The Purpose of The Book of Common Prayer

When I first started attending the Anglican Catholic Church, I was introduced to something that was completely foreign to me, that to be honest, I had never heard of.

The Book of Common Prayer.

Not even when I was in the Methodist or Presbyterian church, I don't ever remembering using or even hearing about a Book of Common prayer.

The more I started learning about Anglo- Catholicism, the more intrigued I was about this book.

Even more so when I found out that this book was one of the reasons why The Anglican Catholic church split from the Episcopal church in the 1970's.

The version we use is the 1928 version (the 1979 version is the most commonly used one in the Episcopal church.)

My husband had a copy of it from his old Episcopal days, and gave it to me. I instantly fell in love with it. The prayers in it were so poetic, and really can tug at the heart strings, especially the general confession.

When I told some of my old Protestant and Anabaptist friends about it, they seemed confused.

The most common complaint I heard about the prayer book was "Why do you need a book to tell you how to pray?"

I would quickly respond "Have you never had a time in your life where you just couldn't find the words to pray?"

This got some of them thinking I had a point. However, my Pentecostal and charismatic friends would dismiss this retort by saying "That's what tongues are for".

It got me thinking a bit. The go to answer I had was nice, but was that it? Is that what a church would split about?

I started digging in deeper in the prayer book. Then I noticed something I hadn't seen before.

The Liturgy.

The Liturgy ( or the order of our service) is in the book of Common Prayer. Everything from morning and evening prayers, to high mass, to high holly days mass, to weddings, to baptisms, to confirmations, to funerals. It's all there.

I brought up the subject up to a few of my fellow parish family members and one of them gave me the real answer I was looking for.

The way they explained it to me, was that the Book of Common prayer gives specific direction on how the service is to flow. If a priest were to go out of line of the prayer book, the Layman (Non ordained church member) is able to tell right away, and would be able to report it to a higher authority (Such as a Bishop) to get it straighten out.

Tat was the moment I was truly in love with this book.

I remember thinking, how many churches have I been in the past that could use a tool like this.

I wouldn't have to hear a sermon about tithing every single Sunday, if the book says that day is in celebration of the Trinity.

In fact, how nice would it be if I was able to report a couple to them to a Bishop, rather than just walk away, but that's another blog for another day.

So, in short, that is the purpose of The Book of Common Prayer.

If you don't know how to pray for something, the book can teach you how to. Which, surprisingly, prayer requires learning. It's not as easy as the Evangelical community makes it out to be. In fact, they have some of their own written prayers that most don't acknowledge as the same as the prayers we have in the prayer book.

The Sinner's prayer, for example, looks pretty similar to the Prayer of General confession, if you look at it.


At it's to help keep structure and order in the church, and to keep the priest accountable. Something, that I am sorry to say, seems to be dwindling in the mainstream protestant churches.

I liked what the archbishop once said about the Liturgy in the Book of Common prayer.

"The Liturgy works to where, even if you don't like your priest, it's fine, because he doesn't get to but in very often."

Now just by writing this blog, gives me an idea for my next blog.....BUT...that will have to be for another time.



The Lord be with you.

Submit to your Husband?

I heard this verse all my life. In sermons, in weddings, a church friend of my parents even made a piece of art work as a wedding

present for me when I got married.

And you know what? I've always believed it. I believe that the Bible is 100% inspired by the word of God. Always have, always will.

BUT, I do earnestly believe that the Bible is something you study, rather than just read. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy the Anglican Catholic church so much because I have never got a better Biblical education anywhere else.


So what about this verse? We all know it. A lot of atheists love to use it as an example on how "Backwards" Christianity is. A lot of strict fundamentalists love to use this verse as a way to silence, and yes, control their wives.

So let's take a look at the verse in question.

" Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body."

Eph. 5:22, 23.

Pretty straight forward. It's understandable that someone who may have very little Biblical education may see this as Wives being completely submissive in every aspect and has no say.

But, let's keep reading.

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church"

I find it very odd that this bit of scripture isn't quoted nearly as much as Wives submitting to their husbands.

So, what does it mean for a wife to submit to her husband?

The best way I explain it to people is, that my husband is the priest of our home. He's to lead us in worship to God and following the will of God in all things.

I remember listening to a Roman Catholic priest on the radio and he said he would hear complaints of married men saying there wives were not submitting to them. The priest flat out said

"She doesn't have to submit to you if you are not following God's will."

I'll give an example. As I mentioned in previous posts, when my husband told me he felt lead to the Anglican church, I was being hard headed and hard hearted. I didn't want to leave the Evangelical church that I had been attending for a few years and loved dearly. But after a while, I knew we could not go to two separate churches, and if this was God's will, I needed to do it.

