The Significance of Rosaries in the Anglican Church

Around the time my Confirmation was coming up in the Anglican Catholic church, I had found there was a devotion thought I had always found fascinating, yet never tried.

The Rosary.

I came upon a youtube video (which I can no longer find) of an Episcopal priest praying with an Anglican Rosary.

I didn't even know there was such thing.

He explained it's purpose and the different prayers he used for it and I found the devotion beautiful.

Naturally, I went on Etsy and purchased one right in time for my confirmation.

You may be wondering "What's the different between an Anglican Rosary and a Catholic Rosary?"

I'm glad you asked.

There are two Rosaries. The Anglican (Or Chaplet for my Roman Catholic friends) and the Dominican (Also known as the Catholic Rosary).

Here is a picture of the two I own:

The small one with the Peach colored beads is my Anglican. The large red and gold one is my Dominican.

What's the difference between the two besides their sizes?

Anglican prayer bead sets consist of thirty-three beads divided into groups. There are four groups consisting of seven beads with additional separate and larger beads separating the groups. The number thirty-three signifies the number of years that Christ lived on the Earth, while the number seven signifies wholeness or completion in the faith, the days of creation, and the seasons of the Church year. The four beads that spate the four groups are in a cross formation.

The Dominican or The five decade rosary as it's also known, is the one most people picture when they hear the word rosary. It consists of a crucifix, then a short set of 5 beads, for praying the Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, and a Glory Be, and then a rosary center, followed by a loop of 5 decades (sets of ten beads) to count the Hail Marys prayed as one meditates on the mysteries of the rosary, with a bead for praying the Our Father between each decade.

Another big difference between the two is that where as you say Hail Marys on the Dominican, there are no set prayers for the Anglican rosary.

"Then why have an Anglican Rosary if those no prayers set to it?" you may be wondering.

Well, it's simple. The Anglican, just like the Dominican, is meant as a tool for focus and meditation on God.

The best times to recite or pray with a rosary is in the morning for morning prayers, anytime right before you read your Bible, and in those few minutes before mass.

Now I have had some people say:

"The word Rosary is not in the Bible".

These are usually my dispensationalists, so I usually reply back:

"Well, neither is The Rapture or the Sinner's Prayer."

A little snarky, but it gets the point across.

Is the word Rosary in the Bible? No. But many of the prayers are.

Let's take some examples of the Dominican.

Some People have issues with Hail Mary.

It goes:
"Hail Mary! Full of Grace! The Lord is with thee! Blessed art Thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus."

Guess what! That is from the Bible.

Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:42.

And to answer a question that comes up a lot: NO! WE ARE NOT PRAYING TO MARY!

Roman Catholics also do not pray to Mary or any other saint. The hail Mary continues by saying:

Holy Mary, Mother of God (Which she is. She is mother of God the son. Not God the Father or Holy Spirit. But Jesus is God and she's his mother). Pray for us sinners now and at the time of our death.

We are asking Mary (and at times the other canon saints) to pray for us. Typically, the saints are called out for prayer by Anglicans if you are struggling with a particular sin. The same way as you'll go to a church member or family member and say "Please Pray for me".

Is it Biblical? Actually, you maybe surprised, but yes.
As Lazarus dying, he called out to The Prophet Abraham to intercede on his behalf. And that is where the custom comes from.

Not every Anglican asks for a Saint to intercede for them, and that is alright. However every Anglican still prays directly to God all the time.  It's just a matter of personal preference.


Now back to the scriptures used in the Dominican.

Before your Hail Marys, you pray the Lord's prayer, which can be found in Matthew 6:9-13.

Even The Magnificant (Also known as Mary's Song of Praise) can be found in Luke 1: 46-55.


With the Anglican Rosary, many of the prayers from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer comes from Scripture. Our you can use it to pray some of the Psalms.

One I personally like is my own take on the Hail marys style to wear I call it "Lord, I am not worthy".

With my Anglican Rosary, I first like to start of making the sign of the cross and saying

"In the Name of the father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

Then I do The Lord's prayer, and then The apostles creed.

Then with my seven Peach colored Beads I pray "Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof, but speak the word only and my should shall be healed."

That comes from Matthew 8:8.

That repetition is a great way to get my mind cleared out and focus solely on God's word alone and not on anything else that might distract me.

Then with the four beads that separate the 4 groups of 7, I pray

"As it was in the Beginning, is now and shall be, world without end".

Coming from Revelation 22:21

I hope to upload a video of me explaining that particular rosary on Youtube sometime this week.


So, as you see, though the beads themselves might not come straight from scripture, the prayers and devotions do.

