On the Second Day of Christmas – Book 2

On the second day of Christmas On the Tudor Trail gave to me… the chance to win a copy of Cranmer in a Nutshell by Beth von Staats and a Cape Cod themed gift.

To be in the running to win this prize, leave a comment after this post.

Conditions of Entry

For your chance to win a copy of Cranmer in a Nutshell, you must be subscribed to On the Tudor Trail’s newsletter (if you are not already, sign up on our homepage where it says ‘Free Enewsletter Subscription’).

Then simply leave a comment after this post between now and 31 December 2017. Don’t forget to leave your name and a contact email. Please note that I have comment moderation activated and need to ‘approve’ comments before they appear. There is no need to submit your comment twice.

This giveaway is open internationally.

One winner will be randomly selected and contacted by email shortly after the competition closes. Please ensure you’ve added natalie@onthetudortrail.com to your address book to avoid missing my email.

Good luck!

Thomas Cranmer’s Collects

A guest post by Beth von Staats

Blessed Lord, which hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant us that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our savior Jesus Christ.

Thomas Cranmer, 1549 Book of Common Prayer

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Advent, the first season of the Christian church year, a season of expectant anticipation of the birth of Jesus Christ. Traditions often associated with Advent include lighting of an Advent wreath, Advent calendars, daily devotionals, lighting a Christingle (Christ Light) – and for Anglicans and Episcopalians, the embracing and prayer of the exquisitely composed Advent Collects of the Book of Common Prayer.

 Thomas Cranmer’s steadfast and primary goal in his religious reformation of England and Wales was to ensure every person, whether educated or illiterate, could understand God’s word. Thus, Cranmer’s Prayer Book Collects were composed to be read aloud.  Typically, he didn’t trifle with originality in composing his liturgy for the Church of England, but instead celebrated the richness of English religious traditions then only understandable to Latin scholars and translated them with the gifted hand of literary genius.

This acknowledged, his Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent, writing of Cranmer’s original composition, is one of the Prayer Book’s most eloquently written and profoundly beautiful Collects, notable for its grace, simplistic grandeur, imagery, poetic prose and lyric poetic cadence. It is no wonder then that Cranmer’s plea that we “hear…, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest…” God’s word has become one of Christendom’s most beloved and well-known prayers.

If we are to believe the teachings of Christianity, we light the second purple candle on the Second Sunday of Advent to represent the hope of Jesus Christ coming to the world. It was with this hope of Christ’s impending birth that Thomas Cranmer, the Church of England’s first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, authored The Book of Common Prayer’s beautiful Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent. Through the imagery laden in Cranmer’s simple but exquisite writing style, in this lovely Collect, His Grace invites us to love the Bible and learn the truth of the Scriptures.

Addressing the “Blessed Lord” (God) directly, His Grace prays that we not only hear the Scriptures, but that we digest them within our whole being so that God’s Word can comfort and strengthen us. By providing a compass towards wisdom and focus, Thomas Cranmer’s Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent, leads believers to not only the hope of Christ’s birth, but also the hope of life everlasting.

Beth von Staats is the owner and administrator of Queen Anne Boleyn Historical Writers website, QueenAnneBoleyn.com.

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Comments

  1. Thanks for the chance!

  2. Jennifer Winner says:

    Please pick me! ????? I absolutely love Tudor history!

  3. The religious reformation was a very interesting time in British history.

  4. Hester McQueen says:

    Would love to read this – history is fascinating

  5. Linda Arbuckle says:

    Lovely book to win.

  6. Katie Rodriguez says:

    I haven’t read anything about Thomas Cranmer but I would love to!

  7. Jayne Watkin says:

    I love the In a Nutshell series!

  8. Sounds fantastic. Would be great to have a book that looks largely at Cramner himself!

  9. Daniel Kaufman says:

    Cranmer, the loyal servant, is someone I need to study more.

  10. Nicholas Bootle says:

    great

  11. Looks interesting thank you for the chance

  12. Alicia Mae says:

    Thomas Cranmer is a interesting man– thanks for the giveaway!

  13. Lacey S Walter says:

    Very complex man. I would enjoy reading.

  14. I’ll jump on this bandwagon!

  15. Susan Loeper says:

    I would so love this book. I really don’t know anything about Thomas Cranmer.

  16. Hilary Bridewell says:

    I love the fact that he used to move his wife around in a crate!

  17. Margaret Lewis says:

    Thomas Cranmer must have been a unique man to think for the common people. I was given a book of common prayers when I was five is this the same one?

  18. Rachael Dickson says:

    Yesss, I would love to learn me about Cranmer!

  19. Interesting!

  20. Geneva Standbridge says:

    Interesting man, will certainly make for an interesting read!

  21. I’ve been studying religion and the history of Christianity so I would definitely like to read this and learn more.

  22. I have always thought that there couldn’t be just one man to rule the whole country

  23. Judith MacInnes says:

    Would love to read more about Cranmer – this looks great!

  24. Sounds like a fascinating read!

  25. Nicola Dunn says:

    Looks very interesting

  26. My favorite reading genre, I love historical novels!

  27. I’m ready to start reading my next book…thanks for the chance to win!