I submitted to my husband because he was following God's will. So we go to mass almost every Sunday mass together, side by side, and just as our priest leads the whole congregation in worship, my husband, as he sits/ kneels/ stands by my side, leads me in worship.


In Every other aspect, we are equals. I've we need to spend money on something, we discuss it with the other. We are mapping out our future as a team. There is no Dictatorship in our marriage. If one day he started walking around with an iron fist, I would remove myself from the situation till he got his act together. And our priest and his family would ask him why is he being an idiot.

But I know my husband would never do that, because he loves me deeply and he knows what his role as a husband is. Remember the rest of the verse?

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"

He is to love me as Christ loved the church. So what did Christ do for his church?

HE DIED for his church! I honestly can't think of a more pronounced example of submission in history?

Christ loves his church. There is a reason the church is called the Bride of Christ. Christ and his Bride, is a wonderful example of a Husband's treatment to his wife.

Orthodoxy teaches this. Husbands, treat your wives as precious gifts from God. Protect them and lead them in the Lord. Wives, cherish your husbands, and follow him, because he is following Christ.

I don't see this view as a dictatorship at all. I've seen dictatorship. Go to a real strict IFB church. Or one of those "everyone is going to hell except us". You'll see it for sure.

I see nothing wrong with my husband being the priest of our home. We are equals, but we are also different. Orthodoxy and Traditional Anglicanism acknowledges the different roles of men and women. But the different roles have nothing to do with superiority vs. inferiority.

Because God sees no one more superior than over the other in his children.

The Lord be with you.

Memes, Pics, Tweets, Vlogs, and Such

 I probably won't have a lot of time to blog as much as I would like in the next few weeks to come.

Along with blogging, another hobby of mine is acting, and I am in a Murder Mystery Dinner theatre production with a local community theatre and I'll be in rehearsals a lot for the next few weeks until after September 20th.

However, I still will keep up with my other ways of social media, so you can keep up with me that way.

Yeah, this post is a shameless plug, I know.


You can follow me on INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

YOUTUBE (Though I don't vlog much)

And you can also follow a Facebook page that myself and two other people from my parish started. It's a meme page specifically for the Anglican Catholic Church ( A.C.C.)

Anglican Catholic Church Memes


Short blog, I know. I hope to post something this weekend, before my schedule gets too crazy.


The Lord be with you.

Communion: Real or Symbolic?

When I was 17 years old and attending the Presbyterian church, I was best friends with a Roman Catholic girl.

One day, my friend invited me to a special class that her church was having in regards to the different books and tools they use during mass.

I thought it would be a lot of fun. I didn't know much about Catholicism (Aside from what I had seen in movies) and I thought it would be really cool to learn about how they worshipped.

At the time, all the different items and prayers was a bit overwhelming to remember. But one thing that did stick out that the Deacon (Who was leading the class) said was this:

"One thing that makes our communion different from the Protestants is that we believe that the bread and wine are Christ's real Blood and not his Symbolic. For Christ said himself "This is my Body and Blood."

At the time, I couldn't believe what he just said. "His ACTUAL body and blood? That's not possible. Jesus just meant it figuratively. This guy does NOT know his Bible very well".

Well, it took almost a decade for the Teenage know it all to finally  realized that the deacon actually knew what he was talking about.

When I started attending the Anglican Catholic Church, Father nick brought up the subject of communion (Or Eucharist as it's more commonly known in the more liturgical church) and explained that In The Anglican Catholic Church, it is believed to be that it is, in fact, real.

I pondered this a bit. When I was in the Charismatic church, I was told Catholics only knew tradition and religion, and not the Bible.

But I knew Father Nick knew his word. He's a former priest of the Roman Catholic church, and left when he saw the corruption. Hence why he became an Anglo Catholic.

And from what he explained, every tradition in the Anglican Catholic church had a Biblical reasoning for it.

I later also learned that it wasn't just the Roman Catholic or Anglican Catholic church that held this same belief.

Episcopalians and Lutherans hold the same belief. So, I decided to research myself. Does the Bible say that the bread and wine (Or crackers and grape juice) is the ACTUAL body and blood of Christ.

I obviously started with Luke 22:19.

"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Only thing was,  growing up, I was taught that the "Do this in remembrance of me" part was Christ telling us, it was symbolic. So I kept digging.

John 6:52-58
"The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread^[a] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”



That hit me. Christ said that it was, indeed, his body and blood.

It took me a while to comprehend. I would talk about this subject with some of my Evangelical friends, and most of the time would just scoff.

