Fasting is intuitively a bodily and a liturgical act. The Liturgical Year invites us to “days of discipline, denial, and special prayers” in Lent, Fridays outside of Christmastide and Eastertide, Rogation Days, and Ember Days (BCP, pg. 689). While intermittent fasting has recently been a diet fad, ordinarily fasting in our North American context is…
The Calendar of Saints: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Why do Anglicans celebrate โfeast daysโ for various โsaintsโ? After all, arenโt all Christians saints? If youโre asking these questions, youโve come to the right place! Biblical Beginnings Commemoration of saints has its roots in the Bible. In 1 Cor. 11:1, St. Paul writes: โBe imitators of me, as I am of Christ.โ From this…
4 Reasons Why I Now Celebrate Communion Facing The Altar, Not the People
Editor’s note: Here at Anglican Compass, we feature content from low church to high church, as long as it’s written with both clarity and charity. Even if you would never consider an “ad orientem” Holy Communion in your own church, I invite you to read about how and why Fr. Ben Jefferies has made the…
Designed to be Read: The Architecture of the ACNA Daily Office Lectionary
(Read our Rookie Anglican Guide to the ACNA’s 2019 BCP here.) The Daily Office Lectionary (DoL) went through several layers of development during the five years of its existence in trial form. The final form as it appears in the Book of Common Prayer (2019) will look quite different to those who are accustomed to…
Designed for Mission: The Typography of the ACNAโs New Prayer Book
(Read our Rookie Anglican Guide to the ACNA’s 2019 BCP here.) If you went into an Anglican Church in South Africa, and were handed a Prayer Book, it would be in the Xhosa language. Moments after entering, the officiant starts praying, you glance down and your eyes see the following text: Aze ati, Nkosi, vula…