Welcome to the Homely Hours! 

We started this site in 2015 as a window into the ways we are bringing the life of the church into our homes. In a world where structures of meaning are largely gone,  liturgy — daily, weekly, seasonally — is a gift of order and beauty. A joyful, liturgical home helps our children know that our faith is whole and real: that it belongs as much at our dinner table as at our church’s altar.

On any given Sunday, you can find us at Christ the King Anglican Church in Dayton, Ohio. We’ll be teaching Sunday school, setting up the altar, playing piano, participating in the liturgy, and simultaneously wrangling our young children.

Our name springs from the practice of the “Divine Hours”– the system of fixed-hour prayer that the Church historically follows. We substituted the word “homely” both because most of our hours of devotion are at home and are also rather homely– ordinary, plain, simple. Also, the word “homely” is part of the tradition of English spirituality. As Martin Thornton says,

“All is ‘homely.’ In these days especially, it is necessary to stress the demands of Christian duty, but we must avoid the idea that the obligations of prayer and worship are slightly unpleasant. ‘Homely’, whether in [Walter] Hilton, Julian [of Norwich], Margery [Kempe] or [Richard] Rolle, means Benedictine domesticity, and therefore ‘stable’ or ‘habitual’. ‘Homely dalliance’ means not so much ‘friendly’ or ‘easy-going’ but habitual colloquy or recollection of Christ in his Body. The Church is ‘our Father’s house’ where we should be ‘at home’, implying the comfortable stability of sons and daughters rather than the fleeting visits of guests. The Church is what we are, the parish church is where we belong.’ (English Spirituality)

Our subtitle “Light and Strength for the Domestic Church” flows from the prayer “For the Children” in the Family Prayer section of the Prayer Book: “Almighty God, heavenly Father, who hast blessed us with the joy and care of children; Give us light and strength so to train them, that they may love whatsoever things are true and pure and lovely and of good report, following the example of their Saviour Jesus Christ.” The phrase “Domestic Church” refers to the home or family, living as the new creation in Christ.

The underlying topic behind this site is the concept of “Anglican family spirituality:” Is it possible? What does it look like? As we’ve grappled with that topic, we tend to address it in three ways: through daily family prayer, weekly worship as a family, and seasonal liturgical living.

If you’d like to contact us with suggestions or just to start a conversation, please email at thehomelyhours@gmail.com. We hope that this site may be a blessing to you!