Holy Baptism, an ancient practice, is a ritual bath performed during a special ceremony that takes place during the principal public Sunday worship of a congregation. Sometimes, the water is poured over a person’s head at a special basin called a font. Sometimes, a person is fully immersed in a baptismal tank or pool. The rite marks…

Major celebrations of the church year for which the Book of Common Prayer appoints proper collects, psalms, and lessons.

Our Anglican tradition recognizes sacraments as “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 857). Holy Baptism and the Eucharist (or Holy Communion) are the two great sacraments given by Jesus Christ to the church. In the case of baptism, the outward and visible sign is water, in which the person is baptized…

World Mission Sunday The last Sunday in Epiphany of each year is designated as World Mission Sunday – a time when the church comes together to focus on the global impact of our call to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” (Baptismal Covenant, Book of Common Prayer, p. 305). All parishes and dioceses are…

Beginning in Advent 2007, The Episcopal Church stopped using the Sunday lectionary printed in the original version of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. (The lectionary for the Daily Office, however, remained unchanged.) It was officially replaced by a three-year cycle of Sunday Scripture readings known as the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). This is what now appears in newer printings of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. In the RCL, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke…

Episcopalians registered to attend the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, are invited to daily worship services that seek to embody the church’s “beautiful mosaic of diversity.” Three Eucharist services—including one entirely in Spanish—and three Morning Prayer services will be offered June 23-28 and livestreamed.

Because our true citizenship is not here on earth but in heaven, we are called to transcend the earthly distinctions made among us by the leaders of this world. We must proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is promised to the persecuted and answer Christ’s call to welcome the stranger among us. This vision of God’s kingdom, this new reality, is the one to which we Christians are pledged in our baptism above any political preference or policy, and to which our church must bear witness through word and deed.

Acts 10:44-48 Our 1979 Book of Common Prayer includes all kinds of changes to the liturgy for baptism, but the most significant one doesn’t have to do with the language in our prayers. Have you noticed that our baptismal rites aren’t found right before Confirmation, as in older prayer books, but instead fall between Easter…

Prayers Find weekly prayers related to our public policy and witness as a church, as well as a yearlong cycle of weekly prayers for members of the military, their families, and chaplains serving in the U.S. armed forces and federal ministries. We encourage sharing these prayers in your services, church bulletins, and social media as appropriate….

The following are the opening remarks of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori at the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, currently meeting through October 27 the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, MD. Executive Council opening remarks24 October 2014Maritime Center, Linthicum Heights, MD   The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts SchoriPresiding Bishop and…