Issue 6 - Summer 2005 Price to non-affiliates of Praxis: £2.50 What is Common Worship: Daily Prayer Praxis? For the first time in history, the Church of England has a Praxis was formed in definitive daily prayer book. Chris Cocksworth presents an overview... 1990, sponsored by the Liturgical Commission, the Group for the ord, teach us to pray, them. Without the rationale and advice they provide Renewal of Worship it’s actually quite difficult to know how the orders of the disciples asked Jesus. (GROW) and the Alcuin L prayer really work and how they can be used to give Club. It exists to provide He gave them a prayer, a common prayer, a of their best. My car permanently suffers from my and support liturgical community-forming prayer. ‘A most absolute and neglect of its manual! perfect form of prayer’, according to the 17th century education in the Church Prayer during the Day of England. Puritan William Perkins, who judged its combination of praise, penitence and petition beyond equal. Put - that distinctive Common Worship attempt to weave that together with the ancient Jewish vision of ‘the traditional patterns of minor offices together with modern needs for a simple starter-office for those Affiliation word being very near to you - in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe’ (Dt 30.14) - add in new to this sort of praying – has kept its shape and The sponsoring Luther’s recognition that ‘the psalms too are nothing feel (which had gone down well) but changed some organisations do not but prayers in which we praise, thank and glorify of its texts. Material for praise has been included, fund Praxis financially. God’ - and there you have the basic ingredients of some of the readings are different, the pattern of The work that Praxis the church’s ancient feast of prayer (formally known responses has been structured around Jesus’ I am does is supported as the Daily Office) which the Church of sayings (during ordinary time) and his Beatitudes mainly by affiliation. If England has in the newly published Common (during seasons), and more prayers from the classic you are not an affiliate, Worship Daily Prayer. repertoire of Christian prayer have been included. why not consider Ribbons - but that’s not all Forms of Penitence becoming one? Just get The four Forms of Penitence have been moved to a in touch with the In one sense it doesn’t look very different from its 2002 predecessor, except that the cover is now pivotal point between the orders of Prayer during the office—details on the harder and the colour stronger. But open the book Day and Morning and Evening Prayer. They were back page. and you will find some major differences – and not rather hidden before. Now they are more accessible only the six brightly coloured ribbons, those all- and readily available for all three times of prayer as important aids to prayer without which even the best required. (Night Prayer, which remains almost Website laid schemes of mortals and liturgists fall apart. The unchanged, has its own.) Have you visited the hundreds of questionnaires returned by the users of Morning and Evening Prayer Praxis website? View us the first volume, a very good debate in Synod, bags The most obvious difference in Morning and online at full of letters, air full of e-mails and many hours of Evening Prayer is the red line down the left hand www.praxisworship.org Liturgical Commission time have all contributed to a side which signals those sections which are part of .uk thorough overhaul of the Preliminary Edition. the backbone of the order and therefore mandatory. Prayerful road-testing Without them the structure collapses. (Previously That’s not to say that the precursor failed to impress. this job was done by a method of indentation which Inside this issue of was generally felt to be too confusing.) Praxis News of Worship Quite the contrary, in fact. The overwhelming view was that it was along the right lines, providing the As before, the orders move from ‘Preparation’ to sort of structures and texts that people wanted to ‘The Word of God’ to ‘Prayers’ and then, finally, to Moving Visions 2 support their prayer in the morning, the evening, at ‘The Conclusion’. There are now more options night or, with the help of ‘Prayer during the Day’ at available in the Preparation, including the availability Remembrance 2 other points in the day. Nevertheless, the throughout the year of the popular opening prayer, Service Preliminary Edition was only ever meant to be a ‘As we rejoice in the gift of this new day’. Not An American 3 prototype – a road-tester which would allow us, by everyone liked the idea of an invariable Gospel mega-church learning from each other, to hear better the Lord’s Canticle and many made the correct point that Common Worship 3 answer to the underlying and abiding