Grace: It's Our Way of Life

As Episcopal Christians we
Worship at home daily and together weekly;
Study the Scriptures, our tradition, and what it means to be a disciple today;
Serve our families, our parish, and our world in the name of Christ.

Everything we do is done with an ethic of Welcome
because we are only here by Grace.

04 December 2010

Advent Prayer Guides - Week Two and Homework for Book of Common Prayer Class

Okay, here is week two.

Advent Daily Prayer Guides - Week Two

Please do note the notes below with Week One.

For the Book of Common Prayer Class, read through the Daily Prayer Offices in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1979.

Daily Office forms a major part of the prayer and worship life of the Anglican/Episcopal tradition, far more than most people would know from the last few decades of Eucharist-centered liturgies. I love the ancient form of the Eucharist and all of its sacramental glory, but I would be a different Christian without the daily offices.

The cycle of hours found in the BCP are Morning, Noon, and Evening, and Compline. Morning and Evening Prayer are considered the two main offices, and the normative expectation is that they are kept in Episcopal churches. We keep Morning Prayer pretty confidently, at least one or two do daily, and we have a men's prayer group on Wednesdays. We do not practice Evening Prayer or Compline as part of Grace. We should. At the very least, as a people seeking the heart of God, we should be marking our hours.

So read through them and try even the directions, called rubrics since they were originally printed in red. On Wednesday, we will be doing Evening Prayer and Compline together.

If we get really brave, we'll sing Compline.

daniel+

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