It's not about the beads, it's about what they are and what they represent.

The Rosaries are tools for devotions to God and his gospel.

Don't knock em till you try them.

May the Lord be with you.

The Church is a Whore and She's my Mother: From Bitterness to Peace

I've met quiet a few people who have made the Similar transition that I have. People who have bounced around from church to church, and then finally feel right at home in the more Orthodox churches.

When I was in my younger years, it would seem odd to me when I would meet people who have been attending the same church (or denomination) since the day they were born.

I found it a little odd, but at the same time, I envied them.

How nice would it have been not to change customs or worship styles.

Go from Liturgy to hour long sermons with flashing lights and loud music or Vice Versa.

Switching from Praise and Worship with drums and the lyrics appearing on a giant screen behind the band to 200 year old hymns that you read in a book accompanied by a piano or an organ or Vice Versa.

There is a phrase I use to describe myself.

I call myself a foster Child of the church.

I bounced around from church to church, and just when I was getting used to how things were at one, something would happen and it was time to go another home.

If it sounds like this was a bad experience, don't feel bad. I'm glad that I went to the different churches I did.

I met a lot of wonderful people, had some wonderful pastors, I got to learn a lot about the different parts of the Body of Christ, and in the more Liturgical churches, I got great lessons in Church History (A subject that still fascinated me to this day).

But there are times I think back and see a few regrets.

You see, my parents were married in a Charismatic church in Atlanta. A church they still to this day refer to as a cult. It got national news about a huge scandal where the Pastor (Though he refer to himself as "Bishop") told many of the women and young girls that it was God's will for them to sleep with him while his wife was ill and bed ridden.

My parents left before anything came out in the open. Nothing happened to them or any other family members that attended, but my parents were beginning to get suspicious.

They didn't really want anything to do with the Charismatic churches after it hit the news. So they stuck with more traditional Churches. (Methodists and Presbyterian)

I on the other hand, kept getting attracted to the more Charismatic/ Evangelical churches.


I was invited by a childhood friend of mine to her Baptist church. They did a mixture of Hymns and Praise and Worship and liked to raise their hands during praise. Though I had some friends there, I still felt a bit of an outsider. But then again, I was becoming a teenager and going through those awkward years of trying to figure out who I was. Turns out, I'm a bit of a spastic weirdo, so I wasn't exactly "Popular".

Not to mention the fact that I was a bit of a loner because I was dealing with Suicidal thoughts and tendencies as depression was a constant thing for me in my teen years (but more on that in another post).

But I did have a small group of Tight knit friends, Some that I had since before Kindergarten and was grateful for.

But there I participated in lock ins, hand raising during praise and worship, sobbing at the alter call almost every Sunday, and every other Sunday, go walk around down Town Passing out gospel tracts.

Yep! I passed out tracts and told people "If you read this, it could change your life forever!"
Tracts that looking back, I wish I could have burned so they never saw the light of day.

Then we moved towns and it was hard to attend the Baptist church, so my family and I started attending the Presbyterian church just down the street from our new home that we attended when I was little because my Grandparents attended.

Going from Baptist from Presbyterian was a bit of a culture shock. Though I attended from ages 7-10, it had been a while and I had to get used to no one raising their hands, saying "Amen" whenever The Pastor had something good or profound to say, reciting the Lord's prayer and the Apostle's creed every Sunday, Women were allowed to be Pastor's, and the only time I cried in service was when Pastor Tim* asked for a special prayer during a service for my Grandfather who was dying from Cancer.

I think the last part might have been the main reason why I started to do some soul searching. Years of on and off depression, my grandfather dying, and the fact that none of the kids in the Presbyterian youth group liked me because I was the weird kid, started making wonder if God actually existed at all.

I started looking at other options when It came to religion. About Different Religions all together.

I went though the list of some of the big ones. Judaism, Islam, Wicca, Hinduism, etc.

Even thought about just being an agnostic even an atheist.

The last two, I Quickly realized weren't going to do.

Thought bad stuff was happening all over the word and seemed to constantly loom over me, I couldn't just believe that everything that exists on this earth happened all just by chance.

And just being an Agnostic wasn't that much of an option to me because I couldn't be content with just saying "I don't know". Now some Agnostics I know actually try and seek out truth for themselves, but most I've known just have the attitude of "I don't know, and I don't care".

I just couldn't do it.
It's like my husband said to me the other night:

"Honey, you're a Truth Seeker and you won't be content until you've found it".

Then just when I had almost given up on church altogether, I found this tiny little store front Charismatic church.

