The Book of Common Prayer is becoming more common to all

From Ireland-

Though its influence over English life and writing since the reign of the Tudors has been immense, almost as great as the King James Bible itself, the Book of Common Prayer, the essential text for the communal life of the Anglican Communion, has long been misunderstood.

Indeed it is a book which Catholics, especially perhaps those who live in Ireland, are unaware of. This is a pity, if only from the point of view of providing a sense of history and present-day ecumenism. But this may be about to change, even here.

The Personal Ordinate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales, the ‘home in Rome’ for former Anglicans, is now allowed to use the Book of Common Prayer, making it in effect a document of the Catholic as well as Anglican Church.

So perhaps it behoves Catholics to learn more about it. This new Oxford University Press paperback edition comes with an introduction and notes which will fill in the background and the long and controversial history of the manual.

More here-

https://www.irishcatholic.com/the-book-of-common-prayer-is-becoming-more-common-to-all/

Anglicans mull replacement for conversion of Jews prayer

From Canada-

The Anglican Church of Canada, one of the largest Protestant denominations, is considering replacing a prayer for the conversion of the Jews with a new one calling for “reconciliation” with the Jewish people.

Right Rev. Bruce Myers, Bishop of the Quebec diocese, has proposed that the last vestige of anti-Semitism in the traditional Anglican prayerbook be removed. He was tasked by the church’s leadership to draft a motion to that effect, leading up to the triennial General Synod, the church’s highest governing body, which meets in July in Vancouver.

Inexplicably, the Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews remains in the 1962 edition of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), more than 25 years after another, more harshly worded prayer that was recited on Good Friday was expunged.

The prayer now in question, which is found on page 41 of the BCP, is apparently not often recited nowadays, largely because the 1985 Book of Alternative Services is often used instead. In addition, unlike the Good Friday prayer, which had roots in 16th-century England and was part of an annual service, the Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews is among about 50 prayers that are used discretionally, Rev. Myers explained.

More here-

https://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/anglicans-mull-replacement-for-conversion-of-jews-prayer

Episcopal Church Donates $45K for Prayer Book Translation in Native American Heart Language

From South Dakota-

The Episcopal Church has approved a project to translate the Book of Common Prayer into the Native American language of Lakota.

The Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota recently received a United Thank Offering grant of $45,000 to translate the BCP into contemporary Lakota.

Archdeacon Paul Sneve of the South Dakota Diocese told The Christian Post in an interview on Tuesday that they were in the beginning stages of the translation project.

"Episcopal Congregants from our nine reservations are submitting names of fluent speakers [and] writers who are also familiar with the English BCP. We have decisions to make especially in regard to how best to accommodate the three dialects spoken here, as well as what to include in book," explained Sneve.

"It has become evident early on that the finished book will be different than the English BCP in that we have liturgies that we use that aren't included in the 1979 book."

More here-

https://www.christianpost.com/news/episcopal-church-gives-45k-fund-translation-book-of-common-prayer-lakota-language-227314/

Living with Cranmer’s Lectionary

From The Living Church-

At the time of the Reformation, Anglican Reformers guided a church whose grasp of Scripture among both lay and ordained was pitiful. They set out on the multigenerational task of changing this from the grassroots up. Although medieval priests were required to observe the sevenfold Daily Office, until 1549 each parish’s focal point of worship was likely to have been some version of the Mass to begin the day, with the Angelus rung out three times a day. These were replaced by Morning and Evening Prayer said daily in the parish church, and in that context there was a thorough and ordered reading of Old and New Testaments, some Apocrypha, and a monthly cycle of the Psalms.

Cranmer’s Daily Office, adapted from the sevenfold Office, was a brilliant innovation, yet I find myself wondering whether its expectations of an uneducated population with limited literacy may not have been too high, especially for absorbing Scripture. The Lectionary and Kalendar in the opening pages of the 1552/1662 Book of Common Prayer remained the norm for three centuries, only slightly modified in the Victorian era, before being eviscerated in the 20th century — during which time, even among the faithful, daily Scripture reading dropped out of fashion.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2018/09/03/living-with-cranmers-lectionary/

Liturgical Revision and a New Conception of God

From The Living Church-

I generally support strategic revision of our liturgy in the direction of expansive language, because I think such language is biblical and because God is more (though not less) than the images that have nourished the Church the past two millennia. I also have great respect for the Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers’s gifts as a liturgical scholar. And I deeply share the concerns she raised in her recent interview in Sojourners (Aug. 7) on how overly masculine and patriarchal images have contributed to sexual abuse and inequality in the Church. The recent penitential liturgy at General Convention atoning for the Episcopal Church’s complicity in sexual abuse was long overdue, and Meyers served an essential role in its development and execution.

