Our Heritage of Common Prayer

Common Prayer Homily May 2, 2012

“Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
“Till death do us part.”
“Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust”
“From all the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil.”
“Read, mark and inwardly digest.”
“All sorts and conditions of men.”

What these phrases have in common, is that they are from the Book of Common Prayer.

Today along with the Church of England we are marking the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which has formed the basis for prayer books in 50 countries in 150 different languages.

The original prayer book authored by Thomas Cranmer in 1549 was revised several times in the religious turmoil which followed the English reformation, and culminated in the revisions in 1662.

I believe the anniversary is being marked, not so much to delve into the history of the development of the prayer book, although that is a fascinating topic for historians and theologians, but to focus on the importance of a framework for common prayer in our Anglican tradition.

The past forty years have been an important time for liturgical reform, developing modern liturgies in contemporary languages has been done throughout our Anglican communion.

However, the prayer book remains an important part of our heritage, and our ongoing worship, even if it is replaced as the primary worship book by alternative service books.

As a cradle Anglican one of the things I’ve valued has been the fact that I can travel anywhere in Canada, or the world for that matter and find a liturgy which is somewhat familiar. I attended a centennial service for the Anglican Church of Korea in 1990. Even though the service was all in Korean, I knew by the action and movement of the liturgy what they were saying and what they were doing as they celebrated the Eucharist.

So the prayer book offers us a clear and well thought out pattern of worship including the Eucharist, Morning and Evening Prayer and the Pastoral offices.

Modern alternative service books have retained the pattern, if not the language or theology of the Book of Common Prayer.

It’s easy to criticize the Book of Common Prayer 1962 edition which I grew up with, for its use of exclusive language, it’s emphasis on penitence rather than celebration, the limitations of the one year lectionary for readings, and other shortcomings.

However, the book also has the strength of the BCP tradition in its elegant Morning and evening prayer services, the beauty of the language in the Eucharist, the enduring power of Cranmer’s collects.

The BCP tradition, like the King James Version of the Bible, which just celebrated four hundred years, and the works of Shakespeare, are a reminder of the power of language to offer our praise and thanksgiving to God.

The full name of the 1662 book is a mouth full. “The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and opther Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of Engalnd together with the Psalter or Psalms of david pointed as they are to be sung or said in churches and the form and manner of making, ordaining and consecrating of bishops, priests and deacons.”

The 1662 book was the product of a number of previous versions. The first in 1549 was largely the work of Archbishop and later martyr Thomas Cranmer. In the preface he explained why a new prayer book was necessary.

“There was never anything by the wit of man so devised or sure established which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted.”

One of the things which strikes me about the 1662 communion rite is that many of the phrases are familiar to us 350 years later, although the structure and order of the service is somewhat different.

The 1662 Prayer Book came at an important time in England’s history, two years after the restoration of the monarchy. It was a compromise between high and low church elements in the church. There were still dissenters. Nine hundred and thirty six clergy were deprived of their orders.

After 1662 development of the prayer book finished in England until the 20th century.

So it is only in the last century we have seen the phenomenon of first revised Books of Common Prayer throughout the Anglican Communion, and then Alternative Service Books throughout the communion.

Common Prayer is now found more in the shape of the liturgy, than in language which has been drafted in different provinces in the communion.

There is still much to celebrate in our Anglican history of common prayer, and if we lose it, we lose our distinctiveness. We owe a debt to Cranmer and the early leaders of the Church of England for their efforts at liturgical reform after the split from the Bishop of Rome.