"Come on, April... We're not ACTUALLY eating Jesus! That makes no sense!:
"

And it didn't to me, for a while anyway. but then I remembered the old testament.

As a way of repentance for the Jews of the old testament, they would slaughter an animal. Sometimes cows, sometimes lambs,

 The reason why we no longer need to sacrifice our animals was because Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. He was the lamb of God.

In old testament times, after they slaughtered the animal, they wouldn't just throw it away. they feasted on the lamb. Lamb's and cows were considered clean. It was one of the reasons why They could not slaughter pigs and other animals considered unclean.

Christ was the purest lamb and we consume his body and blood as channels of grace through him and into ourselves.


So when does the bread and wine stop being bread and wine?

Well, different denominations have different theories.

In the A.C.C., it is believed that when the Priest lays his hands on the cup and bread and says "This is my body/ blood" then it truly becomes so.

It's one of the reason why we bow towards the altar before we take our seats in the pews. On the altar, is, for lack of a better term, a safe, with the pre transubstantiated bread. It's kept there for safe keeping for when the priest needs to give the Eucharist at a moment's notice.  We bow to show our respect because the presence of Christ is in the Sanctuary.  We kneel while taking communion as a sign of respect because we are eating Christ's body and drinking his blood.

I hope this clears some things up for some of my Evangelical friends out there.

Also, I just started up a Twitter Account. You can find me @vieledanglican .

May the Lord be with you.




 

Praying to Saints?

So since I've been open about praying the Rosary, I've had quiet a few people express concern that I am "Praying" to saints.

I've mentioned in a previous blog that I am not praying to the saints but asking them to pray for me.

That blog can be found HERE!

Still, I have a lot of friends and family still convinced that I am praying to saints, and therefor, seeing them as gods.

This is FAR from the truth.

I want to make it very clear:

I pray TO God. Every Anglican does. If you pick up any Book of Common prayer, every single prayer is directed to God the father almighty.

so, what's the point of asking saints to pray? Why not always go directly to God?

well, let me ask YOU a question.

Have you ever dealt with something that burdened you? Maybe a particular sin you can't seem to shake?
 Or maybe a health issue?

Or a death in the family?

Sure! We all have. Now let me ask you this:

Have you ever gone to your family, friends, or fellow church members and asked them to pray FOR YOU?

I know almost everyone of my Christian friends do, because I see it on their Facebook statuses daily. You'll even see a prayer request on my wall on occasion.

So why ask them to pray for you if you can just go directly to God?

See the similarities?

Whenever I speak to a saint, I never ask them to deliver me or to cure me. I always ask them to pray for me.

Examples:

"Holy Mary, Mother of God (Again, Mary is the Mother of Christ who IS God. She is not the Mother of the father or the Holy spirit), pray for us sinners now and until the hour of our death."

or
"Saint Zachary, Patron saint of Peace, pray for us." etc.

Any prayer I send up to ask for forgiveness, healing, or strength, goes to God directly.

Another question I get constantly is "Is it Biblical"?

Actually, Yes! There are quiet a few passages in scripture in which it mentions the prayers of the saints in heaven.



  Hebrews 12:1
" Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us^[b] and persevere in running the race that lies before us "

Key words there being " Great Cloud of Witnesses". So that tells me, that all the saints that enter heaven (canonized or non) are looking over us.

 Psalm 103: 20-21
"Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!"

Psalms 148
"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"

In the book of Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.


 Angels do the same thing:

(Rev. 8:3–4).
"An angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the
smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God"

The Rich man in the book of Luke called out to the Father Abraham to intercede on his behalf.

Luke 16:24
"The rich man shouted, 'Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.'


So we do have some strong Biblical evidence that the saints pray for us and that the saints on earth asking the saints in Heaven to pray.


The church in heaven is very much alive. The saints that are in heaven are in heaven with God. They have achieved enteral Life. They are just as much apart of the Body of Christ as the church here on earth.
 
More so, even, since they resonate in the same Domain (Heaven) as the God-head (Trinity).

So if I am willing to go to my earthly mother and ask her for prayers when I am dealing with something difficult, why wouldn't I be willing to ask my spiritual Mother Mary for prayers?

 Now does this mean that every single Anglican asks the saints for intercession?

No. We have a lot of people who refuse to participate when we meet in the Archbishop's office on the occasional Sunday of reciting the Rosary.

Is it nessicary to be an Orthodox Christian and to ask the saint to intercede?

Of course not.

Why do it?

Well, besides Biblical evidence, I see it strengthens my relationship with Christ when I communicate with his family members.

Here on earth and those I shall meet in Paradise when that day should come.

