Lent

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, today is the Feast of the Annunciation. It’s a time when our thoughts naturally turn to the Virgin Mary. But when we look at the tradition, most of the things done or said that set Mary apart, are really about setting Jesus apart. We saw that yesterday when looking … Continue reading Blessed and Highly Favoured: A Reflection for the Annunciation 2026

Tomorrow is the feast of the Annunciation, when we remember the Angel Gabriel’s world-changing visit to Mary announcing her pregnancy. And so in preparation for that I thought today was a good moment to step back and reflect on hymns glorifying Mary, which are some of the most cherished in the Eastern and Roman Churches, … Continue reading More Honourable than the Cherubim: Axion Estin

In many churches, the second half the twentieth century was marked by a lot of wrangling and division surrounding liturgy: Whether to update the language, and if so, whether to update the theology of the prayers at the same time. In my own Anglican world, this was particularly divisive and resulted in less of a … Continue reading Not in Our Own Righteousness: The Prayer of Humble Access

Believe it or not, today marks the last Sunday in Lent. In all Christian liturgical traditions, it’s customary to use the end of Lent (whether in this case the last Sunday within the season, or in the East, the very last day of it, the Saturday before Palm Sunday) to reflect on the story of … Continue reading A Foretaste of the Resurrection: A Reflection on John 11.1-45

These past few days, in reflecting on prayers from the Eucharistic liturgy, a common theme has been preparing us for an encounter with God’s glory. The various Anaphorae all tell the Christian story in a way that builds up to the dramatic summoning of the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine, but also … Continue reading Worthy is the Lamb: Agnus Dei