Author: Anglican Internet Church

One of my favorite aspects about Anglican worship and devotions is the tradition of Christmas Eve singing. My wife and I have always enjoyed viewing the King’s College, Cambridge, programs or the similar presentation at St. Paul’s, London. Several years ago, facing the shortage of local presentations, I created a video version for those similarly without access. Click the image below to watch the program. There is a link to an MP3 Podcast version available on the Podcast Archive page. May the Lord bless and preserve you this holiday season.

 

For the full version of the Christmas Eve Suite, use the links on the Digital Library page.

Fourth (and Final) Sunday in Advent

Tomorrow is Fourth Sunday in Advent, the last service in the season and which turns into Christmas Eve following the evening service. From the Anglican Internet Church I send greetings to all and wish you a joyful and safe celebration of Christmas.

Angels Book Now Available

Earlier this week Angels: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition went live on Amazon KDP Publishing. You can order the book through my Amazon Author Central page (https://www.amazon.com/author/ronald-e-shibley). This leaves only one volume still to be updated into A.D. 2024 editions. I hope to have that one in place early in January.

God bless. And, again, a Merry Christmas to all.

Prayers in the Christian Tradition Updated

Our oldest publication, Prayers in the Christian Tradition, originally printed on 8.5″ x 11″ paper on an injet printer, then folded twice and cut, then stapled into a 5.5 x 5.5 size, has been updated for 2024 with some small style changes on every page, retention of all the original indexes and a new design for the spine and back cover, is now live with KDP Publishing. The price remains $15.00. There are ancient prayers organized by purpose and content. The 2024 edition includes current information about all 21 other books available through our Virtual Bookstore on Amazon.com.

Angels: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition Sent for “Final” Proof

The Angel book project is nearing completion. A final proof-reading sessions were held on 12/12 and 12/13, with all corrections and changes posted on 12/14 and sent to KDP Publishing. The proof copy is supposed to arrive on Monday, 12/18. 

These changes leave only one volume stlll in the review process. With luck, the issues will be resolved in early January.

Third Sunday in Advent

The Gospel reading for Third Sunday in Advent contain’s Jesus’ firm statment that John the Baptist is the one foretold in Old Testament prophecy. I hope you will be able to attend a service in which the sermon/homily is focused on that reading.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Earlier today my wife and I were saying the Third Hour (9 AM) prayers from Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity (For more, See www.anglicaninternetchurch.net/aic-bookstore). The Second Antiphon is this short prayer from a collection of prayers in the Syrian Antiochian Church tradition. It is formatted in the verse-and-response style of the Hour offices, with the response in bold type.

Great is the day of Sunday
And blessed is he who keeps it in faith;
Because on it our Lord rose from the grave;
And the nations confessed the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
Halleluia, Halleluia, Halleluia.

The traditional Hours format is First Prayer; the General Confession and Lord’s Prayer; First Chapter (from Scripture); First Antiphon (usually Psalm verses); Second Prayer; Second Antiphon; Third Prayer; Second Chapter; Third Antiphon; Fourth Prayer; Psalm Reading; Third Chapter; Fourth Antiphon; Fifth Prayer; Fifth Antiphon; Sixth Prayer; the Grace (2 Corinthians 13:14); the Benediction.

More AIC Bookstore Publications Now Live

This has been a wonderful week for progress in getting the AIC Bookstore updated for the 2024 Editions. The whole collection in the New Testament Series ( Gospel of Matthew,Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of John, The Acts of the Apostles and Revelation) and the whole collection in the Old Testament Series (Prayer Book Psalter: History, Text & Commentary; The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition; and The Writing Prophets of the Old Testament) are now live at our KDP Publishing site. Also updated this week is the seasonal book for Christmas; all three books in the General Studies series (Layman’s Lexicon; Beliefs of the Anglican Church; and Christian Spirituality); Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity; Occasional Services for Anglican Worship; Fr. Ron’s Kitchen Companion; and the St. Chrysostom Hymnal. KDP asked for two minor changes to the covers for Prayers in the Christian Tradition and the Easter seasonal volume. I have sent the changes to them and expect to hear back from them in a day or two. The two missing books are the service book edition of the B.C.P., which I have postponed any changes until after January 1st, and the Angels volume, which is now in the hands our proofreader.

