God be in my head,
and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes,
and in my looking;
God be in my mouth,
and in my speaking;
God be in my heart,
and in my thinking;
God be at mine end,
and at my departing.
from the Sarum Primer

Church:  All Saints’ (Church of England)
Location: Margaret Street, London, UK
Website: http://www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/
Also, check out the entry from the Mystery Worshipper.   Makes one wonder what could be said about St Tim’s.

If we’re honest, isn’t that what we long for?  To know there is something bigger, something larger than anything we’ve imagined?  What would it feel like to completely and honestly give yourself over to something that is larger than our imagination?  Come and see.  Worship at St Timothy’s this Sunday.  Come at 7:30 for a contemplative service in the chapel.  Kneel in a space built by the first members of St Timothy’s and pray in a language that is as old as our unique Anglican heritage.  Or come at 9:00 …

“The worship of God in which they joined was, by the violent contrast to all else in their lives, at once a vindication of the other-worldliness of their faith and an implicit condemnation of the filthy environment amid which the social sin of an acquisitive and complacent ruling class had condemned them to live.”
Maurice Reckitt on liturgy in the slums

Why chant?
Ask my family and they will roll their eyes with stories of their father and husband chanting even the most mundane of household conversations.  I’ve chanted “What are we having for dinner?” all the way down to “Will you please pass the salt?”  That being said (or chanted), this is not why chant is used at 11am. In antiquity, if you wanted to communicate something sacred, you either sung it or whispered it.  Think about the things you whisper.  Also think about the times when saying something …

I have had at least three distinct questions about elements of the Solemn High Mass (11am).  I have addressed these questions once or twice over the past couple of years, but it’s always good to revisit some very good question.  I’ll address one each day:
1.  Why does Father Bob wear a deacon’s stole at 11am?
This is a good question and kudos for great observational skill.  Fr. Bob does wear his stole as a deacon either under or other his dalmatic, another diaconal vestment.  Don’t worry, he has not been demoted!  In …

I’m pooped.  That’s all there is to it.  I want all my parishioners to know that if you think the 10:30 service is long – y’all ain’t seen nothin’!  8am was Morning Prayer.  11:00am was a Solemn High Eucharist.  5:30pm was Evening Prayer.  If your knees hurt while kneeling at St Tim’s, I’ve spent quite a long time on much less comfortable kneelers.  Truth be told, they don’t have kneelers, they have vinyl pads that hang on a hook on the back of the cathedral chairs.  But it’s wonderful.  It’s …

Early this morning, and I mean early, 4:30am early I rose before the alarm clock and assembled as quickly and quietly as I could, ran to the church looking for my hotel confirmation number (didn’t find it), and then drove to Greensboro for the 7:14am flight. The first let was to Philly and I was surprised that the flight was full. No drama to speak of during trip. Just the usual angst as to whether or not my bags would make it to my final destination. …

First of all, I thought it was “i before e except after c.”  Why is society exempt from that?  Anyway…
Tomorrow I fly out early (7:14am) to New Haven, CT for the Inaugural Provincial Assembly of the Society of Catholic Priests.  This is the very first assembly of all members and we will be officially inducted on Tuesday.  The SCP comes to America from across the Pond and Mother Church and is a devotional/formation/fraternity/society for priests who identify themselves as Anglo-Catholic.
Anglo-Catholics are usually viewed as those who would like to go …