The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is the liturgical heart of the Church of England. It demonstrates within its pages the fullness of what the Church believes and it is in itself one of the most effective ways of teaching the Christian Faith.
Morning Prayer
Tear your heart and not your clothing, and turn to the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to become angry and of great kindness: He relents from doing harm.
Evening Prayer
When the wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive.
Holy Communion
Almighty God, to You all hearts are open, all desires known, and from You no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, so that we may perfectly love You and worthily magnify Your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Proper prefaces
Because you gave Jesus Christ Your only Son to be born for us at this time: by the operation of the Holy Spirit He was made true man of the substance of His mother Mary, yet free from every spot of sin, so that He can make us clean from all sin.
Collects
Almighty God, give us grace to throw away the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light, now, during the time of our mortal life, in which Your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility.
Litany
All:
O God, the Father of heaven; have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Son, Redeemer of the world; have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
Baptism of Infants
Dear ...... in the Sacrament of Baptism our Heavenly Father sets His people free from the power of sin and death by uniting us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving, Blessing and Naming
This service of Thanksgiving, Naming and Blessing is offered as an alternative to Baptism as may be appropriate.
Baptism of Adults
Dear brothers and sisters, all people are conceived and born into sin, and in our natural state none of us are able to please God.
The Catechism
The Catechism should be studied by every candidate before being brought to the Bishop for Confirmation.
Confirmation
Brothers and sisters, confirmation is the occasion when those who have decided that they want to love and follow Jesus Christ, make a clear declaration of their Christian faith before the assembled family of God and promise that they wish to serve Him to the end of their lives.
Marriage
Dear brothers and sisters, we have gathered together here in the sight of God and before this congregation to join together this man and this woman in holy Marriage.
Burial
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord: whoever believes in Me, although he may be dead, yet he will live: and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
The Ordinal
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s preface to the Ordinal, written in 1550, makes it clear that the Church of England holds to the historic threefold ministry of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, which is foreshadowed in the New Testament, if only given its final expression in the early Christian centuries.
Induction
SERVICE OF INSTITUTION OF NEW MINISTERS
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Compline
Compline puts us into a quiet frame of mind after busy days and takes us through relevant Scriptures and prayers which bring Christian peace and contentment into play as our last waking thoughts before we commit ourselves into the Lord’s hands, go to bed and fall asleep.
Psalms
Bishop Miles Coverdale’s 1535 translation of the Psalms, based upon the Latin Vulgate, has rightly delighted English speaking Christians for centuries. His version stands out above all others as lively, metrical and memorable.
Prayers
O God, the Creator and Preserver of the entire human race, we humbly pray to You for all people and their varied illnesses, problems and circumstances; that You would be pleased to make Your ways known to them, Your saving health to all nations...
Rogation
Traditionally Rogation is celebrated in May at a time when Spring is well and truly under way and the parish gathers together to ask for God’s blessing on the new crops and livestock, whose growth will have already begun.
Harvest Thanksgiving
We asked for God's blessing upon our farms and gardens, our flocks of sheep, our herds of cattle, our fields, hedges and woods. Today we come into God’s house with thankful hearts, knowing that He has answered our prayers and we will now offer to Him the finest of our harvest.
Remembrance Sunday
We have gathered together here on this Remembrance Sunday to give thanks to Almighty God for the lives of those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up their lives in the defence of our country and our freedoms, across the world and also here at home.
Churching
This service was originally called the Churching of Women, written in the days when the dangers of miscarriages, stillborns and actual maternal death in childbirth were widely prevalent across the country. It was only natural that Christian mothers should resort to their parish church as soon as possible afterwards to give thanks to the Lord, not just for the safe delivery, but also for their own survival through this painful and traumatic experience.
A Commination
This service, which is a salutary reminder of God’s anger and righteous judgment against sinners, may be used on Ash Wednesday, during Lent, at Advent or at any other times when it may be found helpful. The 1662 rite has been shortened in places where there would be a danger of verbal overload for modern congregations.
The Thirty Nine Articles of Religion
These Articles were agreed by the Archbishops and Bishops of both provinces of Canterbury and York at a Convocation held in London in 1562, three years after the issue of the Elizabethan Prayer Book and intended to avoid the promulgation of conflicting opinions and establishing consent as to what the Church of England considers to be true religion.