Committee 12: Liturgy I (Everything but calendar)

10 Responses

  1. Scott, are you planning to address calendar issues? Lesser Feasts 2018 desperately needs a lot of work.

    • Scott Gunn says:

      That’s next!

    • Cathy Bagot says:

      D062 – gives us the opportunity to have some important conversations. I don’t object to the Prayer of Humble Access; I do question its placement in the liturgy. To say “we are not worthy” after we have made our confession and been absolved of our sins seems totally out of place. Where else might it be included in the liturgy?

      • Scott Gunn says:

        The point of the PoHA is that God is always merciful. It’s a prayer about God’s mercy, and how it is given to us freely, regardless of anything we’ve done or not done. But we can disagree over this prayer and where/whether it should be used!

  2. Ginny Berkey says:

    I agree about Lesser Feasts needing work. I thought your commentary on the issues coming up for vote were very well thought out. Thanks.

  3. Mark says:

    Surprisingly, one of the readings at a wedding this summer will be from the Good News Bible. The bride, a Latin teacher, always brings two translations of the Bible with her to Bible Study: a Latin text and the Good News Bible. I don’t, however, know anyone else who uses that translation anymore.

  4. Hello Scott, I’m very appreciative of your hard work here. This was very helpful to me. I’m looking forward to reading about your thoughts on the church calendar.

  5. Michael Paul says:

    Hi Scott. Our parish priest sent the link to your summation to me because she knows I am a liturgical junky. I appreciate your hard work and look forward to Part 2. Just a couple of notes!

    Regarding “All are Welcome,” I agree with you wholeheartedly. My father was Catholic, and at his memorial service, the Catholic priest allowed me (knowing I was an Episcopalian) to receive communion. I did not expect to partake, but in our meeting prior to the service, he was gracious to grant me permission to accept this sacrament. I am a cradle Episcopalian who was brought up with the phrase, “All Baptized Christians are welcome to receive communion.” Special circumstances understood, and acknowledged, and make sense of course, but removing the sacrament of Baptism as a prerequisite to the sacrament of Communion seems to defy the definitions of our Sacraments themselves.

    Regarding Rite I with Contemporary Language, let me start out with I was confirmed May 20, 1977. This is significant because the current prayer book was in its infancy and priests and choir directors were trying to make Rite II words fit into the traditional Service Music of a very old hymnal. (Yes, I am a choir person.) The Rite I words still worked, but Rite II was a train wreck. Obvious this changed in 1982, but it was touch and go there for a while. I am a Rite I fan. I will “to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen” (BOC, page 339) until the cows come home. Over the past 45 years I have participated in almost every know and unknown service the Episcopal Church ever did or did not authorize, but there is just a meditatively beautiful in the transition from our prayers, confessions, and absolution to the Peace of the Lord when utilizing the comfortable words. I feel this is lost on this generation of Episcopalians. If this is a way to bring some of that beauty back, go for it.

    And finally, I love Eucharistic Prayer C. “… and this fragile earth, our island home.” (BOC page 370) is just beautiful. I have memorized all the Eucharistic Prayers (again choir person) except for C. I would rather follow along in my prayer book; the call and response makes me feel a spiritual part of the one body, one spirit in Christ. If utilizing “Expansive Language” will encourage priests to use it more than once a year at the service only the choir will attend, again, I saw go for it.

  6. Mark says:

    The prayer book itself has a gentle nod toward rendering Rite I language in a contemporary idiom with the rubric at the beginning of Prayers and Thanksgivings: “pronouns and verbs have been put in italics to assist in rendering them into contemporary speech.” The ability to do that fully should be an easy move to make