Reflection for May 6

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” “All the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil.” “Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.” Shakespeare? The King James Bible? Close—the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, the liturgical and literary masterpiece that (next to the previous two sources) has helped shape the English language and marks its 350th anniversary this year (“Anglican world marks 350 years of the book of Common Prayer,” www.episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens).