In praise of the Book of Common Prayer ... of 1979 and 2004
This post seeks to provide some balance to those criticisms. As previously stated, counter-revolution is not conservative, and that includes liturgical counter-revolution. 1979 and 2004 are now settled parts of the Episcopal/Anglican experience in the United States and Ireland: a counter-revolutionary rejection of 1979 and 2004 would not be authentically conservative or traditional.
What is more, in the same way that my personal experience of officiating and participating according to 2004 has shaped my critiques of it, so too that experience has also provided a basis for valuing aspects of 2004. Likewise, those times when I have worshipped in TEC have been according to 1979 (usually, although not always, Rite One): on each occasion I have valued the experience of such public worship.
In light of this, I here offer ten reasons why those of us who stand in what we call the classical Prayer Book tradition (Ireland 1926 and PEUCSA 1928) can value 1979 and 2004.
1. 1979 and 2004 retained a fundamental aspect of the Prayer Book tradition: they are both single volumes, containing common prayer, the administration of the Sacraments and of other rites and ceremonies, with Psalter and Ordinal. 1979 and 2004 avoided the Common Worship multi-volume approach, itself a rejection of the basic foundation of Common Prayer. Clergy and laity, then, have all the services of the church in one accessible volume, for both public worship and private prayer. The fact that laity have the liturgies for Baptism, Marriage, Thanksgiving after Childbirth, Confirmation, Ordination, and Burial in their Prayer Book is a powerful statement that that Sacrament and these rites are not clerical possessions, but are the patrimony of the laity in a national or particular Church, to be participated in with understanding.
2. 1979 and 2004 retained the structure and much of the content of the Cranmerian daily office, in both traditional and contemporary forms. 1979 Rite 1 Morning and Evening Prayer, for example, approximates closely to 1928. In 2004, Order One Morning and Evening Prayer is (with only minor changes) 1926. In both 1979 and 2004, Rite 1/Order Two retain the Cranmerian structure. Again, the contrast with Common Worship is stark, with Common Worship: Daily Prayer dismantling the Cranmerian structure for "often reading and meditating in God's Word". The retention of the structure of the Cranmerian daily office by 1979 and 2004 - even if under-utilized - is testimony to the strengths of that form of the office and a resource for its renewal.
3. The Office of Compline is provided in 1979 and 2004, a welcome and popular addition to the Morning and Evening Prayer. 1928 did not have an office of Compline, while 1926 provided it as 'An Alternative Form of Evening Prayer'. This 'Alternative' was actually widely and popularly used as Compline in parishes. 2004, however, ensured its purpose as Night Prayer was formally recognised, in addition to including two further excellent collects. The recognition of the popularity of Compline (due to its particularly resonate character) by both 1979 and 2004 has been an important complement to the Cranmerian Offices.
4. 1979 retains the option of Cranmer's '30 Day Psalm Cycle', while 2004 authorises the 1926 Psalter (with, of course, the 30 day cycle) alongside the contemporary Psalter. In these ways, then, both 1979 and 2004 retain the heart of the Cranmerian office, the monthly praying of the psalms. In addition to this, the contemporary Psalters have something of the quality and character of Coverdale (lightly revised, of course, in 1926 and 1928), with poetic phrases that can be memorized. To give an example which comes to mind after a parishioner recently commented how Psalm 30:5, from the 2004 Psalter, had resonated with them:
Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
In 1979 renders this in a similar fashion:
Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Both are very close to Coverdale:
Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
There is, however, a noticeable contrast with the rather tone-deaf NIV: 'weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning'. The Psalters are also superior to the NRSV: 'weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning'.
5. Collects are a particularly rich expression of the Prayer Book tradition. 1979 and 2004 provide many of the classical Prayer Book collects for Rite Two/Order One. To give an obvious example, Cranmer's superb Advent collect continues to shape the opening of the season in 1979 and 2004 (and, indeed, 2004 has a rubric directing its daily use until Christmas Eve). The contemporary rendering of some (in 1979, many) of these collects for Rite Two/Order is a means of ensuring that those reliant on contemporary language liturgies can also be enriched by the traditional collects (for example, Cranmer's second collect on Good Friday is the 2004 Order Two collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity). Some of the new collects provided in 1979 and 2004 are also worthy additions to the Prayer Book tradition.
Take, for example, the collect for Christmas Night in 1979 (a version of which is also in 2004). Part of its richness is the manner in which it coheres with Cranmer's festive collects for St John's Day and the Epiphany:
O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting.
2004's collect for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity reflects the Prayer Book tradition of short, focussed collects, rooted in Scripture, for the Sundays of Trinity-tide:
Almighty God, whose only Son has opened for us a new and living way into your presence: Give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
6. The provision of other classic prayers of the Prayer Book tradition in contemporary form in 1979 and 2004 is a means of ensuring that these prayers continue to shape and sustain Anglican devotion. The second and third collects at Morning and Evening Prayer continue to be found in 1979 and 2004. This is also the case with the General Thanksgiving (in 1979) and the Litany.
7. The use of key texts from the Prayer Book tradition's Communion office in the contemporary Eucharistic rites of 1979 and 2004 is also significant. The Collect for Purity, for example, continues to be found at the opening of the Rite Two/Order Two eucharistic rites. The Summary of the Law - found in 1926 and 1928 - is a provision in 1979 and 2004, while the Decalogue is also an option. The Prayer of Humble Access (much loved, in my experience, by communicants) still has a place in 2004's Order Two. The 1662 words of administration find a place in the invitation to the Sacrament in 1979 and 2004:
The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.
Draw near with faith. Receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which he gave for you, and his blood which he shed for you. Remember that he died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.
In other words, while there are obvious and significant differences between the traditional Prayer Book eucharistic rites and the contemporary rites, the continued use of material from the traditional rites establishes some continuity, and allows the wisdom and piety of the traditional rites to continue to inform the experience of the contemporary rites.
8. A significant aspect of 1979 and 2004 is the inclusion of the Rite One/Order One forms of Holy Communion, with 1979 Rite One being a lightly revised 1928 and 2004 being 1926/1662 with only very minimal changes. Both Books, then, include a traditional Prayer Book eucharistic rite, ensuring that the piety, shape, texts, and norms of the traditional rites can continue to sustain sacramental faith and practice.
9. 1979 and 2004 reflected a growing ecumenical convergence. The shape of the contemporary eucharistic rites, texts, calendar, and lectionary are now often shared across churches and ecclesial traditions. Presbyterian and Methodist rites now often share much with Anglican/Episcopal Prayer Book liturgy, alongside the Lutherans and Moravians. This also applies in some significant ways to the contemporary Roman Catholic eucharistic rite. This can be interpreted as reflecting deep-rooted Anglican aspirations for decent, sober, vernacular liturgy to be shared by Christians, rooted in "the ancient Fathers", and free of what the Church of Ireland's 1870 Declaration terms "those innovations in doctrine and worship, whereby the Primitive Faith hath been from time to time defaced or overlaid, and which at the Reformation this Church did disown and reject". We might (slightly tongue-in-cheek) suggest that this would be welcomed by Jewel and Hooker as a sign of the churches following the decent and sober example of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana.
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