I found my way inside because I saw kids playing air hockey through the window.
My parents were concerned of the fact I didn't have many friends and encourage me to see if they had a youth group.

And that was all it took.

I started attending on a regular bases, and my parents started to come with me to make sure I wasn't getting wrapped up in a cult that they did all those years ago. Eventually, they became members as well.

It was at that church that I began to have a real relationship with Christ. The suicidal thoughts and depression began to quickly fade (It would rear it's ugly head every so often, but it never stayed for long.

We stayed there for a few good years.

But we left again because we felt the trust we had with the pastor was breaking at the seems.

after a few months of the church growing, he felt like he was on the path of becoming a mega church millionaire.

He preached the prosperity constantly, wanted to make sure the spotlight was always on him, encouraged us to listen and follow fat cat televangelists that always made sure their audience had the warm and fuzzies right before the collection plate got passed around, and the thing that broke the camels back for my family, was that they were sure he used money that they had donated for the building fund and used it to build a Christian bookstore and coffee house.

So we left and began to attended a Charismatic light church which my parents still attend to this day.

Now reading this, you might think there is some bitterness I have to the Charismatic movement.

Well, there was for a bit.

I started doing research on some of the charismatic movement and saw the manipulation some of the major figure had and was disgusted. My heart began to harden.

But God quickly started to soften it.

I have to remember, if it wasn't for the Charismatic movement, I probably wouldn't be a Christian to this day, let alone an Anglo-Catholic.

Does the church has it's flaws? yes, what church doesn't.

But it was that movement that taught me how to have a relationship with God along with having a religion.

I'm going to take a twist on a classic quote by St. Augustus now.

"The (Evangelical) church is a Whore, but she's my mother".

I've met a lot of people like me who have transitioned from Evangelical to more Orthodox denominations. And yes, I have met some people who hold bitterness to there old churches as I did

when for a brief time.

Can the Evangelical church be an unfaithful bride of Christ? Oh yes. Without a doubt... But she's also my mother.

I am very much convinced that I would not be attending mass most Sundays, saying my prayers, and doing my devotions if it wasn't for her.

To be honest, if it wasn't for the Evangelical church, I would have probably committed suicide all those years ago and be buried 6 feet underground with my parents mourning always asking themselves why I did it, because I always kept my feelings secret at that time.

So am I bitter of the Charismatic movement. Not really. Will I pray for them? Absolutely.

Does that mean that all Charismatics are fake? Not at all. There are so many of them that truly love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and Mind.

But in any group of people out there, the fakes and the crazies are always the loudest. And I can't judge an entire group of people, by a few heretics.

May the Lord be with you.

Christianity IS a Religion AND a Relationship!

You've probably heard the following Phrase before:

"Christianity isn't a religion! It's a Relationship with God!"
Or
"Religion is man made
Or
"Religion says do! Christ says done!"

And the list goes on.

I've heard these kinds of saying SO MANY times while I was in the Charismatic/ Evangelical and even some Baptist churches. That Christianity had nothing to do with Religion.

I used to say it, in fact, quiet often.

There's even a video of me from one of my old Youtube Channels kind of Babbling on about it.
You can see it by clicking HERE. (Though I have to warn you before you click that link. My audio was awful and created a robot voice in the middle of the video. Plus, I wasn't that great of a Vlogger because I tend to babble on, so it is a bit long. Again, just fair warning).

Yep, I was that kind of Christian.

Now before I continue, I just want to say, if you are that kind of Christian, I'm not dogging you. I'm just looking back at my own personal experiences. However, IF you are that type of Christian, please continue to read this entry with an open heart and mind and see where I'm coming from.

For YEARS I refused to even acknowledge the word "Religion" unless I was bashing it.

When I started the process of becoming an Anglican, however, that began to change.

So what caused the change?

Well, It started when we invited our Priest over to our Apartment for dinner and a house blessing.

Along with dinner and prayers, we also talked for a LONG time. We asked him many Questions about the Anglican Catholic church. We wanted to know what we would be getting ourselves into before we officially joined.

There was a term he kept using quiet frequently. "Our Religion" seemed to come out of his mouth quiet a bit. With my church background it made me slightly uncomfortable, but I didn't speak up or try to correct him by saying "It's not a religion!".

If I were to call this man my father for now on, I knew I had to show him the honor and respect which he is deserving of.

But it kept rattling in my brain. So I did some research.

I first looked up the definition of religion:

"the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods."

I thought to myself "Okay. I believe in and worship God. This makes sense" then I went on youtube to see what others had believed what Religion is.

