automatic to respond to the [...]
Born a little on the melancholy side, I was always attracted to the bleaker parts of Scripture. You know, the parts where a prophet would cry out to God for help, or where God would lament the betrayal of His bride. Or the psalms of lament where the psalmist feels desperate and horrifically abandoned. These passages captured my imagination like [...]
Emanuel Burke previously shared his Anglican journey here: "Anglican, for the Love of God." In this post below, Emanuel shares about his journey into iconography. If you'd like to support his work, check out his Patreon page. Icons? Aren’t they idolatrous? Many Western Christians, particularly in America, have a difficult time understanding why icons are so meaningful and integral to the [...]
Here's how to chant the Gloria in excelsis, according to the following setting from the 1982 Hymnal. (Scroll down for Youtube video.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVlmOKkkU_Y
If you'd like to chant the Phos Hilaron, I recommend the following setting from The Hymnal 1982. "O Gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ," The Hymnal 1982, #25 "Phos Hilaron," Church of the Apostles in Seattle, WA It's not exactly the same, but you the following rendition(s) of the Phos are clearly based on the setting above by Thomas Tallis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfOGO1Usli8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bJDhda0UTk
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has recently released its 2019 Book of Common Prayer (BCP). In the interest of making the new ACNA Book of Common Prayer 2019 accessible, we've put together a Rookie Anglican Guide to the ACNA Prayer Book! FYI: You can order a physical copy here: http://anglicanliturgypress.com/the-shop/. You can access the 2019 BCP digitally (PDF [...]
(NOTE: Read our Rookie Anglican Guide to the ACNA's 2019 BCP here.) The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has released its 2019 Book of Common Prayer! I asked Fr. Ben Jefferies (who worked on the Liturgy Task Force as has written about the 2019 BCP's typography and Daily Office Lectionary) what features of the new Prayer Book were especially [...]
