C.S. Lewis described the Christian faith as a journey—and indeed, we are on this journey together toward God. While there are many expressions of Christianity, one of the most beautiful, faithful, and ancient is the Anglican way of being Christian.

With that in mind, I invite you to explore our Sunday liturgy with me as we unpack the richness of Anglican worship.

Last week, we reflected on the Jerusalem Cross that adorns our prayer book. This week, we turn our focus to the Book of Common Prayer itself.

The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) has been central to Anglican worship since Archbishop Thomas Cranmer reformed the Church of England in the mid-1500s. Cranmer’s vision was to make the church’s liturgies and prayers beautiful, biblical, and accessible to the common English speaker. Many of these prayers were carefully translated from ancient Latin manuscripts, meaning that much of the BCP’s liturgy has been prayed by Christians since the earliest days of the church.

The prayer book serves as a trellis upon which the faith of the church grows. It provides a common structure for worship, teaching us both how to pray and what to pray for. It also shapes our understanding of God. The BCP tradition is not “common” in the sense of being ordinary but rather unites us in common worship with Anglicans throughout history and around the world.

At Christ Church, we use the 2019 Book of Common Prayer, a faithful adaptation of the 1662 prayer book for the American Anglican Church. It includes nearly every service an Anglican church needs for its devotional life. With just a Bible and a Prayer Book, you have all the texts necessary to hold Anglican worship services.

Key Components of the BCP:

• Holy Communion / Holy Eucharist / The Lord’s Supper – Sunday Worship
• Daily Office – Daily Prayers for morning, noonday, evening and bedtime 
• Services for Life’s Milestones – Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination, Funeral
• Lectionaries – Bible reading plans for Sundays and daily life
• Church Calendar – A way to align our lives with the life of Christ

The BCP is designed for ease of use with clear formatting and helpful conventions:

• Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV), derived from the King James Version.
• The Psalter is a re-translation of the original Coverdale Psalms, lightly edited by C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot in the 1960s.
• Formatting cues:
  • ALL CAPS indicate section titles that are not read aloud.
  • Bold text is recited by the gathered congregation.
  • Italicized text provides instructions or rubrics.
  • Asterisks (*) mark breaks for responsorial, antiphonal, or musical recitations.
  • Vertical lines in the margins indicate optional sections.

The Book of Common Prayer is more than just a collection of services—it is a guide to a rich, biblical, and historically rooted life of worship.