If you've been on social media for the past few years, you probably remember the Spoken Word Youtube video called Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus. To this date it has almost 30 Million views and shares. I used to be a big fan of this Spoken Word. I shared it when it first came out and would say "This is the Truth!". But during my transitioning to Anglo-Catholisim, I found a response video from a Roman Catholic priest.

It was called Why I love Religion, and love Jesus.

There was a particular verse from the Spoken Word response that really stood out to me.

He said "When Jesus said it was done, that's absolutely true, but he also gave us a mission with many things to do".

The reason why that line in particular stuck out to me. I've heard youth Ministers say "Religion says Do, Jesus says done!" and that moment it clicked that saying is not exactly true.

You see, when Christ said "It is Finished" on the cross, I believe that he meant that the act was finish. from then on forward there was no need to follow the ceremonial law. There was no need to sacrifice animals for our sins because he was the ultimate sacrifice.

But that time on the cross was not the only time Christ spoke in the new testament.

He told us to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.

He told us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
(Matthew 22:37–40).

He said To go and Baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(Matthew 28:19)

He told us to be Servants.
(Matthew 20:26–28).

He told us to Repent.
(Matthew 4:17)

He told us to Follow him.
(Matthew 4:19).

These are just a few examples. There are so many more. You can view them all by clicking HERE.

So once we except the Grace of God, we have a list of many things to do and yes. Even many things we are not to do and to avoid at all possible cost.

If you're wondering where the relationship comes in, well it comes in Christ's Religion and commandments.

In order for me to obey God, I have to love God and Trust God with my whole being. How can I love and trust someone if I don't know them?

How am I supposed to be willing that if the time ever came for it, to die for my God if I don't know my God or Trust my God?

You can't have Christ without his church. You can't fully love God if you don't keep his commandments in your heart.


Does this mean I keep every commandment he has given me every second of the day? No. But that's the beauty of my Religion. Is that even though I am a sinner, Christ suffered and died for me so I would not have to suffer. 

He broke his body and spilled his blood for us and made the ultimate sacrifice, so I would not have to do it myself.

But in return, he has some regulations, rules, and commands for me to obey. And I do so willingly.

I don't try my best to obey his laws for fear of hell. I keep the commands in my heart because he knows what's best for me and that I may live a full life.

My religion give me life to the fullest.

Because in my religion, I have a relationship with my God.

The Lord be with you. 

What Does It Mean To Be An Anglican Catholic?

There is a question I get asked all the time whenever I say the name of my church.

"Anglican Catholic?" People say. "What is that and how does that work?"

I think the reason why there is confusion in the title is because when most people think "Catholic" they think The Roman Catholic church.
But this is not the case. My church is not in communion with the Roman Catholic church, nor do we acknowledge The Bishop of Rome (AKA The Pope) as the head of our church.

So what does it mean to be an Anglo-Catholic?

Well, a very good explanation can be found on our church's website http://www.anglicancatholic.org/

Which states the following:

"The word "Catholic" is often understood in opposition to the word "Protestant." However, this is both a recent and uniquely western perspective. In the ancient church, Catholicism was understood to be the opposite of heresy, or false belief, and even today there are millions of Christians in Greece, Russia, and other parts of the world who consider themselves neither "Catholic" nor "Protestant," but "Orthodox."

 

During the sixteenth century, the Church of England sought to modify certain beliefs and practices that had developed over the centuries and appeared extraneous, unwise, or divergent from apostolic faith and practice. In doing so, the church did not abandon its catholicism; rather it engaged in a process of reform. As Bishop John Bramhall wrote in the seventeenth century, "our religion is the same it was, our Church the same it was...differing only from what they were formerly, as a garden weeded from a garden unweeded."

 

"Anglicanism, then, is best understood as a reformed catholic faith. Likewise, we believe that the church is in need of continual renewal and reformation. It must oppose the errors of every age in order to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3)."

 

 

So what is the short version of what I just posted?

It's simple. We are Anglican by Theology and Catholic by Tradition.

 

In fact, my church is not the only church that falls into the Anglo-Catholic category.

 

There's the Episcopal church. (which my church originated from but separated in the 1970's. More on that later.)

 

The Anglican Church of North America.

 

Lutherans.

And yes, the church of England.

 

The world Catholic itself means Universal. It's one of the reasons why in the apostles creed, we say "I believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church (Which we even said when I was in the Presbyterian church).

 

We keep the traditions of the early church alive, such as the Apostles creed, Lent, Advent, Sainthood, and many others that honestly, this blog would be 12 pages long if I went through them all. However in Theology, that's where we differ from the Roman church.

