A three-year cycle of Scripture readings used in worship services within the Episcopal Church. The Lectionary provides Old Testament, an Epistle, a Gospel, and a Psalm reading for each Sunday and optional scripture readings for every day of the year.
Doxology
A general term for any hymn or prayer of praise to God. This broader definition encompasses a wide range of texts, from short exclamations like “Glory be to God!” to elaborate formal hymns. The most well-known Doxology in Christian traditions is the “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” (Glory to God in the highest), traditionally sung or recited during Christian worship services, often at the beginning or end.
Absolution
Only a bishop or priest of can pronounce God’s forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. Absolution may be pronounced following private Confession of sins or a general Confession of sin in the Holy Eucharist, the Daily Offices, the Ash Wednesday service, or the Penitential Order. The BCP provides that a deacon or layperson may make a “Declaration of Forgiveness” by God of the penitent’s sins after private Confession and that a deacon or layperson may pray for God’s forgiveness following the general Confession in the Daily Offices.
Collect
A Collect is simply a prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and the focus of worship into a succinct prayer. Collects generally fit a pattern that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer developed in the first Book of Common Prayer (1549): An address to God, a Request, an invocation and doxology, and finally, the Amen.
