By Robin G. Jordan
The Order for the Administration of the Lord’s Supper Renewed Ancient Text (or RAT) in the Anglican Church in North America’s 2019 Book of Common Prayer has its strengths as well as its weaknesses. A number of its strengths are found in the Liturgy of the Word of the rite. Among these strengths is that the rite makes provision for the reading of three lections from Scripture in this part of the service. This makes sense in the twenty-first century at a time when, most people, if they attend church at all, are only going to attend one service on Sunday morning or such other day on which services are offered. The only Scripture they may hear read during the week may be what Scripture is read at that service.
Reading three lections at the eucharist, four if one counts the gradual, the psalm or psalm portion or canticle recited or sung between the first two lections has precedence in the practice of the Gallican Rite, a family of rites within the Western Church, which comprised the majority use of most of Western Christianity for a greater part of the first millennium Anno Domine. The Gallican Rite was used from before the fifth century and until the middle or end of the eighth century. In this family of rites, it would become the practice at the eucharist to read three lections. The first lection was normally taken from the Old Testament with readings from the Acts of the Apostles substituted during the fifty days of Eastertide, or the Easter season.. The second lection was usually taken from the Epistles. These readings were replaced by ones from the Revelation to John during the Eastertide. The third lection was taken from on of the four Gospels.
This practice is far better suited to the realities of the twenty-first century mission field in North American and elsewhere than the practice of the Sarum Rite, a local version of the medieval Roman Rite that was developed at Salisbury Catedral and used from the eleventh century to the English Reformation, that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer adopted in the1549 and 1552 BCPs. It made provision for only two readings at the eucharist, one from the Epistles and occasionally the Old Testament and the other from the Gospels. While Cranmer made some changes in the lections, his adoption of this practice severely limited the amount of Scripture that was read at the eucharist. Cranmer may have not considered the drawbacks of this practice because he expected congregations of parish churches to attend daily morning and evening prayer throughout the week at which the Scriptures were read in course. This included on Sunday as well as the other days of the week.
The primary purpose of the daily offices in these two Prayer Books is the reading of Scripture, not prayer. The Litany was provided for that purpose on Sundays and other occasions. It was sandwiched between Mattins, or Morning Prayer, and the Holy Eucharist or Ante-Communion on Sunday morning. In practice far less people attended these daily services than Cranmer had expected. His scheme for “reducing the people to a most perfect and godly living” did not work as he hoped.
A frequent complaint heard in the seventeenth century was that despite fines and even imprisonment people were not taking part in the prayers. They were only coming to church to hear the sermon, arriving just before the sermon.
In the nineteenth century first in the United States and then in the United Kingdom the service of Morning Prayer would be separated from the Holy Eucharist. The result would be that in some churches Morning Prayer would become the preferred Sunday morning service, in others, the Holy Eucharist. While the priest might read the daily offices, few parishioners joined him. In a number of churches in which the priest had been strongly influenced by the practices of the nineteenth century Roman Catholic Church, the eucharist was celebrated without the congregation receiving communion, only the priest. The Protestant Episcopal Church would adopt a canon suppressing this practice.
The introduction of the reading of three lections at the eucharist was a breath of fresh air in the 1970s when the practice was first introduced and contributed to the revival of the eucharist as the central act of Christian worship on Sundays. Most of the more recent Anglican service books published since that time make provision for the reading of three lections at the eucharist. Some permit the reading of only two lections at weekday celebrations, and the 1979 BCP’s Order for Celebrating the Holy Eucharist requires at least one reading from the Gospels.
The Book of Common Prayer (International Edition) follows the Sarum Rite practice of only two readings at the eucharist, an Epistle reading and a Gospel reading, and makes no provision for an Old Testament reading. This is one of the book’s major drawbacks.
Considering that surveys show that Americans, while may own Bibles, do not regularly read them, and that the only Scripture to which churchgoers may be exposed is what is read at the service they attend on Sunday or some other occasion, liturgies that adopt the old Roman limitation on the amount of Scripture read at the eucharist are not helping to mitigate the growing Bible illiteracy in the United States. One of the criticisms that has been leveled at what is often described as contemporary worship is the dearth of Scripture in that worship. Typically, the most scripture that is read is the sermon text.