 

 

 

Our Theology is kept more inline with Anglican church (or The Church of England).

 

I know this entry is shorter, but I just wanted to go ahead and get this explanation out there. I know how confusing the name can be with someone that's not familiar with Anglo Catholicism.

 

Before I ever stepped foot into my current parish, I used to pass by the church all the time as a kid. I remember thinking "Where do they keep the nuns?" thinking again, Roman Catholic.

 

I hope this clears up something and expect another blog post sometime soon.

 

May The Lord be with you.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to my New Blog (An introduction)

Hello and welcome to my Blog,

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts.

I wanted to start up a blog (and eventually, a youtube channel) discussing my faith. Mostly my faith within the Anglican Catholic church.

"Anglican catholic?" you may be asking yourself. "How does that work?"

Well, I'll explain that in a later blog. This is just an introduction.

I was confirmed in the A.C.C. this past November and have been attending my parish since December of 2013. Since around spring of 2014 I have had a lot of my friends ask me questions about the A.C.C. ever since.

You see, I have a pretty diverse religious background.

I was born and baptized in the Methodist church, then my family became Presbyterians, then Baptists (where I was baptized again because Baptist don't believe in infant baptisms), then Presbyterian again, the attended 2 very different evangelical churches. One with a heavy Pentecostal influence (where I was baptized two more times, because, what the heck? I love Jesus!) and another with a heavy Baptist influence.

I spent most of my later years as an Evangelical. Which is funny, because I never liked calling myself an evangelical. In the media, Evangelicals have a bad reputation as Bible thumpers, street preachers, or Mega church millionaires.

So, I just called myself "Non Denominational".

I never called myself religious because I was taught Religion was man made and just a bunch of rules and restrictions that got in the way of having a relationship with Christ.

Now before I continue, I want to make this clear:  I have no bad blood to any church I have ever attended in my life. I still keep in touch with my Methodists, Baptist, Presbyterian, and evangelical friends. There was never a church I was ever a part of that God did not bring me too at that time.

In fact, I met my husband while attending the Evangelical church.

My Husband was raised Episcopalian and then left the church all together. Later in his life he came back to Christ and began attending Independent Baptist churches.

After we got engaged, he told me he wanted to take me to An Anglican Christmas Eve Mass. He assured me I would enjoy it and that it was always a found memory from his childhood.

So, In December of 2014, he found A local Anglican Catholic Church and we went.

Now, with my Methodist and Presbyterian background, I got the basic gist of the Liturgy. But I was still lost. The incense, the chanting, making of the sign of the Cross was beautiful and almost haunting. But the Evangelical in me kept telling me its all religion and poppy cock.

That night my then Fiancé (now husband) told me he felt lead back to the Anglican church.

I was heartbroken. That wasn't the plan. The plan was we would continue to go to the church my parents and I were attending.

My husband continued to visit the A.C.C. and I almost stopped going to my evangelical church all together. I didn't know what to do. He first suggested we just go to our separate churches, but I knew I did not want to do that.

Yet the very thought of becoming an Anglican scared me.  I was a bit kicking and screaming about the whole idea.

Little did I know, my husband was praying to God Everyday "Lord, if this is where you are leading me, lead her too."

Sure enough, God softened my heart and I went to another service. I ask husband questions about the customs and devotions, spoke with the rector, and got to know the Congregation. My inner evangelical would still speak to me and say "How can the spirit move in all this tradition?"

But I would observe the services and saw that it did. Sure, it's traditions, but that didn't mean that every single person in that room didn't put their entire hearts and souls in their devotions.

So I broke the news to my parents and the evangelical church I was attending at the time.

I wanted to make it clear to everyone that I wasn't mad at anyone or was upset, or anything of the sort, but that God was leading my Husband and myself to where we needed to be.

So here I am. A proud Anglican.

Now, you might be wondering where "veiled" comes in. Well, Whenever I go to church or when I pray at home, I practice headcovering. I used to do it full time for many months, but that was a season in my life. Glad I did it, but God let me know that full time was no longer needed of me.

Why do I cover my head from prayers. Well, I get into that in a later blog, but give 1st Corinthians 11 a look and you'll understand better.

So what's the point of starting this blog?

Well, like I said, I have many low church and Evangelical friends who are confused about some of the devotions I practice. So I created this blog to explain what and why we do them. I'll talk about the sign of the cross, the Common book of prayer, headcoverings, the Hierarchy of the church, Rosaries, and so much more.

keep an eye out for my next blog.
May the Lord be with you!