The Anglican Tradition of Common Prayer – Part I

By Robin G. Jordan

Do we need a Prayer Book to pray? Does it matter what Prayer Book we use?

First, we do not need a Prayer Book to pray to God or to have fellowship with God. I on occasion take walks in the woods in which I pour out my heart to the Lord. As did Brother Lawrence, I practice the presence of God as I go about my daily activities. Having said this, I must point out the Psalms, canticles, readings, exhortations, collects and other prayers in a Prayer Book can serve as a springboard for our own prayer. Through them God can inspire us to more fervent devotion and heartfelt prayer. When one is experiencing a period of spiritual dryness, a Prayer Book can be very helpful. Set prayers can help us focus our minds upon God and give us words when words of our own are not forthcoming. They can also stir our hearts. In reflecting and meditating upon their words, we may be convicted of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit may use their words to draw to our attention what may have come between God and ourselves and may have created a barrier to prayer. This is why it is especially important that the prayers of the Book of Common Prayer should be Scriptural in content. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer recognized that God uses the written Word to renew minds and transform hearts. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah wrote. Read it aloud to yourself:

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11 NIV)

God’s written Word is not without power. As we listen to the Word, the Holy Spirit is at work in our hearts, drawing our hearts to God.

The apostle Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing God’s word. Faith also comes by praying God’s Word. The praying is itself a form of hearing. When reading Scripture, praying the Psalms, the canticles, and prayers of the Prayer Book, I always speak aloud, adopting a practice of the early monks. In this way I not only read the Word but also hear it.

The Book of Common Prayer, however, is more than an aid to our private devotions. It is the Book of COMMON Prayer. The prayers we offer in the liturgy are not just our own prayers but they are also the joint, or shared, prayers of the Body of Christ:

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about any think you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” (Matthew 18: 18-19 NIV)

The Christian faith is not normally practiced in isolation but as a member of a community of believers. In the Acts of the Apostles we find a number of passages that describe the early Christians gathering for prayer (Acts 2:42; 4:23-31, 12:12). The prayers in Acts 2:42 are the formal prayers of the Jewish synagogue in which Jesus himself participated (Luke 4:16). Paul’s letters are filled with advise for the conduct of the meetings of the New Testament Church.

By the Fourth Century AD two types of services had developed in the Christian Church. The first was a Sunday gathering for the reading and exposition of the Scriptures, intercessory prayer, and celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This service became to be known as “the Mass” in the Western Church and “the Divine Liturgy” in the Eastern Church. The second were daily morning and evening gatherings for praise and prayer. These services in some localities also included one or more Scripture readings and a homily or sermon. They replaced the weekday service of the Word, which had become fused with Lord’s Supper celebration into the Mass or Divine Liturgy. They were the forerunners of the services that we know as Morning and Evening Prayer. They consisted a limited selection of psalms, canticles, and hymns, sung by a cantor or schola cantorum with the congregation singing a brief refrain after each verse or group of verses, and the prayers consisted of litanies or other forms in which the congregation took a part. With the rise of monasticism these popular forms of Morning and Evening Prayer were gradually displaced by monastic forms of the daily services that involved the recitation of the whole Psalter in course and includes additional offices beside Morning and Evening Prayer. The monastic daily services were chanted by the monks in their monastery churches. In the Western Church some monastic communities built barn-like structures against the side of their churches. These structures were primarily used for storage and livestock. However, the laypersons that had come to hear the monks chant the daily services were permitted to shelter in these structures in bad weather. From these structures evolved the nave of the Medieval church building. The church in which the monks chanted the daily services and celebrated Mass became known as the chancel. The divided chancel with choir stalls facing each other across a central aisle originated with the monastic practice of antiphonal chanting of the Psalms. The chancel was the actual church and the monks were the congregation. The laity huddled in the barn-like nave with the sacks of grain and the monastery’s cattle and other animals were not a part of the congregation. The more devote engaged in their own private devotions as the monks chanted the daily services. Choral evensong sung in some cathedrals continues this tradition. The choir is the congregation and not the people in the body of the cathedral.

By the time of the Reformation this experience of parallel prayer had also displaced common prayer on Sunday mornings in the English Church. The Mass was said or sung in Latin and unintelligible to most of the laity. The more devote knelt and prayed as they awaited the high point of the Mass for the laity—the elevation of the consecrated host for their adoration. The less devote chatted or dozed. Medieval doctrine taught that the Mass was a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead. Only the priest received Communion. Sermons were rare and then were usually given by a wandering friar outside the church.

During the reign of the godly prince Edward VI Archbishop Cranmer restored common prayer to the English Church. In the First Prayer Book of 1549 he gave the English Church a liturgy that was intelligible to the English people. With the First Prayer Book he sought to prepare the English people for the Second Prayer Book of 1552 on which he was working at the time of the publication of the First Prayer Book. In the Second Prayer Book of 1552 he gave the English Church a Reformed liturgy was not only intelligible but also was for the most part thoroughly Scriptural. It was to be substantially the definitive Anglican liturgy since the Elizabethan Prayer Book of 1559 introduced only three changes. It was the forerunner of the Restoration Prayer Book of 1662. When people who are familiar with the 1662 Prayer Book are shown the 1552 Prayer Book, they immediately recognize the similarity between the two books. The Restoration bishops made a number of changes in the 1662 Prayer Book. But the 1662 Prayer Book is substantially the 1552 Prayer Book.