Two readings may be better than one, but it must be remembered that the Old Testament is the Bible of Jesus and the apostles, and they refer to it in their teaching. The Acts of the Apostles tells us the story of the early New Testament church and God’s extending of salvation not just to the Jews but also to non-Jews. The Revelation to John is relevant to today’s church.
A key principle in planning worship for a congregation is to tailor the service to the circumstances and needs of the congregation. Bishop Michael Marshall explains the importance of this principle in his book, Renewal in Worship (Morehouse-Barlow, 1985). While it may be tempting to try to replicate the worship practices of particular time in Church history, what matters most is planning worship that is doable within the limits of the particular circumstances of a congregation and which will engage the segment of the population at which the church is targeted. If a church is to grow and to flourish, the ministry target group of the church needs to be a broad one.
This does not mean tailoring the worship to the preferences of the clergy person in charge or congregation. Catering to their preferences can become a serious obstacle to the ability of a church to engage the unchurched. Their preferences must be balanced against the mission of the local church which is to spread the gospel and to make new disciples. Their preferences should not be permitted to so dominate worship planners’ decision-making that a church’s services themselves become a barrier to reaching a particular neighborhood, community, or other ministry target group.
In the Episcopal church that I helped plant and pioneer in the 1980s and 1990s, we concluded that we could not recreate in a storefront the ambiance that many Episcopalians have come to associate with Prayer Book worship and the Episcopal Church, and which might attract Episcopalians who were newly arrived to the area or who had not yet settled on a new church home. Instead, we focused on catching the more abundant fish swimming the same waters, couples in mixed marriages, individuals and families with a different church background or no church background. We created a warm, friendly atmosphere; did what we could to make people of all ages, married and single, feel at home; kept our celebrations relatively simple, unadorned, and informal; and used an eclectic mix of then contemporary and traditional music from a variety of sources, including the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Vineyard, and the Episcopal Church’s own Community of Celebration, as well as what was then the new hymnal. We launched small group Bible studies, using the Serendipity study Bible. We also formed intercessory prayer teams to pray for people after they had received communion if they needed prayer. The church would quickly go from a mission to the diocese’s fastest growing parish. For people who found the church too non-traditional for their liking, there was the church which had planted the new church, and which was also growing.
I learned from this experience that a new church should be allowed to develop its own identity and not for the clergy person in charge or one segment of the congregation to try to impose an identity on the new church. This identity is likely to reflect their preferences and tastes in music and worship and may not be suited for the locality in which the church has been planted. Two strongly traditionalist churches launched around the same time, using the 1928 BCP and The Hymnal, 1940, both failed. They had too small a base, and they lacked the flexibility needed to engage the area’s unchurched.
Let’s now take a look at the so-called Renewed Ancient Text’s Liturgy of the Word.
The Liturgy of the Word. The Liturgy of the Word is one of the two main parts of the Holy Eucharist. In the RAT it is comprised o the Lessons, the Sermon, the Nicene Creed, and the Prayers of the People.
The Lessons. The segment of the Liturgy of the Word labeled “The Lessons” is taken from almost word for word the 1979 BCP as a comparison of the corresponding part of the Rite II Holy Eucharist with the RAT shows. The rubric giving permission for a psalm, hymn, or anthem to follow each reading. This rubric permits the singing of a gospel acclamation, an alleluia with or without verses or a Lenten acclamation with or without verses, before the reading of the Gospel—a practice that simplifies worship planning for small and large congregations. I will offer further suggestions on the use of music in the RAT in a later article in this series.
