A Gift Returned: Why Canadian Rectors Should Adopt the Book of Common Prayer
(This eye-opening article is by Tyler W. J. Mutch, a founding member of a recently formed organization, “Canadian Anglicans for Renewal”. Its membership consists of young adults under 30, who are committed to bringing the Anglican Church back to its roots: in particular, the Book of Common Prayer! Representatives of CAR recently approached the PBSC, and our two organizations have been exploring ways in which we can work together.)
On Pentecost Sunday, June 9, 1549, English congregations gathered under King Edward VI to worship according to a “Book of Common Prayer” (hereafter the “BCP”), and the people heard the Church’s worship in their own tongue. The BCP brought together the liturgy, services, and doctrines of the Church of England into one book. It made such services accessible even to the illiterate, who could understand and come to expect what a Sunday mass may look like on any given day. In this sense, the BCP fulfilled its name, and gave the common person a direct relationship with the institution that presided over them. It became a tool to safeguard the laity against rogue clergy, and united the Church in a commonality of worship that all could understand.
Nearly five centuries later, Anglican parishes across Canada gather to worship, yet what they pray, and who decides it, can vary enormously from one church to the next. In some of these parishes the weekly liturgy is determined by the rector’s preference, and it is worth asking whether this serves the laity, or only confuses them as to what the Anglican Church of Canada stands for. The assertion of this paper is that rectors should adopt the BCP, as it offers us an alternative that is liturgically beautiful, theologically sound, and a safeguard for ordinary worshippers.
Archbishop Cranmer and his successors produced prose that has shaped the English language to this day. Phrases that are commonplace now, and even adopted by other Churches, such as “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” have now been used to comfort mourners everywhere and for centuries. What the BCP accomplishes best is its plain and dignified communication. This simplicity and beauty of worship is innately meaningful; it teaches the ordinary worshipper that prayer is an offering of our best words as well as a conversation with Him. Congregations that pray in language so carefully constructed will be formed to approach God with reverence, with every sentence calling back to His Word.
The BCP is saturated with Scripture. The lectionary carries a congregation through the Bible in an ordered way so laity can know what to expect. The Psalter is read through in a monthly cycle, so each Psalm becomes a meaningful and immediately relevant prayer for the parish. Each service rehearses the Creeds and the Lord’s Prayer, and the Catechism provides the seeker with a faithful and compact summary of what Christians and Anglicans believe. The Church has long held that how we pray shapes what we believe, and the BCP is the epitome of this. Laity who have worshipped from the BCP for years will not need a degree of theology to know the faith they are a part of, because they have already prayed it repeatedly, and in their own way made it theirs. They will not need a theologian to notice when or where a sermon contradicts the Creed that was just recited, or when a passage has been quietly rewritten.
The laity are most vulnerable where the BCP governs the most carefully: baptism, marriage, at the deathbed, and at the grave. At these times we are the most emotional, exposed, and susceptible. A fixed rite means that the family receives the Church’s consolation and not one minister’s own interpretation. Of course, the BCP cannot prevent every abuse, but it does remove a wide range of areas in which unaccountable clergy might operate. This protection is worth having in an era where people can be more influenced by personality over the Word of God. A Church that is serious will care about the safety and well-being of its own laity, and should value any structure that keeps its clergy answerable to something beyond themselves.
One common criticism against the BCP is that the language used can seem foreign to newcomers. But an unfamiliar text is not an inaccessible one; it only needs to become familiar. Otherwise, the parishioner must learn the mind of the rector rather than the mind of the Church. Parishes that use the BCP can teach it patiently, with clear printed guides, announcements, and preaching that unpacks what is being said and why. Some contemporary services themselves lack the proper depth that is discovered in older liturgy, and it is this very depth that many newcomers are seeking.
Rectors who elect to adopt the BCP need not shy away from other liturgies either. They only need to recognize that the BCP is the fullest expression of Anglican worship, and is the tool by which we measure a service. Adopting the BCP places the parish on a firm ground: its worship is beautiful, shaped by Scripture, and accountable to something greater than the personality of the rectors. It is a treasure given to the Church by our predecessors, and we ought not to discard it. It was given to the laity on that summer morning in 1549 to help them understand worship, and rectors should return this gift.
The Anglican Church of Canada sits at a crossroads: it can continue to depend on the preferences of the rectors, or it can return to a common text. Should we continue down our current path, the Church may very well drift apart amongst a sea of personal preferences. Today, we see that youth are coming to the Church, and they may desire something concrete, deep, and meaningful. This starts with the BCP, a book we can all understand, appreciate, and that binds us together. It is through this book that one can look at an aspiring young Anglican today and answer one of their first questions: what is an Anglican?
A group of young Anglicans, under the banner of Canadian Anglicans for Renewal (“CAR”), is pursuing one such goal: to bring the Church back to its roots. CAR was founded earlier this year and now numbers over 100 members across Canada; it consists of, and is led by, young adults under 30, both laity and clergy alike. It is a grass-roots organization that seeks to connect young Anglicans together; it wants to revive an Anglican identity and get people passionate about the Anglican Church. This starts by asking that afore-mentioned question of who we are. The answer to this question starts at our roots, looking back to that morning in 1549 when the BCP was first used. A book that makes us all Anglican.