Fun times with the Book of Common Prayer

While I am not anything, I most certainly am not Anglican. Prior to my non-climatic ‘leap from faith’ some years back, I was a proud Christian soldier in that most excellent example of organized religion — the United Church of Canada.

However, while I still hold a soft spot for the old UCC, I’ve never been one to pooh-pooh other denominations either. Quite frankly though, I don’t know enough about the other denominations to say much about them in the first place. In my hometown of Paradise Valley, Alta., we had the United Church and the Church of God. That was about the limitation of my denominational understanding for the first half of my life.

Until I went to a Lutheran university, I’d never really thought of Lutherans existing at all. I thought Catholics were just from TV, and an Anglican sounded more like a trigonometry term than a member of a major world faith tradition.

I wish I were more ecumenical in my understanding, but I can only claim ignorance when it comes to matters of these particular Christian sects (although that doesn’t seem to stop me from writing columns on the subject as if I were an expert, apparently). This week, my somewhat flaky interest in any specific religious practice has set its sights to the Anglican Church of Canada.

While perusing the stock at White Cat Book Company in Saskatoon the other day, I came across a handsome little publication called the Book of Common Prayer. This 1959 edition is filled with an array of prayers for most any occasion. From the consecration of bishops, to overseeing wedding ceremonies, to family prayers for saying grace — this little red book has it all. Read more

Related:
The Golden Jubilee of the BCP