Nevertheless, I found myself somewhat perplexed by her remarks in the Sojourners interview, because these remarks seem to contradict her much more reserved comments made just a year earlier in Anglican Theological Review (Summer 2017). There, she insisted that BCP revision was not necessary  even given the need for expansive language and changes to the marriage liturgies. But in her more recent interview, she suggested that BCP revision is strongly needed to incorporate a new conception of God.

In Sojourners, Meyers mentioned a conversation between an Episcopalian and a peer:

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2018/08/28/liturgical-revision-and-a-new-conception-of-god/

Did General Convention Authorize Prayer Book Revision?

From The Living Church-

You may not understand what happened at the Episcopal Church’s recent General Convention in Austin, but you probably know that it was big news. Stories on liturgical revision ran in Washington Post, Juicy Ecumenism, CBN, Religion News Service, GetReligion, and First Things, among others, plus many articles at Episcopal News Service and The Living Church.

An article in the Washington Post seemed to get the facts wrong: “The Episcopal Church will revise its beloved prayer book but doesn’t know when.” But the Post was following the headline of Episcopal News Service (ENS), which declared, “Deputies agree with bishops on new plan for liturgical and prayer book revision.” On the same day, The Living Church — which also publishes Covenant — led with a nearly contradictory headline: “Changing Trains on Liturgical Revision” (TLC’s earlier article was even more stark: “Bishops Kill BCP Revision”).

It turns out that when you move past the headlines, most of these articles acknowledge the basic facts. The difference comes in the angle. As Matthew Townsend of TLC summarizes things in “Changing Trains”: “Both houses of General Convention have approved a resolution that will move the Episcopal Church closer to liturgical revision, but not closer to a revised Book of Common Prayer.”

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2018/08/24/did-general-convention-authorize-prayer-book-revision/

The Liturgical Movement and the History of Prayer Book Revision

From The Living Church-

The appearance of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer was many generations in the making, and it was the fruit of a remarkable convergence of factors: historical research into the early Church, warm and creative ecumenical relationships with other Christians, a renewed focus on baptism’s relationship to both the life of the Church and the Paschal Mystery of Easter, and perhaps most importantly an orientation to the apostolic Church in our evangelism and worship. This was the Liturgical Movement.

This is the first of two posts, and my focus here is tracing the history of the movement, noting especially a long gestation — close to four centuries — to rites that have only been in use for about 40 years. The hope is that this may put current initiatives for prayer book revision in context. The second essay will highlight the methods of the movement and reflect on the absence of many of those critical elements today.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2018/08/03/the-liturgical-movement-and-the-history-of-prayer-book-revision/

What the early church thought about God’s gender

From The Conversation-

The Episcopal Church has decided to revise its 1979 prayer book, so that God is no longer referred to by masculine pronouns. 

The prayer book, first published in 1549 and now in its fourth edition, is the symbol of unity for the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion founded in 1867. While there is no clear timeline for the changes, religious leaders at the denomination’s recent triennial conference in Austin have agreed to a demand to replace the masculine terms for God such as “He” and “King” and “Father.”

Indeed, early Christian writings and texts, all refer to God in feminine terms.

As a scholar of Christian origins and gender theory, I’ve studied the early references to God.
In Genesis, for example, women and men are created in the “Imago Dei,” image of God, which suggests that God transcends socially constructed notions of gender. Furthermore, Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible written in the seventh century B.C., states that God gave birth to Israel.

In the oracles of the eighth century prophet Isaiah, God is described as a woman in labor and a mother comforting her children.

