A prayer book you can hold, morning and evening prayer as a daily rhythm, and a wide range of styles under one roof.
The English Reformation kept the old shape of worship and put it into English in one book. What resulted is a tradition that holds Catholic form and Reformation conviction together, sometimes uneasily, usually generously.
Read the storyA service
Hymn, greeting, confession and absolution, and the collect of the day.
Two or three readings, a psalm, the Gospel, a sermon, the Creed and prayers of intercession.
The peace, the Eucharistic Prayer, the Lord's Prayer, and communion — kneeling at the rail in many churches.
A blessing and a final hymn.
The room
A single book holding the daily offices, the communion service, the psalms, and prayers for births, marriages and funerals.
Everybody prays the same words, so nobody depends on the minister's mood. The words are old on purpose — they carry people who can't find their own.
Seen in · Pews, vestries and bedside tables
A table dressed with a seasonal frontal, cross and candles, with pulpit and lectern facing each other.
Altar and table both — sacrifice remembered and a meal shared. The layout says word and sacrament are meant to balance.
Seen in · Parish churches and cathedrals
Cassock and surplice with a preaching scarf in lower-church parishes; alb, stole and chasuble in higher ones.
Anglican dress varies more than anywhere else, and both ends of the range are properly Anglican. Nobody is doing it wrong.
Seen in · Sunday morning, everywhere
Words
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
How most Anglican gatherings end, from cathedrals to committee meetings.
Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord; and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Language
Morning and Evening Prayer, prayed daily.
A short prayer that gathers up the theme of the day.
Evening Prayer sung, usually by a choir.
More ceremonial or plainer — a range, not a ranking.
The modern service book and the older Book of Common Prayer.
A church responsible for everyone in its patch, not only its members.
The year
Follows the church year with seasonal colours and collects. PrayCraft's Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline follow this shape.
The colours, the clothing and the furnishings in more detail.
Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline, step by step.
Illustrations are artist's impressions, drawn to show the usual pattern. Every church varies.