Let’s Talk Prayer Book Revision: The Need for Alternative Texts and Alternative Services

By Robin G. Jordan

There is a clear need for alternative services in The Book of Common Prayer 2019 as well as alternative texts if the book is to meet the needs of congregations in more than one segment of the Anglican Church in North America. Right now the book may meet the needs of Anglo-Catholic congregations that have their own priest and one or more deacons, their own building, and a traditional style of worship; and for which reaching and engaging the unchurched population of the community is not their number one priority. This is the segment of the ACNA for which The Book of Common Prayer 2019 appears to have been designed.

The Book of Common Prayer 2019 is not going to meet the needs of congregations that are faithful to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the doctrinal and worship principles of the historic Anglican formularies and which do not subscribe to the unreformed Catholic doctrine and practices of the book. The Book of Common Prayer 2019 is also not going to meet the needs of congregations in one or more of these categories:

• Congregations that are in the pastoral charge of a deacon, lay catechist, or lay reader and which have infrequent celebrations of Holy Communion
• Congregations that have a average weekend attendance of 50 or fewer people
• Congregations that hold their worship gathers in the sanctuary of a friendly church of another denomination, rented space, or other non-conventional settings
• Congregations which have large numbers of young children or adults with limited reading skills
• Congregations whose ministry target groups are not attracted to the “studied ornateness” of The Book of Common Prayer 2019 and a traditional style of worship

Let’s take a look at where The Book of Common Prayer 2019 would benefit from alternative texts and alternative services. The addition of these alternative texts and alternative services would necessitate changes to the rubrics and in a number of cases revision of the introductory notes and/or preface to a rite or service.

Morning and Evening Prayer. These services would benefit from a shorter alternative confession when they are used as the principal Sunday service. They would also benefit from rubrical permission to omit everything after the Apostles’ Creed and to read a short litany or other form of general intercession in its place, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, the Collect of the Day, the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and the Grace or some other ending.

The Book of Common Prayer 2019 would benefit from the addition of a Service of the Word that congregations may use on occasions when the services of Morning and Evening Prayer and Holy Communion do not meet their needs. It would be desirable that the rubrics would permit the use of this form of service as an alternative liturgy of the Word for services of Holy Communion. The addition of a Service of the Word would give congregations a wider selection of worship options from which congregations could select a format for their principal Sunday service, one tailored to their particular circumstances and situation.

The Holy Communion: The Book of Common Prayer 2019 would greatly benefit from the combination of The Holy Eucharist: Standard Anglican Text and The Holy Eucharist: Renewed Anglican Text into a single rite. Except for the forms for the Prayers of People, the Eucharistic Prayer, and the Words of Administration, the two Eucharistic rites are the same rite. The two forms for the Prayers of the People are variations of the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church.

The gathering rite of The Book of Common Prayer 2019’s eucharistic liturgy would greatly benefit from decluttering and simplification. Compared to it, the gathering rite of the service of Holy Communion in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) is much more flexible. This can be seen from a comparison of the rubrics of the ECW service with those of the BCP 2019 service.

Gathering Song
The time of the gathering song may be brief or extended, and may include one or more of the following: hymns; psalms; a Kyrie; a canticle of praise.

During this time, the presiding minister and the assembly great each other.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.

A Kyrie may be sung in dialogue between an assisting minister and the assembly.

[The text of a short litany with “Lord have mercy” as the congregational response.]

One of the following or another canticle of praise may be sung by all.

[The text of the International Consultation on English Texts’ translation of the Gloria in excelsis.]

OR

[The text of “This is the feast of victory for our God,” a metrical version of the Dignus es.]

Prayer of the Day
The presiding minister leads the prayer of the day.
Let us pray. A brief silence is kept before the prayer.

After the prayer the assembly responds: Amen.

The assembly is seated.

The Kyrie was originally used in the Roman Rite as congregational response to a litany at the beginning of the Mass. In the Gallican Rite the Kyrie was sung as a song of praise at the beginning of the Mass. The rubrics of the ELW service of Holy Communion permit both uses. A troped Kyrie may also be sung as a penitential prayer in place of a confession and an absolution, a feature of the modern Roman Rite and the eucharistic rites of a number of Anglican provinces, including the Church of England.

