So much to think about. I do think that the church is a hospital for sinners and, since we sin in all things, it possesses authority in all things. This is kind of a scary thought when I think about it for too long, and yet at the same time makes sense -- where else are we to learn how to live? Where is culture? Where is Life? The church should be the guiding light in music, too. Have you read any Hans Urs von Balthasar? He writes about....the revelation of love as beauty itself. If you're looking for an apologetic for the arts, literature, and music there are many places to look but I would recommend experience (more than just "exposure" to good music, but actually read about it and study it and sing it) and Balthasar. The junk food analogy is a favorite. Once someone's junk food palette has learned to submit to another taste, two things happens: first, he becomes accustomed to the new flavor that he initially did not like. Second, he actually starts to crave it. I've seen this happen with music to some of the not so experienced undergrads -- realizing some of their favorite pieces of music don't hold up to scrutiny very well, recognizing superior music that they previously did not know exist, and they eagerly eat it all up! Their classmates, however, who came to school with an experienced palette and better understanding are years ahead in maturity and experience...because they didn't have such a junk food addiction to begin with. All analogies break down, of course, but this is a fun one
What if the person doesn't see it as junk food? What if they think that junk provides something meaningful that the fine dinning doesn't? Anglican74 says it fills the desire to be casual, because we are frail. Our frailty seems to require the junk!
That's what I mean about having to submit to the authority. If a person truly doesn't think it's junk food, and his authority insists that it is, then he has the choice to submit or not. But, in all honesty, I haven't had any trouble yet in convincing someone about superior music and inferior music. One favorite conversation from my Presbyterian days involved Michael Bolton and if something of his could be used during the tithes and offerings.... it was a brief conversation. I'm beginning to think that desiring casual times isn't a frailty at all. It's a different mode. Formal worship is just that, formal -- but there is a lot of my life that is informal and I pray I'm worshipful/glorifying God there, too....whether it's dancing to silly music with my nephews or meeting up with a friend to catch a movie.
So working off this formal/informal modality, it sounds like you're saying it's natural to live most of life informally. Sacred service is a formal mode, and there we submit to authority. Outside of sacred service, we are in an informal mode, and here Christian pop fits the bill and can be really meaningful. What is right for formal modes isn't right for informal modes, and vice versa--and that's ok. It sounds like we shouldn't be depricating the food for informal meals for the sake of elevating the food for high formal meals?
What's appropriate for informal isn't appropriate for formal and vise versa. Absolutely. (There are some situations when it's a little greyer, but this is all the more reason why appealing to an authority or being musically educated is so important). However, I do think we have to examine our informal past times. There is such a thing as good and bad, or superior and inferior, informal practices... one should not always be eating candy. Nothing wrong with candy, but there's a lot wrong when it's candy all the time.
On top of examining informal pasts, I think we need to examine whether we avoid the formal, and remain in the comfort of the informal. It's possible to crave only informal. Isn't that part of the ill of modern society? Informal wear to work, informal wear to go out shopping, informal greetings, informal titles (or lack thereof), etc. We live in an age obsessed with the informal, don't we.
I was wondering what was bothering me about this conversation and realized we've been so focused on music in the abstract -- the reality is, music is not notes on the page or the correct notes played skillfully on the instrument ....but the expression that the musician brings to it. I've experienced liturgy that had the organist performing Bach in the most tasteless and robotic way imaginable I audibly gasped before I was able to gain control of myself. The bottom line is, a singing people have to be a musical people and sometimes that doesn't happen in the first generation. There must be "a chief musician" who got the spot not because of his piety or his skill or his understanding but his ability to do that _musical_ thing for a bunch of gathered people. Beauty is elusive, and in the case of music is has as much to do with _what_ the notes are AND _how_ they are realized in real time.
Yes, the Jerusalem statement on the 1662 BCP: "We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture."
Here is a very brief and incomplete history of the American Prayer Book: ======================= Here are some of the ways in which the 1789 Prayer Book differs from the 1662: General: Verbal changes (“Jesus” for “Jesu”, for example). Office and Litany: Invitatory hymn at Morning Prayer is the American Venite, with words from both Psalm 95 and Psalm 96. The book provides Selections of Psalms to be used “instead of the Psalms of the Day, at the discretion of the Minister”. A short form of the Benedictus is provided as an alternative to the Jubilate. Magnificat and Nunc dimittis are omitted from Evening Prayer. The “Prayer for all conditions of men” and the General Thanksgiving are printed within the rites of Morning and Evening Prayer. The number of prayers and thanksgivings is increased; among them are prayers for Congress. The Litany is prefaced by a rubric: “To be used after morning service on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.” Eucharist: Anaphora is from the Scottish rite. The summary of the law has been added. It may (but need not) be said after the Decalogue. The response “Glory be to thee, O Lord” follows the announcement of the Gospel. A hymn is to be sung after the Eucharistic Prayer. Another hymn may replace the Gloria. Baptism: The sign of the cross may be omitted “if those who present the Infant shall desire the Sign of the Cross to be omitted”. ======================== Here are some of the ways in which the 1892 Prayer Book differs from the 1789: General: A rubric concerning hymns and anthems is added, allowing them to be sung before and after “any Office in this Book, and before and after Sermons.” Office: Permission is withdrawn to omit “He descended into hell” from the Apostles’ Creed, though the option of saying “He went into the place of departed spirits” remains. The full text of the Benedictus is printed in Morning Prayer, though “the latter portion thereof may be omitted” except on Sundays in Advent. Magnificat and Nunc dimittis are restored to Evening Prayer. An anthem is allowed after the third collect at Evening Prayer. Other: A penitential office for Ash-Wednesday has been added. Eucharist: The Decalogue may sometimes be omitted as long as it is said once each Sunday. When it is omitted, the Summary of the Law and the Kyrie must be used. The Nicene Creed is printed in the communion rite and must be used at Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday, and Trinity Sunday. A hymn or anthem may be sung “when the Alms and Oblations are presented”. The words must be from the Bible or the Book of Common Prayer. A hymn is no longer required after the Eucharistic Prayer. Confirmation: A reading from Acts is added. ====================== Here are some of the ways in which the 1928 Prayer Book differs from the 1892: Office and Litany: The office lectionary for days other than Sunday now follows the Christian Year, instead of the civil year. Antiphons are provided that may be sung or said immediately before the Venite on certain Sundays and feast-days. The Gloria in excelsis is no longer permitted to be used in the place of the Gloria Patri at the end of the psalmody. In addition to the Benedicite, the canticle Benedictus es, Domine is provided as an alternative to the Te Deum. Only one lesson need be used at Evening Prayer. An alternative prayer for the Civil Authorities is provided. The congregation is allowed to say the General Thanksgiving along with the minister. “Miserable sinners” has been removed from the opening part of the Litany. Eucharist: The Decalogue now need be said only on one Sunday in each month. The Collects, Epistles and Gospels are printed after the Communion service, rather than before it. New propers have been added, including one for Independence Day. A hymn or anthem is now permitted between the Epistle and Gospel. The Bidding of the bedes is no longer a prayer for the church “militant”, but simply for “Christ’s Church”. In the bidding of the bedes, at the benediction for the faithful departed, a petition is added that God may “grant them continual growth in [his] love and service.” The Prayer of Humble Access has been placed after the Eucharistic Prayer (its 1549 position), rather than before it. The Lord’s prayer is placed at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer rather than after the communion. Baptism: The three baptismal services of the previous books have been consolidated into a single service. Also, according to one commentator, “there is more emphasis on resurrection and less on original sin.” The sign of the cross may no longer be omitted. Marriage: The word “obey” has been removed from the woman’s vows. Visitation of the Sick: This office has been considerably revised. Among other changes, the exhortations in which the minister told the sick person that “whatsoever your sickness be, know you certainly that it is God’s visitation” and to “take…in good part the chastisement of the Lord” have been removed. The sick person is no longer examined whether he believes the Apostles’ Creed. Articles of Religion: General Convention originally voted to leave them out, but later changed its mind. ======================= I will post about the 1979 Prayer Book later.