More here-

https://theconversation.com/what-the-early-church-thought-about-gods-gender-100077

The Episcopal Church will revise its beloved prayer book but doesn’t know when

From The Washington Post-

After more than a week of debate among church leaders about whether God should be referred to by male pronouns — and about the numerous other issues that come up when writing a prayer book — the Episcopal Church has decided to revise the 1979 Book of Common Prayer that Episcopalian worshipers hold dear.

The question now is when it will happen.

At the denomination’s triennial conference, which concluded in Austin last week, leaders considered a plan that would have led to a new prayer book in 2030. They voted it down.

“There’s no timeline for it,” said the Very Rev. Samuel Candler, chair of the committee on prayer book revision. “There’s no A-B-C-D plan. The plan is to put a joint task force together now that will work on how we do it. They’ll be gathering liturgies and working in dioceses and assembling texts. I think we are going forward.”

More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/07/18/the-episcopal-church-will-revise-its-beloved-prayer-book-but-doesnt-know-when/?utm_term=.e9f53a9903c4

 

Is God male? The Episcopal Church debates whether to change its Book of Common Prayer.

From The Washington Post-

The terms for God, in the poetic language of the prayers written for centuries, have almost always been male: Father. King. Lord.

And in the Episcopal Church, the language of prayer matters. The Book of Common Prayer, the text used in every Episcopal congregation, is cherished as a core element of Episcopal identity.

This week, the church is debating whether to overhaul that prayer book — in large part  to make clear that God doesn’t have a gender.

“As long as ‘men’ and ‘God’ are in the same category, our work toward equity will not just be incomplete. I honestly think it won’t matter in some ways,” said the Rev. Wil Gafney, a professor of the Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Texas who is on the committee recommending a change to the gendered language in the prayer book.

Gafney says that when she preaches, she sometimes changes the words of the Book of Common Prayer, even though Episcopal priests aren’t formally allowed to do so. Sometime she switches a word like “King” to a gender-neutral term like “Ruler” or “Creator.” Sometimes she uses “She” instead of “He.” Sometimes, she sticks with the masculine tradition. ” ‘Our Father,’ I won’t fiddle with that,” she said, invoking the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to say in the book of Matthew.

More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/07/03/is-god-male-the-episcopal-church-debates-whether-to-change-its-book-of-common-prayer/?utm_term=.fe4f6a030545

The SCLM Report on Prayer Book Revision: Welcome to the Conversation!

From Liturgy and Music-

As the Blue Book report and resolutions proposed by the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music become available online, the SCLM will present essays about its work at the rate of no more than one essay per week to allow for focused conversation. We invite your comments and hope that our discussion here will be beneficial to the legislative committees of General Convention.

Through resolution A169, the 2015 General Convention directed the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music “to prepare a plan for the comprehensive revision of the current Book of Common Prayer and present that plan to the 79th General Convention.”

At the outset, it’s important to remember that General Convention did not ask the SCLM to begin revising the Book of Common Prayer! Rather, it asked for the construction of a plan for revision for the 79th General Convention to consider. The request was for a thorough and linear process. No efforts to revise the Book of Common Prayer took place this triennium, because that was not what the SCLM was asked to do. The Episcopal Church, through General Convention, has yet to decide whether to revise the prayer book. It will have that conversation this summer at the 79th General Convention in Austin, Texas (July 5-13, 2018). To convey your opinions about prayer book revision, it will be important for you to speak directly with the elected deputies from your diocese, and your bishops.

More here-

https://standingcommissiononliturgyandmusic.org/2018/02/13/the-sclm-report-on-prayer-book-revision-welcome-to-the-conversation/

Right Desire and True Gospel

From The Living Church-

As the Episcopal Church approaches the daunting task of liturgical revision, it would be good beforehand to revisit the theological vision that birthed our prayer book tradition as a distinctive branch of Christian worship. While Thomas Cranmer insisted that Anglican liturgy must be regularly renewed so as always to speak to contemporary society, he was equally adamant that the gospel message transcended any specific cultural moment, remaining consistent through the many centuries after Jesus’ initial proclamation of it. Hence, Cranmer believed that he and other liturgical revisers had much to learn from how previous generations used worship to proclaim the mission of the Church to the people of their day. As we continue to adapt his handiwork to contemporary needs, we would be well advised to follow his example in learning from the past to better lead the present into the future.

