Dear parishioners,
Besides our weekly Eucharist services on Sundays, the great bedrock of the Episcopal/Anglican tradition is the daily round of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer services known as the Daily Office. Though originally designed to be used in churches, millions of us have also used them at home. Each one makes a very good personal devotion, or a lay person can lead a small group of people in a household.
In light of our enforced temporary isolation due to COVID-19, the services of the Daily Office are a great way to spiritually connect with other Episcopalians as well as with God.
If you have copy of the Book of Common Prayer at home, you can easily use that, although you will also need a Bible so you can look up the lessons for the day. An easier choice is to go online where helpful folks have already assembled the prayers, psalm and scripture readings for that morning or evening. There are a number of sites available but I recommend two in particular.
The most famous site is put up by the Mission of St. Clare at https://www.missionstclare.com/english/
Besides having the full texts for each Morning and Evening Prayer that day, each service also includes three or four optional audio for you to click if you would like to hear a hymn or sung piece of service music.
The other site I recommend is https://dailyoffice.app/
This site looks a little better on a cell phone screen and has the advantage of also offering the option of a Noonday service and an end-of-the-day service known as Compline.
When you pray a service of the Daily Office you are not only immersing yourself in our deep Episcopal traditions, you are also joining collectively with thousands of others who are praying the same words.
David +
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Also, on our web site we have links to the Lectionary Page, the Book of Common Prayer, and our Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, for you to refer to:
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We would also like to provide some online links to St. Thomas Church in New York City and the Washington Cathedral, so if you chose to worship on Sunday, March 22nd via technology, you will be able to do so.
Sunday, March 22nd | 11:00 AM High Altar Webcast
St. Thomas Church – NYC Festal Eucharist
https://www.saintthomaschurch.org/events/festal-eucharist-13/
Washington National Cathedral
Sunday, March 22, 2020 | 11:15am
This event will be broadcast online due to concerns related to the coronavirus. The Cathedral will be closed through May 16.
Join us for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist on the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
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LENTEN MEDITATION, MARCH 18TH
And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply, he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.”
–Luke 3:10-11
Have you ever heard of the bag challenge for Lent? Each day during Lent, you fill a bag with items from any area of your home that you no longer need. This daily practice allows kids to practice generosity in a way that can become a natural routine by the end of Lent.
Even in our materialistic, consumer-driven culture, we seek to know Jesus and understand his teachings. Jesus tells us that if we have two coats, we share one. What if we went into our closets and got rid of half of what we had? What if we opened our cabinets and refrigerators and practiced the radical generosity that Jesus preaches? It might mean giving something away that we really like and still want. Often, what we want is what someone else needs.
One morning on the way to school, my daughter Jaiya brought a small bag of clothing. When I asked her who it was for, she said, ‘There’s someone I know who needs these.”
-Miriam Willard McKenney
Development Director for Forward Movement