[Magdalen] Interesting perspective on BCP revision

Jay Weigel jay.weigel at gmail.com
Wed Apr 26 22:47:07 UTC 2017


I had the opportunity (or chose it, take your pick) to worship at an
Anglican (ACNA) church on Easter. The worship was liturgical and anything
but stodgy. The music was, surprisingly, less happy-clappy or saccharine
than found in  your average Roman Catholic Church. The preaching was both
biblical *and* social justice oriented. The congregation was diverse, both
in terms of color and social structure (I saw everything from folks one
step away from street people to those just this side of head-covering
homeschoolers to obviously well-off..and the offspring of a couple of those
were being baptized), and the church was bursting at the seams. I went more
out of curiosity than anything else. If I didn't have such a disagreement
over polity with the ACNA, I'd think about going there on a regular basis.
More Episcopal churches need to find some of what they have. I will say
that the few times I've attended the one in Harrisonburg, it does pretty
well, though.

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 6:19 PM, Roger Stokes <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com
> wrote:

> If you look at the preface to the 1662 you will find that the revisers
> recognized the need for periodic revision because words change their
> meaning (or drop out of use) over time. More recent revisions have
> recognized that we now have congregations that (at least for the most part)
> can read. Likewise we can see the value of reading from the Old Testament
> (partocularly important now that the Eucharist is often the only element in
> people's liturgical diet. Various other liturgical changes reflect a more
> balanced understanding of what the Church should be like, somewhere that
> priest and people work together in the Church's mission and ministry rather
> than the parson doing it all.
>
> Roger, who is not particularly looking forward to a couple of Sundays
> where I will be presiding at 1662 Eucharists as the main Sunday service in
> that church. I find it very priest-heavy with the congregation basically
> sitting there as recipients.
>
>
> On 26/04/2017 19:46, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
>
>> Chad wrote: "Periodic revision is necessary because society changes."
>>
>> The late and much-loved Charles Price, who was on the editorial board of
>> the '79 book--and wrote that wonderful General Thanksgiving on
>> p. 836--told us that he thought the BCP should have its year on the front
>> cover, just as the hymnals have.  That would suggest to people, even if
>> subconsciously, that the book hadn't been handed down from on high,but was
>> subject to periodic changes.
>>
>
>


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