Disturbing Trends

I’ve noted in my travels continued examples of the wandering away from Christian traditions. Just this morning I passed a sign on a local church which made no mention of “worship” but instead offers opportunities to “grow” and “share.” I plan to work this into new episodes in our series, The War on Christianity, starting in mid-January.

The Penitential Season of Advent

In the early Church, Advent was known as Little Lent. It is a time to reflect upon the promised coming of our Saviour and the making ourselves ready through penitence. I hope and pray that this year we can return to the full range of musical offerings, especially those at Cambridge and at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. There are few sounds that bring as much pleasure as choral singing of Once in Royal David’s City. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my wife and I were delighted to have been able to attend a one-man show on A Christmas Carol presented by a great-great-grandson of the author.

Thank You

As always, I thank those of you who follow the AIC on the Web. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

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First Sunday in Advent

Advent begins on Sunday, December 3rd, being the Sunday nearest to November 30th, the Feast Day of St. Andrew. In my former parish I preached thematic sermons for each of the four Sundays in Advent. For First Sunday in Advent the theme was The Coming of the Light. You can hear this theme developed in the Podcast Homily for First Sunday in Advent using the link on the Podcast Archive page. The musical theme for the companion video series is Come, Thou Font of Every Blessings using an arrangement by Ricky Theory. In the Podcast Homily for First Sunday in Advent in our Morning Prayer-Psalter Series podcasts the homily is based on Psalm 50. The Podcast Homily in the Psalter series is linked from the Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer page.

Web Site Changes

I have completed many changes to the AIC Web Site, with all the changes designed to make usage easier and more intuitive. Every major page now has a thematic opening image. I’ve also changed the menus both at the top and bottom of the pages so that navigation is easier and faster. These changes have been integrated into the 2024 edition of the AIC Bookstore Publication, Christian Spirituality: An Anglican Perspective. Changes were made to the look and the content of Parts One through Four. In Part Five, there are clear images on how to navigate the AIC Web Site using the thematic headings. I have asked other people to visit the site and use the modified links and report back on any further changes that might be helpful for site visitors.

Bookstore Progress Report

The updates for all the books in the Bookstore have now been submitted to our publisher. The following books have been completed, approved and made live on Amazon.com: The Prayer Book Psalter: History, Text & Commentary; The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition; Beliefs of the Anglican Church; Christian Spirituality: An Anglican Perspective; Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity; Fr. Ron’s Kitchen Companion (with new cover); and The St. Chrysostom Hymnal. Proof copies of all the remaining volumes are due for delivery on Tuesday, 12/5. The Angels volume, the 22nd in the series, is now in the hands of the proofreader. We are having some technical/legal issues with the Service Book Edition of the B.C.P. which I hope will be easily resolved.

Here’s wishing each of you safe travel to and from your selected local parish for First Sunday in Advent. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

On this Sunday Next before Advent, the final Sunday in the long season of Trinity, which this year had its full complement of twenty-four Sundays plus Sunday Next before Advent, I share some good news about the AIC’s online and bookstore activities.

The AIC Web Site Upgrades

This morning, with the help of an unnamed “Happiness Engineer” at WordPress.com, I completed a sequence of changes to the AIC’s Web Site. The changes were designed to enhance the appearance of the site and improve the ease of use for visitors. Many of the changes are part of the WATCH | LISTEN | READ initiative begun earlier this year. Visitors to the site will now see, at the bottom of the Welcome page, a graphical explanation of how to use the many resources developed during our more than ten years on the Web. No special software or technical skill is required and nothing needs to be downloaded.

Using the links at the top or bottom of each page, site visitors can access the full resources of the AIC in their preferred manner: video, audio or print media. Each page on the site now has a distinctive graphic at the top of the page. With the arrival of Sunday Next before Advent, the new Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer series is now complete. For those who prefer to learn by reading, there is now a revised page offering summaries of all twenty-two books in the AIC Bookstore Publications library.