The rubrics of the ELW service of Holy Communion permit worship planners to decide how many songs will be used in the gathering rite, what songs will be used, and when the presiding minister will greet the assembly. (For readers who may be unfamiliar with the term “assembly,” it refers to the eucharistic assembly or liturgical assembly, depending upon the type of service.) They offer the kind of flexibility that permits worship planners to tailor the gathering rite not only to the occasion but also the circumstances and situation of the local church.

The worship planners of a small congregation can opt for a simple gathering rite—a hymn of praise or a metrical version of the Gloria, the greeting, and the Prayer of the Day. The worship planners of a medium-sized or larger congregation can opt for a more elaborate gathering rite—a hymn of praise, the greeting, a setting of “This is the feast of the victory for our God,” and the Prayer of the Day. The worship planners of a congregation that has a traditional style of worship can begin the service with a hymn of praise, followed by the greeting, a Kyrie, a Gloria, and the Prayer of the Day. The worship planners of a congregation that has a contemporary style of worship and which is reaching and engaging young people can begin the service with a worship set of praise songs, followed by the greeting and the Prayer of the Day.

Due to the number of fixed elements—a seasonal greeting, the Collect for Purity, the Ten Commandments (or the Summary of the Law), a Kyrie (or the Trisagion)—the present gathering rite of the BCP 2019’s eucharistic rites lacks this kind of flexibility. A seasonal greeting is superfluous. The hymns, songs, and proper prefaces of the Eucharistic Prayers serve the purpose of highlighting the season of the Church Year. In the number and complexity of the seasonal greetings the Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force appears to have been trying to outdo the Episcopal Church. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer’s Holy Eucharist Rite II has only three seasonal greetings and these seasonal greetings are three too many.

The Collect for Purity was originally a prayer of preparation said by the priest before a celebration of the Mass. It was not a part of the Mass itself. It logically belongs in a separate penitential rite that may be used as a form of preparation before a service of Holy Communion. It certainly should be optional as it is in the 1979 BCP’s Holy Eucharist Rite II and Common Worship's Holy Communion, Order One.

The Ten Commandments are also preparatory. They are a part of a preparatory sequence that included the Epistle, the Gospel, the Nicene Creed, and the sermon, and which concluded with the Invitation to Communion, the Confession the Absolution (or Remission of Sin) and the Comfortable Words. The Summary of the Law was added to this sequence as a shorter alternative to the Ten Commandments.

The insertion of a Kyrie and a Gloria between the Ten Commandments (or the Summary of the Law) and the other elements of this sequence interrupts the sequence, introducing an element of praise, The sequence of Kyrie and a Gloria come from the late medieval Mass. Despite its wording the Kyrie is a song of praise. The Trisagion is also a song of praise.

In the present gathering rite of The Book of Common Prayer 2019’s eucharistic liturgy the Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force attempts to combine two different gathering rites, each of which has its own particular logic which is not compatible with the logic of the other gathering rite. The first gathering rite is that of the 1552 Communion Service. The second gathering rite is that of the late medieval Mass and the 1549 Communion Service. Its original sequence was introit psalm, Kyrie, Gloria.

The Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) have an optional penitential rite that may be used before a service of Holy Communion. It consists of the Collect for Purity, an alternative opening prayer, a confession, and alternative confession, an absolution, and an alternative absolution. It is a separate rite and therefore does not add to the complexity or length of the gathering rite. It affirms the view that the whole eucharistic liturgy, and not the eucharistic prayer, is the assembly’s offering of thanksgiving and praise for God’s grace and mercy, a view that is shared by historic Anglicanism. As the apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle, “…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9  NIV). The advantage of such a penitential rite is that beginning a worship gathering with penitence frees the worshipers to enter more fully into the worship of God.

 A Form of Preparation of Common Worship (2000) is similar but more complex. The sections entitled “Prayer of Preparation” and “Prayers of Penitence” within the gathering rite of Holy Communion, Order One, of Common Worship (2000) have much greater flexibility than the penitential order provided in the notes at the end of the ACNA’s eucharistic rites. The Collect for Purity may be omitted and the Prayers of Penitence may be brief or extended. In their simplest form they may consist of a confession and an absolution or a troped Kyrie. The Book of Common Prayer 2019 would greatly benefit from a separate penitential rite like that of the two Lutheran service books or “Prayer of Preparation” and “Prayers of Penitence” sections like those in the gathering rite of Holy Communion, Order One.

