The Matter Before the House (Part 1): The Prayer Book
Everything you ever wanted to know about what happened with/to/for our liturgical resources in Baltimore.
First of all, you should be aware that we are NOT moving ahead with a scheme for comprehensive Prayer Book revision at this time. However, per Resolution A059, we have moved to rewrite Article X of the Constitution, “Of the Book of Common Prayer.” Those of you who know me personally know that I’m highly suspicious of any effort to revise the BCP at this time - and yet I support this decision. And why?
Consider the new Article X, Section 1: “The Book of Common Prayer is understood to be those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention in accordance with this article and the Canons of this Church.” The key word here is “authorized.” Only the 1979 BCP has currently been “authorized.” All of the other liturgies have been “approved” for trial use. Anything to be “authorized” has to still be approved by two successive General Conventions.
The new Article X, Section 2 retains the historical language concerning the process for an alteration to the Prayer Book, and keeps the high bar in place to protect the Prayer Book from the tampering of a single Convention run amok.
The new Article X, Section 3 specifically states that no alteration to the 1979 BCP shall be made unless it has been previously authorized for Trial Use in accordance with X.4.2.
The new Article X, Section 4 permits a single General Convention to amend the Lectionary and rubrics relating to the Psalms (as before); to approve for trial use revisions to the BCP or sections thereof (as before); and permits approval for trial use of alternative and additional liturgies to supplement those found in the BCP.
Finally, the new Article X, Section 5 maintains and respects the authority of individual bishops in the process.
There will, naturally, be a working group implemented to review the relevant canons and propose revisions to these in Louisville in two years.
So, what has me excited about this proposal? I think it’s a very strong compromise. It retains the authority of BCP79, while providing a clear path forward for a strategic and curatorial revision of the BCP in places where it has come to be at odds with itself. It also clarifies and streamlines our existing MESS of categories of authorization - “authorized liturgical rites” may complement a memorialized BCP79; “supplemental rites” would include our companion resources, like LFF and BOS; and “experimental rites” would be subject to the authority of the Bishop for their implementation.
Resolution A126
This resolution, to review our liturgical material in regard to “colonialist, racist, and white supremacist, imperialist and nationalistic language and content,” and to develop proposals for amending these texts, generated a significant amount of heat, with very little light, when it was brought to the floor. While this may have some value, I suspect that the exercise will provide a great many people with opportunities to embrace their inner English-teacher, hunting the “big game” of metaphor, simile, conceit, and other linguistic and rhetorical devices within the safari park of the twenty-first century world (a place wholly foreign, I might note, to any of the peoples of the Ancient Near East, where the nighttime was for bandits and predators, and where stained fabric stayed stained.) The language of personal devotion is, of course, highly subjective; what is right and proper coming from one person may (pace John Henry Newman) sound from another as vulgar as a love letter read into a court transcript. I shall be quite interested to see what ensues.
Lesser Feasts and Fasts
A variety of changes were made here, most significant being the addition of the Consecration of the Right Rev’d Barbara Harris, building off of Resolution C023, proposed by the Diocese of North Carolina. This changes the proposed observation date from her heavenly birthday, 13 March 2020, to that of her consecration, 11 February 1993, which nicely removes my own squeamishness about commemorating Church leaders who weren’t martyred prior to the 50-year consideration date. The SCLM has been directed to compose propers, the legend, and a Collect, for consideration in 2024.
Howard Thurman is being referred to an interim body; John R. Lewis will not proceed at this time.
A few other additions were made, and William Porcher DuBose, whose personal life has subsequently made him a figure of scandal, has been deleted.
A008 through A013, all of which deal with clarifying the Calendar of the Episcopal Church, were adopted. A014, which would add the Saints of the Apostolic Age to the “primary calendar” in the 1979 BCP, will not proceed at this time.
Book of Occasional Services
A gentle revision of the BOS, BOS2021, has been authorized under A006. It includes a few new devotions, but none with which I am intimately familiar. More importantly, A005 was adopted, which provides for the translation of EOW and BOS into Spanish, French, and Haitian Kreyol. This is very good news, and I believe it will be a blessing to those communities which worship in these languages.
Thanks!
I wrote a post about how TEC's example might help us here untangle some of our mess in NZ: https://liturgy.co.nz/episcopal-church-shows-nz-a-way-forward
Blessings
Bosco