3/9/20 ANGLICAN 101: THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER Canon Ian Alexander March 22, 2020 Why “Common” Prayer? 1. The language of the people. • 1549: Thomas Cranmer publishes first Prayer Book in English. • Whereas St. Paul would have such language spoken to the people in the church, as they might understand and have profit by hearing the same, the service in this Church of England (these many years) hath been read in Latin to the people which they understood not, so that they have heard with their ears only, and their hearts, spirit and mind have not been edified thereby. Preface of 1549 1 1 3/9/20 • Article XXIV of the 39 Articles of Religion: • Of speaking in the Congregation in such a tongue as the people understandeth. It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have puBlic Prayer in the Church, or to administer the Sacraments, in a tongue not understanded of the people. 2 Why “Common” Prayer? 2. Shared – by priest and people, in all times and places • 1549 Preface: And where heretofore, there hath been great diversity in saying and singing in churches within this realm, some following Salisbury use, some Hereford use, some the use of Bangor, some of York, and some of Lincoln, now from henceforth, all the whole realm shall have but one use. 3 2 3/9/20 Why “Common” Prayer? 3. Regularized, Standardized • 1549 Preface: The ancient Fathers . so ordered the matter, that all the whole BiBle (or the greatest part thereof) should be read over once every year. But these many years passed, this godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers hath Been so altered, Broken and neglected . That many times there was more Business to find out what should be read, than to read it when it was found out. • Calendar, liturgical year, lectionary, propers 4 • Tension between the impulse towards spontaneous, personal, emotional forms of worship on the one hand, and formal, ritualized, ceremonial forms on the other. • Whatsoever good things we hear only once, or now and then, though perhaps upon hearing of them, they may swim for a while in our brains, yet they seldom sink down into our hearts, so as to move and sway the affections. William Beveridge, A Sermon on the Excellency and Usefulness of the Common Prayer (1681) • Offices, communion service, sacraments, ordinary 5 3 3/9/20 What’s in this book, anyway? (and what’s a rubric?) • Prefatory material (pp. v – viii) • Calendar / Tables of Feasts, Lessons & Psalms (pp. ix – lv) • Order for Morning & Evening Prayer (pp. 1 – 24) • Additional Canticles, Litany, Prayers & THanksgivings (pp. 25 – 64) • Holy Communion (pp. 65 – 92) • Collects, Epistles & Gospels (pp. 93 – 330) • THe Psalter (pp. 331 – 521) • Sacraments & Orders: Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Burial (pp. 522 – 610) • Additional Services & Forms of Prayer (pp. 611 – 636) • THe Ordinary for Bishops, Priests & Deacons and related forms (pp. 637 – 694) • Creed of St. AtHanasius / 39 Articles / Historical prefaces (pp. 695 – 721) • Compline & Family Prayer (pp. 722 – 736) 6 A History of Change • “Radical” Reform: There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted: As, among other things, it may plainly appear by the Common Prayers in the Church, commonly called Divine Service. But these many years passed, this godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers hath been so altered, broken, and neglected . These inconveniences therefore considered, here is set forth such an Order, where the same shall be redressed. 1549 Preface 7 4 3/9/20 • Liturgical change is sometimes treated as a phenomenon unique to the twentieth century, a counter-current in the flow of Anglican piety. The truth is that the distinctive ethos of Anglicanism emerged in a period of reformation even greater than our own. Liturgical continuity has always been maintained in tension with liturgical change. The work of liturgical reform is not finished; in fact, it is never finished. Book of Alternative Services (Canada) 8 Selected Milestones • England: • 1549: Cranmer’s first BCP – conservatively Protestant • 1552: Second Prayer Book – more radically Reformed • 1559: Revision ordered by Elizabeth I – some compromises • 1571: 39 Articles of Religion finalized and incorporated into BCP • 1645: Use of BCP forbidden under the Commonwealth • 1662: Restoration of monarch and of Prayer Book – addition of Ordination, State Services, General Thanksgiving 9 5 3/9/20 • England (cont’d): • Each of the above in turn was sanctioned by an Act of Uniformity passed by Parliament. • 1928: New Prayer Book (never adopted by Parliament) • 1980: Alternative Service Book • 2000: Common Worship The Book of Common Prayer [1662] remains the permanently authorized provision for public worship in the Church of England, whereas the newer liturgies are authorized until further resolution of the General Synod. (2000 Preface) 10 • Canada: • 1893: Solemn Declaration – first General Synod of the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada • 1918: First Canadian Prayer Book • 1952: Unsuccessful attempt at revision • 1959: BCP (“Red Book”) approved in principle by General Synod; ratified in 1962. • 1985: Book of Alternative Services – “not a new Book of Common Prayer, and does not replace it” (1985 Introduction). • Additional liturgical texts and resources published from time to time, e.g. Pray Without Ceasing, versions of the Morning and Evening Offices for the seasons and for Ordinary Time, approved at 2019 General Synod. 