The AIC Bookstore Publications Library

With the pending arrival later this year of the 2024 upgrades and one new book, the Library will be complete in 22 volumes. There are six books in the Christian Education Studies – New Testament Series: one each for the four Gospels plus The Acts of the Apostles and Revelation. There are three books in the Christian Education Studies – Old Testament series: One volume on the writings of the Old Testament prophets plus two books focused on the Psalter. The Christian Education Studies – General Series includes three books. Finally, Other Publications includes several general and specialty publications. Of these books, 17 have been revised, with the proof copies expected in the middle of the week of 11/27. The remaining five volumes will be edited and revised during December or January.

I anticipate that additional episodes in our unique video series, The War on Christianity, will be produced during the Winter months of the new year 2024 A.D. The AIC Web Site, the Podbean site which hosts all our MP3 podcast and the Vimeo site which hosts nearly 200 videos continue to attract visitors from all over the world. As the Advent and Nativity seasons come upon us, I thank every viewer, listener and reader for their contribution to making this site possible.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Hello. The journey we began a year ago with the Podcast Homily for Morning Prayer in our series based upon the Psalm readings in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and inspired by the publication of The Prayer Book Psalter-Picture Book Edition comes to a close this Sunday with Sunday Next before Advent, when the reading is Psalm 39, Dixi custodiam. Tomorrow I will be sending material to KDP Publishing for the 2024 update to the PBP-PBE volume. Also being sent are the updates for our original Psalms volume, The Prayer Book Psalter: History, Text & Commentary, and eleven other volumes from the AIC Bookstore Publications. The revised edition of that original Psalter volume will soon be available with some changes, including some general editing intended to enhance its “readability” plus enhancement of the Glossary with a 19th C. version of a circa 1020 B.C. map of Palestine intended to help identifiy the places named in the text. The volume will also have up-t0-date summary information about the other 21 books in the AIC Bookstore library, plus images from the revised version of this web site.

As always, thank you for your interest in this online ministry. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

A busy two weeks here at the AIC. The Podcast Homily for Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity in our Psalter Series of Morning Prayer homilies was uploaded earlier today and is now live on the Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer and Welcome pages. The Podcast Homily for Sunday Next before Advent will be uploaded early next week. The Welcome page to the AIC Web Site will be adjusted to reflect the start of Advent season after Thanksgiving.

I have completed updates to 21 of 22 books in the AIC Bookstore library and have begun sending the updates to our publisher. Further, I have sent the text and cover for the 22nd of 22 books, Angels: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition, to our publisher. I expect to get the proof on Friday, 11/17. The finished version will have 152 illustrations on 252 page. The proof copy is expected to arrive today with proof copies of seven additional books expected to arrive on Thursday and Friday. The Angels book, is still missing one high-resolution image from the British Library. A medium resolution image is in place in the proof copy.

In the updating process, I have made a number of design and content changes to each book intended to harmonize the style across all 22 volumes and also include the most recent information about every book. Also being introduced into the Library are cross-references to Other AIC Bookstore Publications. These new editions will begin to be introduced after Thanksgiving, with the goal of completing the updates before the end of January A.D. 2024. With the completion of the updates, the AIC Bookstore Publications library will be complete in 22 volumes. These will remain unchanged thereafter, unless there is a need for a major change or correction.

All 22 books will be reviewed one final time before being approved for distribution. Our publisher raised the printing prices of all books last month. Most of the effect of higher prices is on those books printed in color. So far, only one book, Revelation: An Idealist Interpretation, will have a retail price increase. I still do not know if adjustments will have to be made to the remaining five books in the Christian Education Studies: New Testament series. The effect o the increased printing cost remains unknown until after the revisions to each volume is submitted for publication. Our objective remains keeping the retail costs as low as we can.

After January, my full attention will be re-directed to making several important web site changes, mostly to reflect the actual content of the Bookstore, to my Amazon Author Central page and additional postings to the Fr. Ron’s Blog page. Now that the AIC will no longer be carrying the cost of acquiring images for books, the focus can shift to advertising strategies for both the Web Site and the AIC Bookstore. If all goes according to plan, there will be additions to some of our Video Series, especially The War on Christianity, and related Podcasts.

As always, I thank you for your interest in the AIC Web Site and Bookstore Publications. You can help by sharing links with others and by “Following” the AiC web site and the Fr. Ron’s Blog page. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!