Like the 1979 BCP, the 2019 BCP requires that a priest or a deacon read the gospel. A growing number of Anglican service books permit an authorized lay person to read the gospel, or they do not specify who the reader should be. While it is customary in the Roman Catholic Church for only a priest or deacon to read the gospel, the use of a lay person to read the gospel is a reminder that proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ is the responsibility of all Christians, and not just the clergy. The use of lay persons to read all the lessons, and not just the Old Testament lesson or the Old Testament lesson and the Epistle, encourages maximum congregation participation in the service and gives expression to the corporate nature of the People of God. It also recognizes that the only priesthood for Christians is the priesthood which all Christians share—the priesthood of all believers.
The Sermon. The exposition of the Word immediately follows the proclamation of the Word. The preacher is able to explain truths and principles expressed in in the Lessons while the words of the Lesson are fresh in the minds of the members of the congregation. When a creed, notices, banns, biddings for prayers are read before the sermon and a hymn is sung, they act like the birds in the Parable of the Sower, which flew down and gobbled up the seed before it had any opportunity to germinate and sprout. The only thing that should follow the reading of the gospel is silence for reflection and the sermon. If the gospel has been read from the midst of the congregation, the gospel procession should return in silence to where its participants sit.
The Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed occupies its original position after the sermon in the two eucharistic rites in the 2019 BCP.
Except at baptisms, only the Nicene Creed may be used at 2019 BCP celebrations of the eucharist. This is a departure from what has been a long practice in the American Prayer Book, which has permitted the alternative use of the Apostles Creed since 1789. Even the 2011 revision of the Roman Rite permits the substitution of the Apostles’ Creed for the Nicene Creed during Lent and Eastertide.
Like the 1979 BCP, the 2019 BCP requires that a priest or a deacon read the gospel. A growing number of Anglican service books permit an authorized lay person to read the gospel, or they do not specify who the reader should be. While it is customary in the Roman Catholic Church for only a priest or deacon to read the gospel, the use of a lay person to read the gospel is a reminder that proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ is the responsibility of all Christians, and not just the clergy. The use of lay persons to read all the lessons, and not just the Old Testament lesson or the Old Testament lesson and the Epistle, encourages maximum congregation participation in the service and gives expression to the corporate nature of the People of God. It also recognizes that the only priesthood for Christians is the priesthood which all Christians share—the priesthood of all believers.
The Sermon. The exposition of the Word immediately follows the proclamation of the Word. The preacher is able to explain truths and principles expressed in in the Lessons while the words of the Lesson are fresh in the minds of the members of the congregation. When a creed, notices, banns, biddings for prayers are read before the sermon and a hymn is sung, they act like the birds in the Parable of the Sower, which flew down and gobbled up the seed before it had any opportunity to germinate and sprout. The only thing that should follow the reading of the gospel is silence for reflection and the sermon. If the gospel has been read from the midst of the congregation, the gospel procession should return in silence to where its participants sit.
The Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed occupies its original position after the sermon in the two eucharistic rites in the 2019 BCP.
Except at baptisms, only the Nicene Creed may be used at 2019 BCP celebrations of the eucharist. This is a departure from what has been a long practice in the American Prayer Book, which has permitted the alternative use of the Apostles Creed since 1789. Even the 2011 revision of the Roman Rite permits the substitution of the Apostles’ Creed for the Nicene Creed during Lent and Eastertide.
(Correction: The 2019 BCP does permit the substitution of the Athanasian Creed for the Nicene Creed on certain occasions. See the Additional Directions Concerning Holy Communion.)
The 2019 BCP gives permission for the omission of the Filoque clause from the Nicene Creed, which represents a significant departure from historic Anglican belief. The version of the Nicene Creed affirmed in the Anglican Church’s Articles of Religion, its historic confession of faith, includes the Filoque clause. To my knowledge there is no consensus among the provinces of the Anglican Communion regarding the omission of this clause, and its omission is an unwarranted innovation on the part of the Anglican Church in North America.
Public recitation of a creed has not always been an essential part of the worship of the Christian Church. While the Nicene Creed would be subsequently used as a safeguard against heresy--Arianism, it was originally introduced in the eucharist by heretics—the Monophysites—in the sixth century. It was not adopted as a part of the Roman Rite until the eleventh century and then its use was limited to Sundays and festivals. The Pope saw no need for it, but the Holy Roman Emperor insisted! The 1549 BCP permitted its omission from the eucharist when the eucharist was celebrated on weekdays or in private houses.