The heart of Tudor Protestantism was not right doctrine but right desire. Undoubtedly, Cranmer and his fellow English Reformers thought the two were closely connected. Truth about God would draw humanity homeward. Right desire could only be formed by right knowledge of both God and fallen human nature. Nevertheless, saving truth by itself was insufficient to move a self-centered humanity to return to the Creator through repentance and amendment of life. The Church’s mission was to proclaim the unchanging message of the gospel to each generation in ways that would move the hearts of hearers to embrace it. Here is the raison d’être of Cranmer’s liturgical revision.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/2018/01/19/right-desire-and-true-gospel/

What is to become of the Confession?

From The Living Church-

As the possibility of prayer book revision is bandied about, one aspect of our liturgy deserves significantly more attention: the General Confession. If it suffers pruning similar to that of the 1928 and 1979 editions of the prayer book, then it might disappear altogether.

The form of the General Confession that was used in the 1928 prayer book, and that is more or less preserved in the extended Rite I options of the 1979 book, remained remarkably similar to the earliest English prayer books. It moved out of the eucharistic prayer, but the words remained mostly unchanged. In the now-ubiquitous Rite II liturgy, however, the General Confession has been bowdlerized, and this has harmed our theology of sin and grace. The historic confession’s language (“We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable”) has become “We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.”

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2018/01/08/what-is-to-become-of-the-confession/

A Catholic picks up the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

From US Catholic-

Ever since I first learned the Hail Mary, I have loved prayer. Perhaps Sister taught us the Glory Be first. It’s shorter, more repetitious; if you know the sign of the cross, you’re halfway there. But it’s the Hail Mary I remember, specifically the pleasure of the word amongst. It was the mystical heart of the prayer for me—at least when I was six. I also loved the hallowed in the Our Father, and that ignominious lurked somewhere among the stations of the cross.

I loved the heightened language of prayer. As I grew older and my prayer matured, I loved the place to which the heightened language brought me, a place where I felt transfigured, fed, guided, and brought closer to God. I’ve stayed, with greater or lesser success, as close as possible to this place throughout my life. I’ve filled a timeless space with my life story. I have a history in prayer.
More here-

http://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201602/catholic-picks-anglican-book-common-prayer-30549

Continuity in prayer book worship

From The Living Church-

For hundreds of years after the Reformation, Anglicans looked to the texts and rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer as a principal source of liturgical unity. When the preface of the 1549 Prayer Book declared that from then on “all the whole realm shall have but one use,” it canceled out a certain degree of medieval liturgical variety in a bid for uniformity. Though from the very beginning bishops, clergy, and congregations construed the text and rubrics differently, they were by and large sources of liturgical unity.

As their use became more familiar after the great vernacular watershed of the Reformation, the texts of the Book of Common Prayer became not only a source of unity but also of continuity. Liturgical texts bear meaning: not in a uniform sense but with a degree of nuance that allows them to carry freight of various sorts. In this they are like the texts of Holy Scripture. Different emphases and different interpretations coexist together. Over time, texts would continue to be extensively mined and new meanings discovered. This is true of any liturgical text in any tradition, but Anglicans have perhaps been uniquely conscious that their texts function in this way.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2017/12/12/structure-shape-and-text/

The Loss of “Common” Prayer

From The Cafe-

In its proposed report to General Convention, the SCLM has suggested four approaches to revising the Prayer Book, each of which has some merits and disadvantages. But they all include the assumption that we should continue to have a Book of Common Prayer. I would like to raise a question before the question: what is common prayer, and is a Book of Common Prayer right for our future, or should something else be our “unifying myth”? To make this question a little less heretical, note that some other Anglican churches no longer use the title—A New Zealand Prayer Book, for example—or explicitly use a number of other sources—the Church of England’s Common Worship series, or the Anglican Church of Canada’s Book of Alternative Services.

Full disclosure: I am a layperson who has been active in church life for some sixty years, sometimes professionally. My young adulthood was spent with the 1928 BCP, I eagerly participated in the Green Book and the Zebra Book, and I welcomed the 1979 BCP. I did not and do not want to return to the hierarchical and privileging theology, language, and piety of the 1928 BCP. But precisely because of my experience of the 1928 BCP, I have come to think, over the years of the 1979 BCP’s use, that it has had some unintended consequences—namely, that despite its greater theoretical theological inclusiveness as expressed in its baptismal liturgy, in actual Sunday-morning practice the 1979 BCP has ironically decreased “common” prayer and increased the liturgical gap between clergy and laity.