11 6 3/9/20 • Elsewhere: • 1637: Scottish Prayer Book causes a riot at St. Giles’ • 1764: Scottish Rite • 1789: American Prayer Book based on Scottish Rite • 1979: new American Book of Common Prayer • Etc., etc. • Common Worship (EnglanD) anD ABCP (USA), along with supplementary volumes, are very useful resources for us. • As are the Lutheran Book of Prayer anD many others. • New ZealanD Prayer Book (1989) has many fine things, anD is uniQue for its incorporation of inDigenous (Maori) language. 12 The Anglican “Middle Way” • 1662 Preface: It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England, ever since the first compiling of her publick Liturgy, to keep the mean between the two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of too much ease in admitting, any variation from it. • Example: the issue of the “Real Presence” (transubstantiation) (1549) The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. (1552) Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving. (1559) Two forms are joined together (as in our BCP). 13 7 3/9/20 • The form of the Communion rite (and the theology behind it) was perhaps the most vexed issue through all the Prayer Book revisions. • Other Examples: • Where the altar is plaCed and how it is deCorated • What vestments the priest should / may wear • The “manual aCts” • When to stand, sit or kneel • EtC. • Of Ceremonies (1549): • And although the keeping or omitting of a Ceremony, in itself considered, is but a small thing; yet the willful and contemptuous transgression of a Common order and discipline is no small offenCe before God. 14 What did Cranmer give us? • The creation of Matins and Evensong out of the old monastic offices. • The collects: short, one-sentence prayers that “collect” and focus the devotional intentions of the congregation in succinct form. They’ve been called “masterpieces of doctrinal concision.” He wrote about two dozen of them, and adapted many others. • The Litany -- predates the Prayer Book; written for Henry VIII in 1544. • Emphasis on scripture, e.g. “sentences” (opening, offertory, burial, etc.) – and an annual calendar of bible readings in church (lectionary). • And particularly on the psalms – phrases from them appear frequently throughout the various services, some are used often (e.g. Venite), and all 150 are to be said or sung every month at Morning and Evening Prayer. • Among many other things! 15 8 3/9/20 And above all, language! • Oxford Dictionary of Quotations has 396 entries from the BCP. • It’s been said that Cranmer virtually invented modern English prose. • “strong, clear, very good in poor acoustics, and often beautiful, with a functional beauty that comes from getting something well said.” • Exhortation, cadence, balance, parallelism, repetition – when to slow things down: “erred and strayed” . “declare and pronounce” • “Through his connoisseurship, his appreciative pilfering of other people’s words, and his own adaptations, he created a prose which is self-consciously formal and highly crafted, intended for repeated use until it becomes polished as smooth as a pebble on the beach.” -- Diarmaid MacCulloch 16 What else did Cranmer give us? • A lot of theology, embedded in liturgy • E.g. Exhortations to Matins, Communion, Matrimony (p. 564) • Rubrics – liturgical directions with theological underpinnings • His changes to the Eucharistic liturgy and Prayer of Consecration – downplaying the sacrificial role of the priest, creating latitude with regard to the nature of the consecrated bread and wine. • Simple, recognizable structures • Fixed and variable elements: ordinary and propers. • Variables: season of church year, day of week, holy day, commemoration, events in life of world, community, individual. • Many forms of words can be poured into the same basic structure. 17 9 3/9/20 The Daily Office • Lauds Matins / • Prime Morning Prayer • Terce • Sext Mid-Day/Noon Prayer • Nones • Vespers Evensong / • Compline Evening Prayer • Vigils Compline / Night Prayer 18 • As says the prophet: “Seven times a day have I offered Thee praise.” The which sacred number of seven we fulfil in this way, if at Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline time we discharge the duties of our service.