prayer of his Anglican liturgy has always allowed options at this Ordinal people, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’. point in the liturgy. On the other hand, affirmation and celebration of the grace of God in Christ after Musical News 4 & 5 So what is different? reading the word and before praying for the world Book Reviews 6 & 7 Introduction and Notes traditionally forms the heart of both Morning and Evening Prayer, and particularly so in Common Liturgy on the web 7 Working from beginning to end, the Introduction and Notes (the most critical but most overlooked section Worship Daily Prayer. So the 2005 edition maintains Colin’s Column 8 of any liturgical book) have been made more user- the structural importance of the Gospel Canticle, friendly in the hope that users will actually read (Continued on page 2) Notice board 8 Praxis - exploring worship today (Continued from page 1) change is the cycle of intercession, which God of grace, to hear what prints out Benedictus in the morning and has been carefully reworked and Magnificat in the evening as ideal ways - extended. It now includes a much wider the Spirit is saying to tried and tested by the praying tradition - range of prayer topics and relates much churches through the of praising God for the gospel of Christ, more determinedly to the life of the world scripture and to pray for the while allowing certain other expressions of as well as the needs of the church. The world for which Christ died. gospel praise to be used in their place for aim has been to strengthen the those who so choose. intercessory element of each of the orders There are other ways of doing this but here is one designed especially for Some of the first canticles (in the Word by providing a variety of help and support for sustained petition. members of the Church of England to section) have been changed to avoid draw us into (as the Preliminary Edition repetition of the alternative to the Gospel Festivals and Lesser Festivals put it) ‘a living and developing tradition of Canticle, and the heading simplified to The material for Festivals and Lesser daily prayer’. Let’s ‘pick it up, and pray’! ‘Canticle’, allowing those who don’t want Festivals has been made easier to use. to be restricted (as before) to an Old Christopher Cocksworth is Chair of the Testament Canticle in the morning, or a Canticles Daily Office Group of the Liturgical New Testament Canticle in the evening, to A few new Canticles have been added. Commission and Principal of Ridley Hall. make their own choices. The other change worth noting is the three-page luxury of an Psalm prayers and refrains order just for Ascension Day, which many The Psalm prayers and refrains have had will find a welcome addition. some major work done on them. Prayers ll in all, then, quite a The bank of material for Prayers has A catalogue of changes undergone a lot of revision and re- but the purpose remains organisation. Many of the set texts have the same: to help the had a good going over and some new ones have been added. But the main people of God to praise the Review: Moving Visions Dance Theatre hey lay down their expressing in art something that is more participative act of worship, their mats and set out their like an act of worship. contribution would have an even more T space. Then they They came to Durham Cathedral last year. stunning impact. dance. They mostly work with a One has a sense of the numinous just by Editor combination of simple, live, walking through the door of the building, instrumentation, haunting vocals and basic so the environment was certainly on their symbols to create a powerful and side. What happened in the dance, Moving Visions will be appearing in three challenging presentation, fascinating those however, lifted us further beyond Cathedrals this summer. Look out for them who are watching and drawing them right ourselves, sweeping us up into the prayer if you are in Durham, York or London: into the heart of the movement. and expression at the centre of their work. Durham Aug 18 to 20 Moving Visions Dance Theatre is a small In the second of three pieces they (daily performances) group of dancers from the Rambert School abandoned their resident musicians and York Aug 22 and 23 of Ballet and Contemporary Dance led by danced to parts of Bach’s St John (daily performances) Director, Ross McKim. Since 1976 they Passion. It was at times powerful, St Paul’s Aug 25 to 27 have been travelling around a selection of disturbing, inspired and beautiful, and I (daily performances) cathedrals during the long summer would recommend anyone in the vicinity of St Paul’s Aug 28 (evening service) vacation, dancing ‘para-rituals’ – a term a cathedral this year when they visit to they use in an attempt to get away from drop everything else for an hour.