The Anglican Rosary

During our last college retreat a fellow ordinand showed me how he had constructed an Anglican Rosary from parts of an old favourite Catholic Rosary. He had used the diagram of the Anglican Rosary he saw on the brother’s website. Iain shares his story of making and using the Anglican Rosary. Iain is an ordinand in Diocese of Brisbane, Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

Tiger Eye Key Ring Chaplet

Now you will never be without your prayer beads

I’ve been making several Rosaries today. Some for folks who have purchased them and others because I wanted to share the gift of prayer with someone.

Whilst I was making the last of the sets I had to do for today I was looking for my key ring, only to find part of the key ring had broken off.

I looked around for the broken part, amidst a bed full of beads and other bits n bobs and I thought - why not. So I got out some left over tiger tail, a split ring and a lobster clamp and got a little creative; it happens now and then. Read the rest of this entry »

Just over a year ago I had some correspondence with Kimberly Winston; a freelance religion reporter in the US. We had been discussing a book she was researching on prayer beads. Kimberly recently published her book Bead One, Prayer Too. Recently I was talking ‘blog shop’ with her, about her blog based on themes raised in her book, and my newly evolving blog on the Anglican Rosary. She posted the following entry on her blog following receipt of a rosary I sent to her.

Kimberly writes:

I came home today and opened the mailbox to find a package inside from Brother Nathan-James, an Anglican brother in Buranda, Australia. When I opened it up, inside was this lovely Anglican rosary he made just for me. See the full post on Kimberly’s blog

I enjoy working with young people. They are quite often very forthright in expressing their beliefs and opnions and you never know just when they are going to surprise you. When you least expect it out of their mouths comes a question or statement through which you realise they have engaged deeply, and been challenged by, something you have talked to them about or an experience you have shared together. It is also in this moment that they let down the barriers they place around themselves in their everyday interactions with peers, parents and teachers and others. Read the rest of this entry »

Solomons bloodstone baptism rosary

During workshops on making and using Anglican Rosaries, after we have made our own Rosary, I like to discuss ways people can continue to share the gift of prayer with others, through making and giving away rosaries. One of the examples I like to refer to is Solomon’s Rosary. Read the rest of this entry »

When I first started making and using prayer beads I never conceived the direction they would take, or how people’s lives would be touched by them. Read the rest of this entry »

Part of our community (the Society of St Francis’) rule is to spend at least one hour a day in prayer, a part from our regular office and Eucharist times of prayer. When I first joined the community this was quite a challenge. I often say that my mind has a wonderful travel agent and when I try and spend quite time in prayer my mind would be off in all sorts of places. I joke that I have a birth defect, I lack the meditation gene. I began trying to find some way to keep my mind more focused on prayer. Read the rest of this entry »