The 1662 and You with Drew Keane - The Living Church How does the 1662 Book of Common Prayer hold Anglican Christians together today, even in the face of divisions?

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Want to know more about the origins of the Book of Common Prayer? From the Living Church podcast, link below:

God made you and loves you, and he is the God of all mercy. In the classic Book of Common Prayer, this prayer is said twice a day for forty days:

From the special Ash Wednesday service (called "the Commination") in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition is a great companion to help you along on the path of Lent and Holy Week, as we follow our Lord in the way of humility, the way of the cross, the way of waiting for resurrection:

From the appendix of additional prayers in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition:

This Ash Wednesday, Get Rid of the Cross - The Living Church Is tracing a cross on Ash Wednesday becoming a prideful display, the very thing Jesus rejects? Maybe it's time to get rid of the cross.

A great piece from @livingchurch.bsky.social on Ash Wednesday, bringing together the historic gospel for the day, medieval practices, and the Book of Common Prayer tradition:
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Wondering where to start with the Anglican prayer book? Here's a Beginner's Guide to Evening Prayer:

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How to Use the Book of Common Prayer In recent years there has been a revival of interest in the Book of Common Prayer, especially the classic 1662 version. Beloved for its language and theology, the classic Prayer Book is the

If we start Lent this way, we’ll still give things up. It *is* forty days of fasting. But how we begin changes how we continue.
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and God’s rich supply of that mercy (“may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness”).
This is how a prayer-book Lent begins: as a season for those who know they are loved, for those who have already mourned their sins and received God’s forgiveness.

our request not merely for external reformation but for the divine gift of a new heart (“Create and make in us new and contrite hearts”); our need of divine mercy because of our sins (“worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness”);

The collect introduced on the First Day of Lent strikes all the keynotes of this season (p. 87). It has God’s great love for us (“who hatest nothing that thou hast made”); his welcome for all penitent sinners (“who . . . dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent”);

When we leave, we aren’t carrying on our faces a reminder of mortality. Instead, we begin the Lenten journey with the joy of the prodigal child who once was lost but now is found. We have been brought to the Father’s table.

This deeply moving psalm ends with the joy of a forgiven sinner. Then come more prayers, ending with blessing and peace. And then Holy Communion.
Commination and Communion set the tone for Lent. These services are serious about sin and serious about forgiveness.

What comes next in the Commination service is a dramatic moment: the priest walks out of the chancel, joining the congregation in kneeling and saying Psalm 51, David’s great prayer of confession after he committed adultery and murder.

the just requirements of the law of God: after each curse, the congregation says “Amen.” Next comes a short evangelistic homily, which begins with haunting imagery of divine judgment, but then turns halfway through to extol the grace and mercy offered to sinners in Jesus Christ.

as well as sins of the heart (for example, “Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, and taketh man for his defence, and in his heart goeth from the Lord”). During this recitation of the curses, the congregation is not left passive. Instead it is tugged toward agreeing with

These are drawn mostly from Deuteronomy 27, but also from other Old and New Testament passages. These curses fall especially on sins against the needy and vulnerable (for example, “Cursed is he that maketh the blind to go out of his way”),

The answer lies in the special Ash Wednesday service called the “Commination.” That word means “threatening,” and right at the beginning of the service there is a set of searing curses for everyone who fails to keep the law.

The only other season with its own collect is Advent, another time of preparation.
What we won’t find anywhere in the Book of Common Prayer for this day is ashes. In fact, no Anglican prayer book included ashes for Ash Wednesday until the 1970s. How could this be?

The seven penitential psalms, which since ancient times have been associated with repentance and sorrow for sin, are all read on this day: Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 (pp. xxxiii, 357). And Ash Wednesday introduces the collect that is used all through Lent (p. 87).

Lent is just a week away. Anticipation? Dread? Mixed emotions?

Here's an excerpt from "How to Use the Book of Common Prayer" on the First Day of Lent:

Popularly known as “Ash Wednesday,” this is the only day in the entire year that has its own special service in the prayer book.

Two prayers for "After the Communion" in the appendix of additional prayers in the 1662 IE, the first adapted from the Church of Kenya's BCP and the second abbreviated from the Church of Ireland's BCP: