Shakespeare 400 This Weekend!!!

On Friday evening, I was skimming through Pinterest and saw the above image--and immediately loved it, pinned it to my "Bardilicious" Board, and "favorited" it...and then noticed my name below the image!!

The amazing graphic artists at Brave Writer designed this incredible Shakespeare 400 collage image to accompany my post for the Brave Writer blog which happened to be from my current online Shakespeare Family Workshop at Brave Writer. So here's the rest of my post on Shakespeare 400:

William Shakespeare: 23 April 1564-23 April 1616

To mark William Shakespeare's 452nd birthday this week, (he was baptized on April 26, 1564, and children at that time were usually baptized three days after birth) and the 400^th anniversary of his death, celebration is going on in the United States as well as in Stratford-upon-Avon.

In fact, yesterday, April 23, 2016 was World Shakespeare Day!!! 

When I was in a Shakespeare class in high school, we had a HUGE birthday party for Shakespeare with British food and drink (rather like a high tea). A month beforehand, we had each drawn the name of a fellow student for which we were to make a handmade gift. I remember hemming handkerchiefs in pink embroidery thread with the initials “M.A.” for one student, and I still have the floral wreath strung with ribbons (meant to be worn on the head) hanging on my bedroom wall…although I don't remember which young man made it for me (or more likely, his mother made it on his behalf, LOL). 

So how is the 400th anniversary of the death of the Bard being celebrated?
Celebrations in Great Britain:

• http://shakespeares-england.co.uk/shakespeare-2016
• http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/400
• http://www.shakespeare400.org/
• http://nypost.com/2016/04/12/britain-celebrates-shakespeares-400th-anniversary-of-his-death/
• http://www.stahome.org/2016/ 
• Look! They've even have a map with renamed London Tube stations after Shakespeare's plays and characters: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/map-renames-tube-stations-after-shakespeare-plays-to-mark-400th-anniversary-of-his-death-a3225006.html

At Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, DC):

• http://www.folger.edu/press-release-april-2016-shakespeare-at-400-years

In New York City:

• http://www.timeout.com/newyork/blog/what-to-do-for-shakespeares-452nd-birthday-and-400th-anniversary-of-his-death-040816

Here in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre:

• http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/apr/15/old-globe-theatre-shakespeare-birthday-2016/

So let’s celebrate Shakespeare's birthday/deathday this week in our homes. Here are some ideas: 

• Talk Like Shakespeare! Have a “Talk Like Shakespeare”  Day (or even just an hour, if that’s all you can handle): http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org/  (This site also links to some hilarious Shakespeare Comic Relief with David Tennant and Catherine Tate of Doctor Who fame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxB1gB6K-2A&feature=share&list=PL0-dTQT1ZYP0qOhfTrEXc7PZI4Gmy5KT8) 

• Shakespeare Teatime/Meal! Gather around the table with scones and jam and some Earl Grey tea (or, if you want to prepare authentic Elizabethan fare, check out this site: http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/shak-feast.cfm ) and read some of Shakespeare’s sonnets aloud. You can find Shakespeare sonnet apps for your smart phone or check out this site: http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/). (Parents may wish to pre-read the sonnet choices beforehand as some get a bit too, um, romantic....) 
•  
• Shakespeare Character Party Game! Write the names of famous Shakespeare characters on 3X5 cards with a Sharpie (pick characters that the kids know) and without letting the person see, tape a card to each person's back. Then each person asks "yes-no" type questions of other players to try to determine which character's name is on his/her back. When someone guesses their character, tape a different character to his/her back. Several rounds may be played, depending on the number of players. (Sample questions: Am I male or female? Is my father dead? Is a play named after me?)

• Shakespeare Copywork with Quills! Make quills from feathers (either dip feathers into ink or insert the innards of a ball point pen into the bottom of a feather and wrap with florist tape if needed; see this link: Instructables) and copy some favorite Shakespeare quotations or insults onto parchment (or regular) paper. (Barnes and Noble carries a good selection of quills and calligraphy ink.)

• Shakespeare Trivia! Play some Shakespeare trivia games on Sporcle: Shakespeare Trivia Home Page such as "Shakespeare vs. Batman Quotes," "Shakespeare Threats & Insults," and "Complete the Shakespeare Quote." (Note: these quizzes are *challenging*--I missed quite a few!)  

• Shakespeare Monologues! Read some of Shakespeare’s famous monologues aloud dramatically, perhaps even in costume. Here’s a site with a listing of some of the best single-person speeches, one list for men and one for women: http://www.shakespeare-monologues.org/ Try performing them for family members and/or friends or at a co-op! 

• Shakespeare Scenes! Perform a Shakespeare scene as a puppet show or act out a scene in costume; either memorize parts or make copies of the scene for all the actors. No Sweat Shakespeare has some modern-language scripts for your family to practice and perhaps even produce! http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/shakespeares-plays/modern-english-translations/ 

• Shakespeare at the Movies! Watch your favorite Shakespeare play on film (mine is Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing).  Check your local library or Netflix for some excellent titles, and the International Movie DataBase (www.imdb.com) includes some helpful parents guides with advisory content for you along with ratings and information on most film versions. 

• Shakespeare Documentary! For older kids, check out Michael Woods’ in-depth documentary In Search of Shakespeare which first aired on PBS in 2004 (http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/). Both the DVD and the companion book should be readily available through most public libraries. 

• Shakespeare Live!! Best yet, see a live Shakespeare play as soon as possible. Check out college/university performances near you as they’re usually much less expensive than professional productions.  

How are you planning to celebrate??? 

So, Happy 452nd Birthday (and 400th Deathday), 

William Shakespeare!!

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” 

~Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Wishing you a Bardilicious weekend,

The Book of Common Prayer and Third Sunday After Easter

Book of Common Prayer 2011

First printing of the Book of Common Prayer 2011; we are now on the second printing with red covers. 

A re-post from the Archives with a few revisions....

As one of the editors of the Book of Common Prayer 2011, I am quite attached to it and have been using it as a private and family devotional even before it was officially in print. Plus, Father Acker (the author/translator of the Book of Common Prayer 2011) and I use it for corporate worship during the Friday Healing Services at Blessed Trinity that I have now been attending for nearly twelve years, first at Christ the King Anglican and now at Blessed Trinity after Father Acker left the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. (For more info, see this article: Alpine Leaves SD Episcopal Church.)

For the past several years, I have been posting the Collect for each week from the Book of Common Prayer 2011 here in the sidebar of my blog and also on the Book of Common Prayer 2011 Facebook page. I thought I'd also take a moment and post each week's prayer here in the blog itself and explain a little about what a Collect is and how it is used in the Anglican tradition.

The History of the BCP
The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) came out of the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church under King Henry VIII around 1530. Many people believe that this separation marks the beginning of the Church of England, but that fact may not be the case.

A number of Anglicans believe that it is quite possible that Joseph of Arimathea, the man who asked Pilate for Jesus' body and buried it in his own tomb, was a merchant who traveled by sea to many ports, including those along the southern coast of England. It is rumored that Joseph shared the Gospel with his trade partners in coastal towns as early as 37 AD, fewer than five years after Christ's death and resurrection, and helped start a few rudimentary churches. If this  story is true (and there seems to be slight proof to support it), then the Gospel reached England and gained a toehold in the British Isles before even the Church in Rome was established. I found a reference in Wikipedia which states, "Alford also asserts that 'It is perfectly certain that, before St Paul had come to Rome, Aristobulus was away in Britain.' This is in accord with the date given by Gildas the Wise (425–512 AD) that the 'Light of Christ' shone in Britain in the last year of Emperor Tiberias (37 AD)."

The English Church, even under the authority of the Catholic Church based in Rome, did its own thing more often than not due to the distance from Rome to Britain. So it was not surprising that the Church of England was established during the Protestant Reformation as the Catholic Church in England was always rather independent of Roman authority.

In 1549, Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote the first Book of Common Prayer. As the Preface to the Book of Common Prayer 2011 states, "The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is not just a collection of prayers or liturgies but rather represents the life and worship of God's people. Thomas Cranmer crafted the first BCP (1549) as a single volume incorporating not only English Sarum usage but also current reformed, ancient Gallican, and Eastern Rite liturgies. Cranmer simplified, shortened, and used language that was readily understood not only by the clergy but also by the whole fellowship." The Preface continues, "Holy Scripture gives voice to our language of prayer and is integral to the BCP tradition. The texts and rites are intentionally scriptural."

What's a Collect?
The Preface to the BCP 2011 informs us, "Each Sunday in the Christian Year has a theme about living in relationship with a holy God and with one another. This theme is found in the Propers for that Sunday which consist of a prayer [called a Collect] and two or more readings from Scripture....During the week, we continue to pray the prayer and to apply the lessons [the readings from Scripture] from our Sunday gatherings as we go about our daily life. We read additional portions of Scripture in a planned sequence of readings [called the Lectionary] so that we may hear all of God's Word, not just the highlights."

So here is the Collect for this week and the Sunday Bible readings:

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

THE COLLECT:

ALMIGHTY God, you show the light of your truth to those in error so that they might return to the path of righteousness; May all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ reject everything contrary to the Faith, and follow everything consistent with the same; Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and rules with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (References: 1 Peter 3.10-11; Ephesians 5.13-15; 2 Peter 1.5-8)

THE READINGS:

1 Peter 2.11-17; John 16.16-22; Psalm 66.1-8; Acts 3.1-13

I wish you all a blessed week as Eastertide continues until Pentecost, fifty days after Easter.

Soli Deo Gloria,