It strengthens my prayer life, and there for, my faith. It what works for me and many other, but not everyone has to.

If you choose not to, that's fine.

Just please keep in mind, that those that do, are not worshiping the saints.

Before I go, I do want to leave a great Spoken Word by Father Pontifex, a Roman Catholic priest, who does great justice with this subject.

The Lord be With you.

How Orthodoxy Helps my A.D.D.

So I went to visit my grandmother's house a few days ago, and the subject of the Rosary came up.

My Grandmother is a Methodist so, she was a bit concerned when she heard that I was praying the Rosary almost on a regular bases.

I explained to her that the different prayers come from scripture as I have mentioned in a previous post.

She's still doesn't get the Rosary, but she told me something that made me think a bit.

She said she was having a conversation with one of my aunt's about me prying the rosary and my aunt told her this:

"April likes praying the Rosary, the written prayers, and the structure of the Anglican Catholic church because it's organized, and the organization helps her focus better with her A.D.D."

It got me thinking.

You see, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder around the age of seven. This thing has been a pain in my butt ever since.

School was awful for me. I'm was a smart kid, but you couldn't be able to tell by my standardized tests scores. I was always losing books, binders, papers, and homework assignments, I could never keep my room or my backpack clean, and it always felt like a million different things were going on in my head all at once.

In fact, if you notice any spelling errors or grammar mistakes in this blog, that's due to my A.D.D.
I know my grammar (I actually did really well with English and Grammar at school) and yes, I know how to spell, but when I'm writing, it just doesn't come out.

If anyone wants to volunteer to be my editor, let me know.

The medication they put me on helped me focus a bit better, but around the age of 11, they noticed

that it wasn't really having an affect on me anymore.

They tried different medications, and all they ended doing was making me fall asleep. So I stopped taking medication and learned how to control in on my own.

And for the most part, I have. Though there were times that I found it hard to pay attention.

It's hard for my mind not to wonder while I'm sitting, listening to an hour long sermon. I just don't have to attention spam for that long. I would hate it if someone asked me what was the sermon was about, and I didn't really have an answer because I was of in my own little world. And I would feel bad about it because I was just sitting in church, not soaking in God's word.

However, things started to change after I started attending the Anglican Catholic.

In the Liturgy, I'm not just sitting there. Everyone is in full participation. You stand, you kneel, you ake the sign of the cross, you chant, your recite, you take communion, you are not just observing. Your there Getting fed the word of God and the Body and blood of Christ, but you are also in a full act of worship.

For my non liturgical friends may be wondering "What about the sermon?"

There is one. But it's only 15 minutes. Now when I first visited, I thought "How can you "get fed" in 15 minutes". Then I started really listening to the sermons of my priest and was blown away. You see, my rest can preach something, and later through out the week you'll still be thinking about it.

Now, not every priest is the same, when it comes to preaching, but so far, I haven't been disappointed by the 3 I have heard.

Even the crucifix's and the icons all around the sanctuary help me focus. It's easier for me to say my Hail Mary's when I'm looking at a statue or painting of Mary.

Or easier to say the general confession when I am looking at Christ on the Stained Glass window or on a crucifix.

The liturgy was something I had to get used to after being used to the loosey goosy of the Charismatic and Evangelical churches, but after a while, I noticed, I like the Liturgy better.

And I liked the fact that The Church understands that everyone's minds are different.

When I was going to the Charismatic church, my pastor at the time would kind of roll his eyes whenever the subject of A.D.D would come up. He didn't believe it existed. (Which I find funny, because looking back on those days, I'm almost convinced he has A.D.D. himself) and when his mother held a revival, I went up for prayer because I was having a very difficult time in school. In front of everyone she said

"You just need to study!"

OH REALLY? Wow, why didn't I think of that. Oh wait, I did, but I suck at studying and no one really taught me a good way to study until I started taking classes to get my G.E.D.

If it sounds like I'm bitter at the people, I'm not. I grew up hearing it all my life.

You see, I've noticed a pattern in some dispensational churches that mental disorders don't really exist.

In fact, a friend of mine who grew up in the Independent Fundamentalist Church was once told by a church member, that if he just had more faith, he wouldn't need to take medication for his Paranoid schizophrenia.

Yep, not even joking.

So you can imagine the joy I had when I heard my priest recently obtained his Master's degree in Counseling.

Anyway, I think I might be getting sidetrack, but at the same time, made a good point. (My A.D.D in action).

The structure and the devotions, and even the repetition of the prayers and services help me stay out of LA-LA Land, and focusing on God. I could sit down for an hour long sermon and not get a single thing out of it.