More here-

https://www.episcopalcafe.com/the-loss-of-common-prayer/

On the making of prayer books

From The Living Church-

One of my favorite things about the Anglican prayer book tradition, at least as it appears today, is the relative freedom of its texts. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer exists in officially authorized forms, of course, thanks to the oversight of the Custodian. But the texts may be freely and licitly copied, adapted, reprinted, set to music, or what have you, without any fear of copyright infringement or unofficial censure by the liturgical mafia. I do not know if this has always been the case, or if it is simply more visibly the case in this age of digital media. In comparison, the Roman Catholic liturgical world is plagued by copyright issues on official text translations, leaving the impression, especially regarding music, that anyone wishing to make creative offerings for the liturgy must submit to the governing intelligentsia.

The free availability of texts, however, does not mean that texts are freely available in useful forms. Church Publishing, the official book production arm of the Episcopal Church, does an excellent job of making prayer books and hymnals. This would be sufficient, perhaps, in an earlier age of prayer book use, but it falls short in the post-1979 liturgical scene. Earlier prayer books, like the American 1928 book, contained almost everything needed for a normal Sunday or feast day liturgy. Most importantly, the lections of the day were printed with the other propers. The 1979 book, with its sprawling devotion to new resources (including the sacred triduum, a triumph of the Oxford Movement if there ever was one), cut these out in the interest of space. What remains is a liturgical resource more than a Book of Common Prayer proper; to use the 1979 prayer book requires other books in almost every instance.

More here-

http://htl.li/Sb4o30fsrp6

Priests-in-training to be given glossaries because they struggle to understand the Book of Common Prayer

From The Telegraph-

Priests-in-training are to be given glossaries to help them understand the Book of Common Prayer for the first time because they struggle to decipher the language.

The Prayer Book Society, which gives out free copies of the 17th century book to first-year students in theological colleges, will this year also include a key to some of its more old-fashioned words and phrases.

The list includes definitions for words such as "eschew" meaning abstain from, "concord", for an agreement between people, and "froward", meaning perverse or contrary. 

Some of the included words could cause confusion to young ordinands due to more modern definitions, such as magnify - which in a 17th century sense means not to make something appear larger than it is, but to glorify or praise greatly.

"Meet" means not to encounter someone, but rather "appropriate or fitting".

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/12/priests-in-training-given-glossaries-struggle-understand-book/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_fb

GRACIOUS ACCEPTANCE

From The Living Church-

Every now and then familiar words in the Book of Common Prayer stand out and speak to me with new force and meaning. That’s been my experience with a phrase in one of the post-Communion prayers. Here’s the prayer in its entirety:

Eternal God, heavenly Father,
you have graciously accepted us as living members
of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ,
and you have fed us with spiritual food
in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Send us now into the world in peace,
and grant us strength and courage
to love and serve you
with gladness and singleness of heart;
through Christ our Lord. Amen. (1979 BCP, p. 365)

As with so many of the prayers in the BCP, there’s a lot to unpack here. But what stands out for me is the phrase you have graciously accepted us.

For some, the question remains open whether God really accepts them. They worry that if they’ve sinned and haven’t repented, what hope can there be? They live in anxiety and perhaps even fear of what awaits them on the other side of death. An assurance of salvation eludes them.

More here-

http://htl.li/uOrd30dCXfg

For such a time as this… an electronic prayer book?

From Episcopal Cafe-

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer badly needs revision:

It is sexist, e.g., in its presumption that clergy and God are male;
It is exclusionary, e.g., the marriage rite is only for heterosexual couples;

It is limited, as evidenced by the proliferation and popularity of authorized alternative liturgies.

Others may add additional theological and liturgical reasons to that list.

Printing a revised Book of Common Prayer is inadvisable:

Many small congregations already struggle financially. Their having to replace the 1979 Book of Common Prayer with a revised book will only compound pre-existing financial problems.

More here-

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/for-such-a-time-as-this-an-electronic-prayer-book/