Rule of Life, Revisited.

If you've been around a while, you may recall that I have, on occasion, attempted to create for myself a Rule of Life. I've done a lot of exploring things like values and mission statements, and I've read a bunch of stuff about vocation and what a Rule of Life actually is, and so on and so forth.

I don't remember if I've talked here about my exploration of Holy Orders, which occurred in my early twenties--well before I was diagnosed with ADHD, met my husband, etc. (and before blogging was a thing).

One of the things that hit me hard was the expectation of saying Morning Prayer every day. At the time, I struggled mightily with actually making and following any kind of routine consistently and over a long period of time. I did get an information package from an Anglican order (that seems to not exist anymore) so I could see what it was all about, and the discernment period was to include that sort of consistent practice.

I tried, reader, so hard, and I couldn't make it happen.

Over the years, I've tried putting together Morning Prayer-esque sets of prayers for personal use, and still always I can't make it happen consistently for a long period of time.

But I want to make a Rule of Life that I can make happen, that will work for me and my brain and my life and my family.

I'm going to examine the Catechism as it's expressed in the Book of Common Prayer. You know me and my deep dives if you've been here for any decent length of time, so I hope it will be an interesting and helpful exploration. I'll likely move on to the 39 Articles after that, as they contain a lot of important information about Anglicanism as well.

I'm also going to be reading about liturgy as part of this. I think that liturgy matters and is vital to our life as believers, but I think that it isn't serving us properly anymore. So I want to look at the history of the liturgy, so I understand better where it came from and why, and then I hope that understanding will help me find ways to help the Church make our liturgy stronger and more robust. The way society functions in general (in terms of the family unit and the structure of the work week) has changed so very much between now and when the Anglican Church was first instituted, and I think it is possible to meet people where they are at without sacrificing theology. The Book of Alternative Services, 1986, tried to do that, but it is clearly a work of committee, pandering to the world's concerns rather than maintaining the beauty of the theology presented in the BCP. While I would commend the BCP to those curious about Christianity and Anglicanism, I cannot say the same about the BAS.

I'm not sure when I'll post my first Catechism exploration, but be on the lookout.