The Prayer Book, hope, and quiet revival

The recent announcement of three new ecclesiastical patrons for the Prayer Book Society was a moment of quiet joy and hope amidst, let's be honest, the decidedly grim landscape of North Atlantic Anglicanism. That the three bishops represent various streams of Anglican thought and spirituality is itself a sign of how - amidst much division - the Book of Common Prayer can provide nourishing common ground for different varieties of Anglicans. This, of course, has been part of the historical vocation of the BCP, a shared, common order of prayer, sacrament, and blessing for differing, indeed, even rival, theological tendencies - Laudian and Reformed Conformist, Calvinist and Arminian, Latitudinarian Whig and High Church Tory, John Keble and J.C. Ryle.

In addition to this aspect of the announcement, however, the various insights offered by the three bishops on the continued significance and place of the Prayer Book is particularly refreshing and encouraging.

Bishop Jane Steen of Lynn pointed to how the Prayer Book shapes the heart:

The value of so much of its liturgy, impressing itself upon the heart of those who use it, is hard to overestimate in Christian formation.

It is one of the gifts of the Prayer Book, the manner in which its texts take root in the heart, becoming a means of sustaining and nurturing us in prayer over a lifetime. It is not unfair to note that such is not always so of contemporary liturgies, not least because their variety produces an inbuilt instability, undermining the memorability of texts - and, of course, few contemporary liturgical texts were composed to be memorable. If we are, as evidence and anecdote increasingly suggest, in a time of 'quiet revival', forming those seeking after Christianity in the way and discipline of prayer is crucial: the new Christians of the 'quiet revival' will need to be sustained by prayer if the life of faith is to be real. Here is a role for the BCP, "impressing itself upon the heart of those who use it", providing texts and language of prayer, to aid us when "with a pure heart, and humble voice" we come "unto the throne of the heavenly grace".

Bishop Paul Thomas of Oswestry emphasised a key aspect of the BCP, that it is not only about how we pray, but also what we believe:

Never more than now is the BCP needed to provide the sons and daughters of the Church of England with the measure and sure reference point of what to believe and how to pray.

A robust creedal orthodoxy; an Augustinian realism about the human condition; a profoundly Christocentric proclamation of redemption, "by the merits of the most precious death and passion of thy dear Son"; and a firm hope in "the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life": the Prayer Book roots us in the Faith described by Jewel as that of "God's holy Gospel, the ancient bishops, and the primitive Church ... the Apostles and old Catholic fathers". It is, therefore, a text for the 'quiet revival' ("never more than now", as Bishop Thomas says) for those seeking a Christianity of depth and substance, rather than a mere echo of an exhausted, empty secular culture.

The comments of Bishop Andrew Rumsey of Ramsbury rather beautifully draw together both above statements:

The Book of Common Prayer is a treasury for today’s church: a ‘goodly heritage’ with an enduring capacity to renew the Christian imagination of our country.

Renewing "the Christian imagination" of a culture requires both prayer that touches and shapes the heart, and the confession of saving Truth. The Prayer Book is both, all contained in one book. And, at its centre, not least at daily Morning and Evening Prayer, is sustained reading of the holy Scriptures. As Cranmer put it:

that the people ... might continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God, and be the more inflamed with the love of his true Religion.

Mindful that the 'Quiet Revival' report points to Bible reading being "far more common among young churchgoers", and that SPCK has also reported a surge in Bible sales amongst Gen Z, a pattern of daily prayer centred around the reading of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is particularly suited to such a context.

Bishop Rumsey also provided an example of what those of us who are members or supporters of the Prayer Book Society should be seeking:

A well-travelled BCP sustains my own daily prayer and I look forward to sharing its riches with you.

May there be very many well-travelled BCPs, marked by page-turning over years; sustaining us in prayer in good times and bad, in the midst of the grave political, economic, and cultural insecurities and uncertainties, likely lasting over our lifetimes; gathering up the seasons, national and domestic life, and the passage of years in prayer; laying us to rest at life's end, "in the true faith of thy holy Name"; and then passed on to those who will continue, after our earthly sojourn, to pray according to the form of the Book of Common Prayer.

O Lord, save thy people; and bless thine inheritance.

(The painting is William Teulon Blandford Fletcher, 'The Sabbath Day', c.1916-17.)