I wasn't involved, and certainly not paying attention, so what was the point of being there?

I feel like for the first time in my life, that I'm an actual Bible Student. I'm worshiping God, but at the same time, I've been getting a real education, and the devotions and written prayers assist with that.

Some people may find the Liturgy Boring, and redundant, but it has helped me so much with getting to know Christ and getting to know what it means to be his servant.

The Lord be With you.

Discovering My Spiritual Gift in a Perpetual State of Prayer

The past two days of been warring on me spiritually and emotionally.

No doubt you have heard about the terrible, senseless act of Violence that happened at an African- American church this past week.

Like many I was shocked and sadden, and felt anger.

I've seen it all through out my Facebook newsfeed.

Everyone has theories and is pointing fingers on who to blame.

I've been sad by the environment that I have seen. A Tragedy that should be uniting us, has causing division.

But this happens every time there is a tragedy or spark of controversy.

I used to jump right in and make my stance known.

I used to argue and post my opinions on the cause of things and get in arguments with people of opposing views.

This weekend, however, has been different. This weekend I was in what seemed like a perpetual state of prayer.

I have had my head covered almost the whole time, I found myself on my knees in prayer frequently, when I would pray the rosary I would find myself mentally and physically exhausted. I wept while praying.

And for the first time in my life, I took a fast.

This weekend, I finally figured out what I believe is to be my spiritual gift. Prayer.

You see, when I was in the Charismatic movement, I remember a woman tell me that she thought I was an intercessor.

I always wondered if that was true for many years, but this weekend confirmed it. In the past, I thought how silly. Not me being an intercessor, mind you, but that my gift was just to pray.

I know from experience that at times, prayer can seem like you are doing nothing useful. I thought "everyone prays. What makes intercessors so special?"

And it took me a while to figure out that it's actually a good thing.

You see in times like these, it seems like everyone has a hill to die on and grabs their sword to wage war.

Sad thing is, lately it seems, that they are not fighting their enemy, but their brothers.

Left vs. Right, White vs. black (heck, lately I've been seeing white vs white) North vs. South. Pro gun vs Anti gun.
And it's maddening!

But in the midst of all this turmoil, I saw the most beautiful sight that, again, brought tears to my eyes.

It was newsfeed from the courtroom. The South Carolina shooter was completely stone walled. No emotion, not the slightest bit of remorse and the families of the victims had to face him.

I don't know what I would do if I was in their position. Many people I know would have told this man that they hope he hangs and burns in hell for what he did.

But what they did was the exact opposite.

They told him they forgive him. They begged him to repent. They told him to search for Christ,

  This man took away everything precious they had. Their children, friends, relatives, and pastor, and their main concern was that he find forgiveness in Christ so that he may not perish for eternity when he leaves this life and goes to the next.

At the memorials, there were no riots, no shouting, or blaming. There was weeping, and candles lit, and prayers said, and human beings helping their fellow man in this desperate hour of need.

So I prayed more.

I have been praying for God's comfort and peace for the families, and for God to soften this man's heart.

And that's what I decided to do for now on.

I don't know what pushed this man over the edge. We still have many racist groups in the entire world, let alone this country. But many of them never kill or even think about killing. Many people I know hate their own brothers. I see it on their facebooks. The word hate to describe feeling towards someone is sadly more common than anyone would hope for, but they do not commit acts of violence.

So what did it? And what made him like a stone?

I don't know. This whole blame game, is not my personal fight. Maybe it's yours. and if it is, that's fine. Just please remember who the enemy truly is. And trust me, it's not your facebook friend that might have the confederate flag hanging in their living room. Or the leftist Liberal who wants to repeal the Second Amendment.

My personal feeling is that this young man may be suffering from some sort of demonic oppression, but again, that's my own theory.

All I can do is pray. Pray for peace. Pray for comfort. Pray for repentance. Pray for God's will.

I can't be on the world wide web's battle grounds anymore.

So, like a Carmelite nun, I cloister myself and find quiet and search for the peace of God.

I'm not saying everyone has to do this, but if you feel yourself angry about this whole mess and cannot seem to find peace, I would highly recommend a session of prayer.

And if you do feel that prayer is not enough, remember this:

God has given us two of the most powerful tools in his arsenal:

Prayer and Love.

Something I haven't seen a whole lot on facebook lately. just blame, anger and hatred.

I actually found a very useful prayer for this time:

Gracious God,
surround us and all who mourn this day
with your continuing compassion.
Do not let grief overwhelm your children,
or turn them against you....
When grief seems never-ending,
take them one step at a time
along your road of death and resurrection
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

May the Lord be with you.