The Prayer of Humble Access is a traditional part of the Anglican service of Holy Communion. I recently learned how beloved the Prayer of Humble Access was to so many Anglicans when I posted about it on Twitter. I posted what I thought was a slightly humorous tweet poll that indicated some questions I have…
Spiritual Attack or Mental Illness?
As a priest, people often share stories with me about a loved one, friend, or acquaintance who is behaving in a dangerous, unusual, or self-destructive manner. They wonder if this is a spiritual problem or a mental health problem. They want me to help them decide which one it is. Is my loved one facing a…
Pastoral Prayer
A priest is to pray frequently. Sometimes it is as a designated or honorary pray-er, as at a church dinner. “Father N., will you bless the food, please?” Anyone could do this, of course, but it often falls to the priest. While it is a token moment, it is also an important one. This serves as…
On Hearing Confessions
Today, many Anglican priests receive little training in hearing confessions. Many attended seminaries rooted in evangelical or Reformed traditions, where the practice is unfamiliar. Others entered Anglicanism through churches that never emphasized it, so they have never really considered it. After my last article, I realized that it was perhaps a bit premature, for these…
The Gospel in Human Decline
In several of his books, Henri Nouwen recounts how the severely physically and mentally disabled residents of Daybreak, a L’Arche community became his spiritual mentors. Nouwen saw, with the eyes of faith, what many could not: the Spirit is not hindered by human frailty. He believed that great saints who are in continual, hidden converse…
What is a Collect? A Rookie Anglican Guide
As you gather for worship on Sunday, you encounter the Collect for Purity and the Collect of the Day. At Morning or Evening Prayer, you encounter “the Collects.” What are these strange things called “Collects,” and how do you pronounce this word? What is a Collect? A collect is simply a prayer meant to combine…
Meditative Prayer
We have some idea, perhaps, what prayer is, but what is meditation? Well may we ask; for meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice. Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things…
8 Keys for Personal Prayer
Every believer can have a dynamic personal prayer life. The Bible gives us the keys to developing a powerful prayer life. The Scriptures are full of examples of men and women who walked with God and used prayer to impact their world, and you can do the same thing through prayer. The following are scriptural…