Due to its history William Palmer Ladd in Prayer Book Interleaves (Oxford University Press 1942, 1943; Seabury Press, 1957) recommended its omission from the eucharist as a way of shortening the service. He also recommended omitting the confession of sin and the absolution and shortening the eucharistic prayer.
A number of more recent Anglican service books permit the use of other authorized Affirmations of Faith, including the Apostles’ Creed and the Athanasian Creed, in place of the Nicene Creed.
“We Believe in God the Father,” hymn paraphrase of the Apostles’ Creed, written by noted British hymn writer, Bishop Timothy-Dudley Smith, was especially commissioned for use with the services of the Church of England’s Common Worship (2000).
We believe in God the Father,
God almighty, by whose plan
earth and heaven sprang to being,
all created things began.
We believe in Christ the Saviour,
Son of God in human frame,
virgin-born, the child of Mary
upon whom the Spirit came.
Christ, who on the cross forsaken,
like a lamb to slaughter led,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
he descended to the dead.
We believe in Jesus risen,
heaven’s king to rule and reign,
to the Father’s side ascended
till as judge he comes again.
We believe in God the Spirit;
in one Church, below, above:
saints of God in one communion,
one in holiness and love.
So by faith, our sins forgiven,
Christ our Saviour, Lord and friend,
we shall rise with him in glory
to the life that knows no end.
It may be sung to any 87.87. or 87.87D. tune.
As a safeguard against heresy, the Nicene Creed has proven to be ineffectual. A recent survey shows that Arianism is alive and well in the United States. I have personally had conversations with at least one person who had very unorthodox views of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who could recite the Nicene Creed with equanimity, interpreting it to fit with their own theological views.
The Prayers of the People. Additional petitions and thanksgivings may be added to the form printed in the RAT. A lay person may lead the Prayers of the People. The omission of the congregational responses from the form printed in the so-called Traditional Anglican Text is not recommended as it denies the congregation a role in the prayer.
The Additional Directions Concerning Holy Communion, which follow the RAT permit the use of the Prayers of the People beside the form printed in the 2019 BCP’s two eucharistic rites. This would include forms found in the service books of other denominations as well as those of other Anglican provinces, provided they meet the requirements prescribed in these directions.
A number of Anglican service books permit the congregation to join in these words at the conclusion of the Prayers of the People:
Heavenly Father, grant these our prayers for the sake of Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Exhortation, the Confession and Absolution of Sin, the Comfortable Words, the Peace and the Offertory are ancillary rites to the Liturgy of Table, and I will examine them in my article on the Liturgy of the Table.
It is noteworthy that what the 2019 BCP labels “The Offertory” in two eucharistic rites is no longer recognized as a separate rite. The 2019 BCP represents from a liturgical perspective an outdated view of the ingathering and presentation of the people’s gifts and the preparation of the table.
While the Additional Directions make provision for what is often described as a Deacon’s Mass or a Mass of the Pre-consecrated Elements, they make no provision for a service of Ante-Communion, a longstanding practice in the Anglican Church, a service consisting of the Liturgy of the Word. This enables a congregation which lacks its own priest to continue to use the order of service to which it is accustomed. Indeed, a major drawback of the 2019 BCP is that provides no alternative forms for a Service of the Word when Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer or the Holy Eucharist do not meet the needs of a particular congregation. Most of the more recent Anglican service books contain one or more forms for a Service of the Word in addition to the Daily Offices and the Holy Eucharist.
The 2019 BCP gives permission for the omission of the Filoque clause from the Nicene Creed, which represents a significant departure from historic Anglican belief. The version of the Nicene Creed affirmed in the Anglican Church’s Articles of Religion, its historic confession of faith, includes the Filoque clause. To my knowledge there is no consensus among the provinces of the Anglican Communion regarding the omission of this clause, and its omission is an unwarranted innovation on the part of the Anglican Church in North America.
