The Common Book of PrayerOne of the ways that we participate in having common ground here at Word of Life Ministry is found in The Common Book of Prayer.
The CBOP is designed to help individuals, families, and congregations pray together across denominations and help you and your community join together each day with the same songs, scriptures, and prayers to compile a beautiful tapestry of prayer that will help the church be one as God is one.
This universal prayer book allows readers to greet each day together, remembering significant dates and Christian heroes in church history, as well as important historic dates in the struggle for freedom and justice. There are morning prayers for each day of the year, evening prayers for each of the seven days of the week, a midday prayer to be repeated throughout the year, and prayers for special occasions.
To access the Book of Common Prayer online, click here:
The Online Book of Common PrayerThe Revised Common LectionaryHere at Word of Life Ministry we want to make sure that we rehearse The Jesus Story and the story of the people God so that can be imitators and participants within the confines of our own story. We do that by searching the sacred scriptures and implementing them into our daily individual readings as well as our corporate gatherings.
The Revised Common Lectionary is a three-year cycle of weekly lections used to varying degrees by the vast majority of mainline Protestant churches in Canada and the United States. The RCL is built around the seasons of the Church Year, and includes four lections for each Sunday, as well as additional readings for major feast days. During most of the year, the lections are: a reading from the Hebrew Bible, a Psalm, a reading from the Epistles, and a Gospel reading. During the season of Easter, the Hebrew Bible lection is usually replaced with one from the Acts of the Apostles. The lections from the Hebrew Bible are sometimes chosen from the Apocrypha.
The seasons of the Church Year reflect the life of Christ. Consequently, the gospel lections for each Sunday provide the focus for that day. The other lections for a given day generally have a thematic relationship to the gospel reading for that day, although this is not always the case. In Ordinary Time, the Revised Common Lectionary offers two sets of readings for the lessons from the Hebrew Bible. One set proceeds mostly continuously, giving the story of the Patriarchs and the Exodus in Year A, the monarchial narratives in Year B, and readings from the Prophets in Year C. In the other set of readings for Ordinary Time, the readings from the Hebrew Bible are thematically related to the gospel lections.
The gospel readings for each year come from one of the synoptic gospels according to the following pattern:
- Year A - Matthew
- Year B - Mark
- Year C - Luke
To access the Revised Common Lectionary online, click here:
The Revised Common Lectionary
The Contemporary CollectsThe Collects comprise a set form of prayer which bring together or
“collect” our thoughts on a matter, concentrating our minds on a particular desire or intention, be it stewardship, peace, guidance, adoration, thanksgiving for the life of a saint, or any other matter.
The Collect for the Day sets the emphasis for the prayers and liturgy of the day. Many of these prayers are very ancient and are among the great devotional riches of our heritage.
In form, collects address God by calling to mind some aspect of His Being, offer petition or petitions for a stated need, and conclude with a clause acknowledging the mediatorial role of Jesus Christ who is known through the eternal activity of the Blessed Trinity.
Here at Word of Life Ministry we are committed to implementing them into our weekly prayer life as well as our corporate gatherings.
To access
The Contemporary Collects online, click here:
The Collects - Contemporary