Before we had children, when we had just started attending an Anglican church, I remember telling my husband that in the Book of Common Prayer there were words big enough and strong enough for all of life — birth, death, and everything between.

I grew up with only extemporaneous prayer, where I would grasp for original words that would inevitably prove weak. So, as we encountered the Anglican tradition, I found the Word of Christ dwelt in me richly through the rhythmic and f...itting prose of the 1928 Prayer Book. I found rituals that highlighted the sacramentality of normal life. I found myself drawing closer to Christ as I followed Him through the path of the Church Year.

This Prayer Book spirituality was very different than the type of spirituality I had grown up with. Instead of a constant inward look, I was looking to shape my soul according to something I found outside of myself. Instead of only focusing on my personal relationship with Christ, through the Prayer Book, I was joining with the Church Militant and Triumphant in the communal work of prayer.

Read the rest here.