The Ecclesiastical Calendar

An activity book for children that engages the whole family in preparing to celebrate the liturgical season of the church year. Includes a pull-out calendar that children can color and display. Ages 7-11. +

The Common Worship Main Volume is the primary worship and service book for the Church of England. It contains material used on Sundays by most churches: a variety of Communion services and non-eucharistic forms of worship, as well as the basic Baptism service and the Psalms. Full contents: The Declaration of Assent The Calendar A Service of the Word Morning and Evening Prayer on Sunday Morning and Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer Night Prayer (Compline) Night Prayer (Compline) in Traditional Language Prayers for Various Occasions The Litany The Litany from the Book of Common Prayer Authorized Forms of Confession and Absolution Creeds and Authorized Affirmations of Faith Holy Communion including A Form of Preparation, Order One, Order One in Traditional Language, Order Two, Order Two in Contemporary Language, Supplementary Texts, Seasonal Provisions Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child Holy Baptism Collects and Post Communions Collects and Post Communions in Traditional Language Rules Lectionary The Psalter Canticles

A probing but clearly written book, Calendar will find an appreciative audience beyond academia and clergy to the laity of the church: choirs and their directors, worship planners, adult study groups, and others who want to understand better the church's times of preparation and celebration. Calendar centers largely on theological meaning and parish practice in relation to liturgical time. Deliberately, almost no attention is given to detailed historical development, much of which is exceedingly complex in its origins and technical in its detail. An appendix entitled "Forgetting What You Were Always Taught (Or, This Book in a Nutshell)" aptly describes the radical reordering that Stookey believes occurs when our understanding of time and the story of Jesus takes its bearings from the Incarnation. So, just as the Christian week begins with Sunday, the day of Resurrection, Stookey follows the Christian year beginning with the season of Easter, and only then Lent; Christmas, then Advent. Illuminating discussions of Ordinary and Extraordinary Time, and the Sanctoral Cycle follow.

Fully revised and expanded, this new work is the first major revision of the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in more than 40 years! It is the official revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts and authorized by the 2009 General Convention. All commemorations in Lesser Feasts and Fasts have been retained, and many new ones added. Three scripture readings (instead of current two) are provided for all minor holy days. Additional new material includes a votive mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, many more ecumenical commemorations, plus a proper for space exploration. For years the oft revised volume, Lesser Feasts and Fasts (LFF), has served parishes and individuals mark part of the holiness of each day by providing Scripture readings, a collect, a Eucharistic preface, and a narrative about those remembered on the church's calendar that day whose lives have witnessed to the grace of God. Holy Women, Holy Men (HWHM) is a major effort to revise, but also to expand and enrich LFF. Where LFF provided two readings (gospel and other New Testament) plus a psalm, HWHM adds an Old Testament citation. Where LFF was limited to few non-Anglicans in the post-reformation period (and few non-Episcopalians after 1789), HWHM dramatically broadens appreciation for other Christians and their traditions. Over-emphasis on clergy is redressed by additional laity, males by females, and "in-church" activities by contributions well beyond the workings of institutional agendas. These almost daily commemorations occupy over 600 of the book's 785 pages, by far the lion's share of its content. Remaining sections address: principles of revision and guides for future revision; liturgical propers for seasons (Advent/Christmas, Lent, and Easter); and new propers for a miscellany of propers usable with individuals (or events) not officially listed in the formal calendar. Two cycles of propers for daily Eucharist are also included, one covering a six week period, the other a two year cycle.

Chene Heady was a believing Catholic whose daily concerns were shaped primarily by forces other than his faith--career demands, financial decisions, scheduling conflicts, etc. He worked long hours and had limited regular interaction with his wife, also a busy professional, and his young daughter. He was the typical overextended and anonymous modern Catholic man. Then he tried an experiment that dramatically rearranged his life. After reading about the importance of the Church's liturgical year, Heady took up the challenge to live as though the Church's calendar, not the secular one, stood at the center of his life. Every day for a year, he observed the Church's seasons and feasts, and meditated on the Church's daily readings. As he did so, he found that his life, and his relationships, became more meaningful and fruitful. Numbering My Days tells the story of one man's renewal, and it offers an authentic model of spiritual development for anyone.

Bobby Gross presents chapters on each season of the liturgical year, accompanied by weekly devotions based on the Sunday readings of the lectionary cycle. His book offers a flexible weekly format, designed to let you break the devotions down any way you want to.