Why
We Use the Old Prayer Book
The Reverend Mark Clavier
We 21st-century Americans are not very good at
remembering our past. Americans have always been “forward looking” and happy to
embrace change. Old buildings are torn down to make space for new ones; old
political ideas give way to “modern” ideas; and old people are retired to make
room for the young. We are told over and over again that the future will be
brighter and that people in the past were not nearly so sophisticated as we.
But we are commanded in Scripture to “hand on
the faith once delivered to the saints.” This is what historic Christianity
means. We are the heirs of a long tradition for which countless Christians have
given their lives. The Faith is not for us to tamper with, to change to suit
our own ideas, our own whims.
But living in an ever-changing society as we
do, we frequently need to be reminded of this. As traditional Anglicans, we
believe that Christians who worship in a modern way in a modern-looking church
begin to lose sight of their past. They forget about the historic Church.
A Liturgy of a Historic Community
Worshiping Anglicans have slowly crafted our
Prayer Book over the centuries. When you worship on Sunday, you say many of the
same prayers used by Thomas Cranmer, Queen Elizabeth I, George Washington, and
countless other Christians. The words themselves thus become a vocal connection
to those Anglicans who have “fought the good fight” and handed on the Faith
intact to us. Anglicanism in particular has always been shaped by her liturgy,
the Book of Common Prayer, which with Shakespeare and the King James’ Version
has influenced our language more than any other work. There was a time, not so
very distant, when an Anglican could go to any other Anglican parish in the
world and feel right at home in worship. Indeed, one of the fundamental ideas
of Anglicans was that everyone would worship using the very same words. That is
what is meant by “common.” Today, our Prayer Book serves not only to identify
us as traditional Anglicans, but also to keep us safely moored to our roots.
A Sense of the Sacred
Another feature of us 21st-century Americans
is that we have a very high view of ourselves. We don’t like to be under
anybody else’s authority. Christian virtues such as obedience, humility, and
submissiveness are considered today to be signs of weakness. We also demand to
be entertained. Nowhere is all this more evident than in today’s worship.
Reverence has given way to lively, emotionally “exciting” praise fellowship.
In worship, we come together not so much to
gain a blessing from God as to perform a service, to “offer ourselves, our souls
and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto the Lord.” From
the start of the Reformation, Anglicans have believed that worship ought to be
liturgical in a language understood by the people, ought to profess the
“reformed Catholic” faith, and ought to be (as St. Paul stipulates) reverent and
orderly.
Anglicans believe that we need to be reminded
that we are sinners, that we are all personally responsible for the Son of God
having to “suffer death upon the cross.” We believe that our pride has to be
torn down in order for us properly to adore God. Our service is meant to convey
that sense of humble reverence.
It is also meant to provide us with an escape
from the boisterous, fast-paced world in which we live. Most people come to
appreciate how precious this time can be. We must remember that worship is an
awesome work. In worship, the community comes before God not only with praise
and thanksgiving, but also mindful of its own unworthiness and sinfulness. The
reverence of worship is a necessary antidote to human egocentrism. Reverent and
orderly worship also enables the community to step out of the “secular” and
experience the “sacred.” In this way, both the individual and the community are
constantly reminded of the spiritual, the corporate, the historical, and the
mystical aspects of the Body of Christ.
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