The Reformed liturgy of the Books of Common Prayer of 1552, 1559, 1604, and 1662, the proposed American Book of Common Prayer of 1785, and the Irish Book of Common Prayer of 1926 is built on a number of principles gathered from Scripture. It is not only built on Scriptural principles but it also contains Scriptural allusions, doctrines, phraseology, and practices, as well as psalms, canticles, and other Scriptural texts. As Archbishop Cranmer wrote in the Preface of the 1552 Prayer Book, “…nothing is ordained to be read, but the very pure Word of God, the holy Scriptures or that which is agreeable to the same; and that in such a language and order as is most easy and plain for understanding both of the readers and the hearers.” He goes on to write: “It is also more commodious, both for the shortness thereof, and for the plainness of the order, and for that the rules be few and easy.”

Here is a sampling of the Scriptural doctrines, practices, and principles found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

General:

Public prayers and ministering of the sacraments in an understandable language:

“Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle. So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will be just speaking to the air. Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me. So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:8-12 NIV)

“If you are praising God with your spirit, how can anyone who finds himself among those who do not understand (or among the inquirers) say ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying. You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.” (1 Corinthians 14:16-17 NIV)

All things done for edification:

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification” (Romans 14:19 NIV)

“But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:3-4)

“What then shall we say brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. (1 Corinthians 14: 26 NIV)

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 4:29 NIV)

Orderly worship:

“But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” (1 Corinthians 14: 40 NIV)

Confession:

They stood in their places and confessed the sin and wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter of the day in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. (Nehemiah 9:2-3 NIV)

Praise:

“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord…” 2 Chronicles 5:13

Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted up their hands and responded ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. “ (Nehemiah 8:5-6 NIV)

“How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving….” (Psalm 147: 1,7 NIV)

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6 NIV)

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV)

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9 NIV)

Standing to praise:

“…said: ‘Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting (or for ever and ever).” (Nehemiah 9:5 NIV)

Reading and exposition of the Scriptures:

So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. An all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. (Nehemiah 8:2-3 NIV)

“They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear (or translating it) and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.” (Nehemiah 8:8 NIV)

“He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written…. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:16-17,20-21 NIV)

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4 NIV)

“Until I come again, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” (1 Timothy 4:13 NIV)

“…and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching , rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that a man of God may be thoroughly equipped for good works.” (2 Timothy 3:15-17 NIV)

Prayer:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6 NIV)

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (1Timothy 2:1 NIV)

A Godly life:

“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it…. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.” (Psalm 51: 16-17 NIV)

“All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:2-3 NIV)

“For I desire mercy not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6 NIV)

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13 NIV)

“If you had known what these words mean. ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” (Matthew 12:7 NIV)

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written” ‘Be holy because I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15 NIV)

“ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work….” (Colossians 1:10 NIV)

“If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21 NIV)

The Communion:

A communion table, not an altar:

“…you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons.” (1 Corinthians 11:21 NIV)

Self-examination

“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before eats the bread or drinks of the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:27-28 NIV)

No continuation or repetition of Christ’s sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper:

“…he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.” (Daniel 9:27 NIV)

“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30 NIV)

“…And after he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV)

“Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:27 NIV)

“He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:12 NIV)

“For Christ did not enter a manmade sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter into heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. The Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once. And after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sin of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:24-28 NIV)

“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10 NIV)

“But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:12 NIV)

Consecration of the elements by the word of God and prayer:

“For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:5 NIV)

A remembering and proclaiming of Christ’s death:

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he gave thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV)

A spiritual Communion in Christ’s Body and Blood:

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16 NIV)

A sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and an offering of “ourselves, our souls and bodies” in response to the remembering and proclaiming of Christ’s death in the Lord’s Supper:

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16 NIV)

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1 NIV)

The Gloria in Excelsis or another hymn of praise

“When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:30 NIV)

The bread should “be such as is usual to be eaten”:

“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” 1 Corinthians 10:17 NIV)

The Ordinal:

Attention to way of life and doctrine:

“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16 NIV)

“What you have heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”(2 Timothy 1:13-14 NIV)

“You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.” (Titus 2:1 NIV)

“In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” (Titus 2:6-8 NIV)

These last passages from the epistles of the apostle Paul point to why it matters what Prayer Book we use. The repeated use of a particular Prayer Book over a period of time will influence what we believe. It can expose us to particular interpretations of Scripture that read into or impose upon Scripture meanings that “cannot with certainty be read out of Scripture,” that cannot be shown “to be unambiguously expressed by one or more of the human writers.” It can subject us to textual material that embodies doctrines that, while they may have the sanction of tradition, are not gathered from Scripture or agreeable to Scripture. It can also expose us to usages, or liturgical practices, which have been incorporated into the Prayer Book because they are more or less ancient and which, while they may in themselves not be prohibited by Scripture, nonetheless give expression to doctrines that are contrary to God’s Word.

Some Prayer Books like the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 1926 Irish Prayer Book, a conservative revision of the 1662 Prayer Book, are fairly Scriptural. They do not stray from the Biblical-Reformation doctrine of the Thirty-Nine Articles. Other Prayer Books are less Scriptural and do stray from the Articles’ doctrine. Some follow the Reformed model of the 1662 Prayer Book such as the 1928 American Prayer Book and the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book but depart from the Biblical-Reformation theology of the Thirty Nine Articles and the 1662 Prayer Book at key points. Others like The Book of Common Prayer of 1979 and The Book of Alternative Services of 1985 have adopted the model that the 1958 Lambeth Conference recommended and give expression to a theology that is not particularly Scriptural and does not conform to that of the Thirty Nine Articles and the 1662 Prayer Book as doctrinal standards.

What we believe in one area such as the sacraments affects what we believe in other areas—“one’s doctrine of God and man, creation and redemption, sin and grace, the work of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, not to mention church and ministry.” It can also affect our attitude toward God and in turn our relationship with God. It has a horizontal dimension too. It can influence our attitude toward other Christians and our relationship with them.