'May live together in unity and charity': on the Prayer for the Church Militant

... what to me is the clearest and most moving of all Anglican invocations.

So said Roger Scruton, in his Our Church, of the Prayer for the Church Militant. Scruton's words echo those of John Shepherd in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801):

Prayers to the same effect were offered in the primitive Church at the celebration of the Eucharist, and occur in ancient, and modern Liturgies; but a form of superior, or even equal excellence to this, is nowhere to be found.

Contrary to most contemporary Anglican liturgies, both Shepherd and Scruton rightly recognise the power and beauty of the Prayer for the Church Militant. Contemporary liturgies usually contain mere outlines of intercession, entirely subject to the vagaries of those leading the intercessions. By contrast, the Prayer for the Church Militant offers a memorable, theologically rich, intercession, rooted in a robustly apostolic vision of ecclesial vision (indicated in the opening reference to "thy holy apostle"):

It is composed upon the principles laid down by St. Paul, in his exhortation to Timothy, and accordingly consists of prayers, supplications, and intercessions for the whole Catholic Church; beseeching God to inspire it with the spirit of truth and concord, and that the individual members may live together in unity and charity. It then prays more distinctly for the different orders of which the Church is composed: first, for the higher estates; secondly, for the clergy; and lastly, for the people; that they may all with sincerity and fidelity, discharge the duties allotted to their respective stations.

Shepherd's summary of the Prayer, "may live together in unity and charity", captures not only its focus, but also a key concern of the wider rite: "ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them ... in love and charity with your neighbours ... and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people ... may continue in that holy fellowship". In the opening petition of the Prayer for the Church Militant this gracious vision is set before us, setting the context for the administration and reception of the holy Sacrament:

beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant, that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love.

So the Prayer for the Church Militant opens. What, then, of its ending?

The conclusion contains a thanksgiving for the deceased members of the Church, with a petition that the living may follow their good examples, and be finally partakers of the same inheritance of everlasting life and glory.

Shepherd has already rightly noted that the 1552 addition "militant here in earth" to the bidding - retained in 1559 and 1662 - was "designed expressly to exclude prayer for the dead". In place of urgent intercession for the deliverance of the departed is quiet thanksgiving, for they now rest in the fulness of unity and charity in the heavenly kingdom. Our only petition is that we might have "grace so to follow their good examples", walking in that charity which alone abideth.

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

'Whether the Lutheran Churches have right Ordinations and perfect succession of Bishops': Jeremy Taylor, 'Episcopacy Asserted', and Lutheran orders

Amidst the bitter controversies over episcopacy in the Three Kingdoms during the early 1640s, controversies which had become war in Scotland in 1637 and then in England in 1642, Jeremy Taylor wrote his Laudian defence of episcopal order, The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy Asserted and Maintained . He proposed in this work that the non-episcopal Reformed churches could have had episcopally-ordered clergy: Those good people might have had order from the bishops of England or the Lutheran churches, if at least they thought our churches catholic and Christian. Leaving aside the reality that, for example, French Protestants would have been placed in an invidious political position if they had done as Taylor proposed, it is the reference to "the Lutheran churches" which is significant. To begin with, a large portion of the Lutheran churches - those in the German lands - were governed by a system of superintendency. It is almost inconceivable that Taylor was not aware of th...

laudable Practice

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