A second drawback of  The Book of Common Prayer 2019’s eucharistic rites is the Prayers of the People. The two rites would greatly benefit from several more alternative forms for the Prayers of the People, not just litanies but a series of biddings like Form II in the 1979 BCP’s Holy Eucharist Rite II and a set of suffrages like Form III in the same rite. These forms have proven their usefulness over the past 40 years. They would also provide models for worship planners drafting their own forms for the Prayers of the People.

A third drawback The Book of Common Prayer 2019’s eucharistic rites is the two eucharistic prayers. They are unnecessarily prolix. They also embody doctrine that is contrary to the Word of God and which conflicts with the doctrinal principles of the historic Anglican formularies. They need to be balanced, if not replaced, by shorter alternative eucharistic prayers that embody the Biblical and Reformed doctrine of the 1552 Communion Prayer.

It is noteworthy that Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) has eleven eucharistic prayers from which worship planners can choose. A number of them are seasonal. Most are recent compositions. The two shortest prayers are the oldest. Eucharistic Prayer II is modeled on the oldest Lutheran eucharistic prayer—the Sursum Corda, the preface, a proper preface, the Sanctus, the words of institution, and the Lord’s Prayer. It is the Lutheran equivalent of the 1552 Communion Prayer. Eucharistic Prayer V is an adaptation of a Swedish eucharistic prayer that was popular in the 1970s.

A modern simplification of the 1552 Communion Prayer like the one in The Lord’s Supper, Form 1, in Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings (2012) and a second alternative communion prayer  based upon the 1552 Communion Prayer would be appropriate additions to the BCP 2019’s eucharistic rites. They would provide the necessary balance to the rites’ two lengthy unreformed Catholic prayers. To fully embody the doctrine of the 1552 Communion Prayer these alternative prayers must include a commemoration of Christ’s salvific work and a petition for the inward grace of the sacrament that is closely modeled upon the 1552 petition for the sacrament’s inward grace, and must conclude with the words of institution. Replacing this petition with a petition for the sanctification of the bread and wine by the Holy Spirit and the Word changes the prayer’s doctrine. An appeal to a so-called “ecumenical” consensus does not justify a substitution of a petition which is neither Biblical nor Reformed for the petition for the inward grace of the sacrament which is a major feature of the 1552 Communion Prayer and gives expression to its doctrine.

A fourth drawback of The Book of Common Prayer 2019’s eucharistic rites is that they have no invitations to communion and words of administration that embody the doctrine of the 1552 Communion Service. Both rites would benefit from addition of the following invitations to communion:

The priest may say

Come let us take this holy sacrament of the body and blood of Christ in remembrance that he died for us, and feed upon him on our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

or

Come let us eat and drink in remembrance that Christ died for us, and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

They would also benefit from the addition of the following words of administration:

Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.

Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful

Occasional Services: There is a definite need for alternative orders of baptism and confirmation and alternative ordination services that are Biblical and Reformed in their doctrine and practices. The addition of these services would also give more balance to The Book of Common Prayer 2019, as would the other suggested additions. Introductory notes explaining that all Anglicans do not view these rites and services as sacraments and why are also needed before the rite of reconciliation of a penitent, the rite of confirmation, the marriage service, and the rite for the anointing of the sick with oil, and the ordination services.

As can be seen from this article and my two previous articles in this series, The Book of Common Prayer 2019 needs extensive revision. The defects and shortcomings that I have pointed out in these three articles are not the only ones. A number of the rubrics are not very clear. Some appear to be afterthoughts. The language of a number of the texts is awkward. The typeset that was used tires the eyes. The scholarship is patchy at best. While it may appear too early to some members of the Anglican Church in North America to be talking about replacing the book, the extent of its defects and shortcomings points to the need for a replacement book, one that is not only in step with the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the doctrinal and worship principles of the historic Anglican formularies but also is shaped for mission in the twenty-first century. If the "powers that be" in the Anglican Church in North America are unwilling to replace The Book of Common Prayer 2019 with a service book that meets these requirements, ACNA'ers who see a need for such a book need to take it upon themselves to produce one.