One of the things I enjoy about older forms of liturgy is how they are designed to tell the Christian story, through both their words and their actions. Nowhere is this better demonstrated in my experience than in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which is the main Eucharistic liturgy used in the Eastern … Continue reading Blessing and Blessed: The Antiphons
One of the themes that has emerged in this series is the idea that in liturgical prayer we pray what we believe. Few places does that become more apparent than in the canticle known as the Gloria, forms of which exist in every major Christian liturgical tradition: during the prayers of the Hours in the … Continue reading Singing our Story: The Gloria
Today, as we continue working through prayers from Christian Eucharistic liturgies we come to one of the most venerable and beloved prayers from the Anglican tradition, known as the Collect for Purity. While its most early attestation is from continental Europe in the 10th century, the prayer is most strongly associated with England, appearing in … Continue reading Cleanse the Thoughts of Our Hearts: The Collect for Purity
I write often — because the Gospels speak often — about the difference between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God. The former are about the domination of the many for the benefit of the few, and are run on fear and violence and a desire for control masquerading under the name … Continue reading Blessed is the Kingdom!
I mentioned the other day that for several centuries, Morning Prayer became the normal form of Sunday morning worship in much of the Anglican world. Trying to go back to the more traditional, Eucharistically-focused model of worship, sparked an inevitable backlash — though an ironic one, since the move towards the more traditional model was … Continue reading Like Lost Sheep: General Confession, Morning Prayer
Matthew Root 