Public recitation of a creed has not always been an essential part of the worship of the Christian Church. While the Nicene Creed would be subsequently used as a safeguard against heresy--Arianism, it was originally introduced in the eucharist by heretics—the Monophysites—in the sixth century. It was not adopted as a part of the Roman Rite until the eleventh century and then its use was limited to Sundays and festivals. The Pope saw no need for it, but the Holy Roman Emperor insisted! The 1549 BCP permitted its omission from the eucharist when the eucharist was celebrated on weekdays or in private houses.
Due to its history William Palmer Ladd in Prayer Book Interleaves (Oxford University Press 1942, 1943; Seabury Press, 1957) recommended its omission from the eucharist as a way of shortening the service. He also recommended omitting the confession of sin and the absolution and shortening the eucharistic prayer.
A number of more recent Anglican service books permit the use of other authorized Affirmations of Faith, including the Apostles’ Creed and the Athanasian Creed, in place of the Nicene Creed.
“We Believe in God the Father,” hymn paraphrase of the Apostles’ Creed, written by noted British hymn writer, Bishop Timothy-Dudley Smith, was especially commissioned for use with the services of the Church of England’s Common Worship (2000).
We believe in God the Father,
God almighty, by whose plan
earth and heaven sprang to being,
all created things began.
We believe in Christ the Saviour,
Son of God in human frame,
virgin-born, the child of Mary
upon whom the Spirit came.
Christ, who on the cross forsaken,
like a lamb to slaughter led,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
he descended to the dead.
We believe in Jesus risen,
heaven’s king to rule and reign,
to the Father’s side ascended
till as judge he comes again.
We believe in God the Spirit;
in one Church, below, above:
saints of God in one communion,
one in holiness and love.
So by faith, our sins forgiven,
Christ our Saviour, Lord and friend,
we shall rise with him in glory
to the life that knows no end.
It may be sung to any 87.87. or 87.87D. tune.
As a safeguard against heresy, the Nicene Creed has proven to be ineffectual. A recent survey shows that Arianism is alive and well in the United States. I have personally had conversations with at least one person who had very unorthodox views of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who could recite the Nicene Creed with equanimity, interpreting it to fit with their own theological views.
The Prayers of the People. Additional petitions and thanksgivings may be added to the form printed in the RAT. A lay person may lead the Prayers of the People. The omission of the congregational responses from the form printed in the so-called Traditional Anglican Text is not recommended as it denies the congregation a role in the prayer.
The Additional Directions Concerning Holy Communion, which follow the RAT permit the use of the Prayers of the People beside the form printed in the 2019 BCP’s two eucharistic rites. This would include forms found in the service books of other denominations as well as those of other Anglican provinces, provided they meet the requirements prescribed in these directions.
A number of Anglican service books permit the congregation to join in these words at the conclusion of the Prayers of the People:
Heavenly Father, grant these our prayers for the sake of Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Exhortation, the Confession and Absolution of Sin, the Comfortable Words, the Peace and the Offertory are ancillary rites to the Liturgy of Table, and I will examine them in my article on the Liturgy of the Table.
It is noteworthy that what the 2019 BCP labels “The Offertory” in two eucharistic rites is no longer recognized as a separate rite. The 2019 BCP represents from a liturgical perspective an outdated view of the ingathering and presentation of the people’s gifts and the preparation of the table.
While the Additional Directions make provision for what is often described as a Deacon’s Mass or a Mass of the Pre-consecrated Elements, they make no provision for a service of Ante-Communion, a longstanding practice in the Anglican Church, a service consisting of the Liturgy of the Word. This enables a congregation which lacks its own priest to continue to use the order of service to which it is accustomed. Indeed, a major drawback of the 2019 BCP is that provides no alternative forms for a Service of the Word when Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer or the Holy Eucharist do not meet the needs of a particular congregation. Most of the more recent Anglican service books contain one or more forms for a Service of the Word in addition to the Daily Offices and the Holy Eucharist.
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