Three Christmas Tweets to warm the Laudian heart

Three tweets over the Christmas season warmed my Laudian heart. The first from an Episcopal priest reminded us of the beauty of the Authorized Version of the Scriptures:

Watching a church service, and they're reading lessons from the Authorized Version (1611) for Christmas. Absolutely lovely. I wonder if this is something that could be done more? The beauty of the text is almost overwhelming at times.

— Scott Gunn (@scottagunn) December 24, 2022

Now, to be clear, I am not at all an AV-only person. The AV is not suitable for all contexts and, of course, is not appropriate for use with contemporary liturgical texts. The RSV can be superior in places. That said, however, the AV was written for public proclamation in divine service. It was, in other words, written to be a liturgical text. As John S. Tanner has stated:

The translators signaled their concern for the sound of the text on the title page. The phrase “Appointed to be read in Churches” announced a fundamental function of the King James Bible. It was intended to be read, meaning read aloud, in church. It was meant for the ear and not simply for the eye. The King James Bible was originally a lectern Bible. It was made for the pulpit, as a Bible to be read as part of public, communal worship. 

It is at Christmas that we particularly encounter the AV as liturgical text, capturing and shaping the ecclesial and cultural imagination:

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined ...

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not ...

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The absence of such texts, as Alison Milbank warned on Christmas Eve, will lead to "a loss of memory", raising the disturbing question, "What stories will replace them?".  Contemporary translations of the Scriptures have nothing like the same memorable quality or cultural recognition. This does point to the wisdom of restoring the AV at Christmastide, allowing its deeply resonant texts to sustain and renew the ecclesial and cultural memory of the Incarnation of the Word.

Secondly, there was this tweet from Roman Catholic commentator Niall Gooch, quoting from the traditional Bidding at the Nine Lessons and Carols:

And also this great prayer:
"Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are for ever one."

— Niall Gooch 👍🇬🇧🇻🇦🚅🏏✒ (@niall_gooch) December 24, 2022

With the thoughts of departed loved ones always close to us at Christmastide, the traditional Bidding beautifully gathers up our sense of loss at this season.  It does so after the quiet, reserved pattern of the Prayer for the Church Militant:

And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom.

In reflecting the quiet and reserved character of this prayer, in providing gentle assurance that the faithful departed abide in the light of the Incarnate Word, the Bidding brings comfort to our heightened sense of loss at Christmastide. There is also an Erasmian and Grotian quality to the words, providing a meaningful context for Christians across the traditions to pray together and commemorate the faithful departed at Christmastide. This in itself is a significant witness to the grace and light of the Incarnation and the healing it brings to broken humanity and a disunited Church.

Thirdly, this from a priest in Diocese of Salisbury on Christmas morning:

Start Christmas Day the Prayer Book way... pic.twitter.com/mHRNrxs2rs

— Gerry Lynch (@gerrylynch) December 25, 2022

The deep joy of Cranmer's Christmas preface (lightly revised in 1662), said on Christmas Day "and seven days after", powerfully proclaims the salvific truth of the Incarnation. Its reference to "as at this time" is suggestive of the festive joy of the season. Mention of "the Virgin Mary his mother" echoes the season's carols and their recognition of the Maiden of Nazareth. The concluding phrase, "without spot of sin, to make us clean from all sin", points forward to Good Friday, reminding us that the Incarnation is always oriented towards the Cross.

It is a proper preface with a much richer theological vision than many contemporary alternatives, not least in its recognition of the relationship between Incarnation and Passion. It gives liturgical expression to the truth wonderfully expounded by John Donne in his sermon for Christmas Day 1626: 

The whole life of Christ was a continual passion. Others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr. He found Golgotha, where he was crucified, even in Bethlehem, where he was born. For to his tenderness then, the straws were almost as sharp as the crown of thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as his cross at the last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas Day and his Good Friday are but the evening and the morning of one and the same day.

To pray the 1662 Christmas preface at the Holy Communion on Christmas Day and the seven days following is to be drawn in heart and soul into the redeeming mystery of the Incarnation: "for us men and for our salvation".

Twitter, of course, can often be a platform severely lacking "comfort and joy".  These three tweets, however, did bring comfort and joy to this Laudian heart during the festive season, suggesting how an Anglicanism more aware of and committed to its native riches and piety could resonantly proclaim the grace and truth of the Incarnation.