Continuing the quick history of the American Prayer Book: ============================== Here are some of the ways in which the 1979 Prayer Book differs from the 1928 book: General: The rubric concerning hymns and anthems has been removed (though in practice, many act as if it were still there.) Calendar: Numerous black-letter days have been added. Office: The office lectionary now follows a two-year cycle, instead of a one-year cycle. Rubrics have been added allowing a sermon to be preached and a collection to be taken. Directions are given for the “Frankenmass option”, in which Morning Prayer serves as the Liturgy of the Word at the Eucharist. Some opening sentences of scripture have been removed, and some have been added. Antiphons are now allowed to be used with all psalms and canticles. The Jubilate is now used as an alternative invitatory psalm, rather than as a canticle. A rubric allows that “in special circumstances” a hymn may be used in place of a canticle. As at Evening Prayer, only one reading need be used at Morning Prayer. A third reading is permitted after the second canticle. “On occasion, at the discretion of the minister”, a passage from non-Scriptural Christian literature may be used as a reading. (This allows, for example, readings from a saint’s life on his feast-day.) The traditional morning canticles, Te Deum, Benedictus, Benedicite, and Benedictus es are printed within Morning Prayer; the traditional evening canticles, Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, are printed within Evening Prayer. But any canticle may be used in any position. A table of suggested canticles is provided in the hope that folk will not be egregiously stupid in the exercise of this privilege. Several new scriptural canticles have been added. The Lord’s Prayer has been moved from near the beginning of the rite to the prayers, after the Apostles’ Creed. The number of morning suffrages has been increased, since it is no longer presumed that the Litany will always follow. Collects for Sundays, Fridays, and Saturdays have been added within the rite. At the end of the collects, a “prayer for missions” has been added, to be used “unless the Eucharist or a form of general intercession is to follow.” A hymn or anthem is now permitted after the collects at Morning Prayer, as well as at Evening Prayer. The preces at the beginning of Evening Prayer now is “O God make speed to save us/O Lord make haste to help us”, rather than the morning preces “O Lord, open thou our lips/And our mouth will show forth thy praise.” A noonday office and an office of Compline are provided. Baptism: This office is considerably revised. Adult baptism is now treated as the norm. Instead of the question, “Dost thou believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith, as contained in the Apostles’ Creed?” and a simple “I do” in answer, the candidate must now recite the Apostles’ Creed in full in answer to the questions “Do you believe in God the Father?” “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?” “Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit”. The consecration of the water now mentions the creation, the exodus, and Christ’s baptism. Confirmation: Confirmation is no longer a pre-condition for receiving communion. Eucharist: The Gloria in excelsis has been moved from the end to the beginning of the rite. A reading from the Old Testament is allowed before the Epistle. A psalm, hymn, or anthem may follow this reading. The Apostles’ Creed may no longer be used unless there is a baptism. The Nicene Creed must be used on Sundays and Major Feasts, but may be omitted at other times. The sermon now follows the Gospel, instead of following the Nicene Creed. The bidding of the bedes now follows the Nicene Creed, rather than standing between the Offertory and the Eucharistic Prayer. The bidding of the bedes is no longer a fixed prayer, but instead has fixed subject-matter. Six examples are provided. The Peace has been restored, and placed in its 4th-century Eastern position before the Offertory. A rubric allows it to be placed instead in its Roman-rite position before the communion. In Rite I, the Benedictus qui venit may be added to the Sanctus. In Rite II, it must be. An alternate anaphora, which mentions the creation, is provided in Rite I. Four anaphoras are provided for Rite II, in one of which the wording is based on the Coptic Anaphora of St. Basil, and all of which have a structure derived from ancient models. For special circumstances, two additional anaphoras are provided as options. Other: The office for Ash-Wednesday has been considerably revised. Rites are provided for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the night-service of Easter. Marriage: A paragraph has been added to the minister’s initial address, describing the purposes of marriage. “Joy” is the first purpose listed. The Peace is restored to the rite. Two rings (or other gifts) are explicitly allowed. The ring is no longer required to be worn on the left hand.
Hello, I'm sort of new to Anglicanism/Episcopal-ism, and i know it has been a while since anyone has posted here. Could someone answer me this: Is there such a "danger" of using the 1079 version of the Book of Common prayer? Since it has more modernized language than the Book of Common Prayer from 1928, I was wondering if there's controversy on the 1979 for having two Rites and modern language. Thank you for reading.
Fascinating thread so far. We in the ACC use the 1928 BCP and the 1940 Hymnal. Which BCP before 1928 had the prayer for prisoners? When I was in the RCC, I was in a small group that visited a local detention center on Sunday evenings and read the Sunday Mass readings and had prayer for the inmates. Would've liked to have seen the 28 BCP retain that prayer.