'Your little Prayer Book': the distinctive 'Anglican coded' practice
The comment appeared on X in the midst of a debate on Christmas Day about the ecclesiastical identity of the McCallister family in 'Home Alone'. (Yes, you read that correctly.) This particular comment was regarding Kevin crossing himself while saying Grace before a meal. This matter, of course, is not entirely straightforward. Kevin, as some contributors pointed out, crosses himself in the Orthodox fashion. A previous comment achieved 'community note' status when, after describing Kevin walking into a church on Christmas Eve as "one of my earliest encounters with Catholicism in film", it was pointed out that the church in question was actually Episcopalian - albeit with some clearly Roman Catholic statues added. To return to Kevin crossing himself, various contributors to the debate also pointed out that many Lutherans and Anglicans/Episcopalians also made the sign of the Cross.
What I think is fair, however, is the assumption that crossing oneself in Western Europe and North America will lead most people to assume that it does signify Roman Catholic faith. To that extent, it is "Catholic coded", in the same way that reverencing an icon is 'Orthodox coded' or carrying a Bible is 'Evangelical coded'. It is not that making the sign of the Cross, or reverencing an icon, or carrying a Bible are uniquely Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Evangelical - but they are practices which broadly signal a particular tradition.
When I was younger, everyone used the same book, whether for high, lavishly sensual worship or low-church simplicity, and people owned their own prayer-books for use at home. This meant that even using your little prayer-book to say the Lord’s Prayer or ‘Lighten our darkness…’ united you to your brothers and sisters. I still feel this as I use my tiny 2 inch BCP to say my daily office on my way to work.
Lifting our copy of the BCP from the book shelf, or taking it from our pocket or bag, and opening it to pray is 'Anglican coded'. It is not, of course, that other Christian traditions do not have prayer books. To continue the film theme, we might think of Tom Hanks' character in 'Greyhound' (2020), Commander Ernest Krause, a faithful Lutheran praying from Luther's Small Catechism. This, however, rather makes the point: praying the daily prayers from Luther's Small Catechism is clearly 'Lutheran coded'. Opening the BCP to pray is similarly 'Anglican coded'.
As Alison Milbank notes, this requires two things. Firstly, the BCP as shared, common text. Secondly, a lay culture in which owning "your little prayer-book" is normative. Regarding the first point, it is a peculiarly CofE-centric view to dismiss as antiquated the notion of a BCP as a shared, common text. Milbank reminds us that, contrary to the CofE's approach of "the multiple door-steps of Common Worship", "other Anglican provinces have managed to revise their prayer books, including the older liturgies, and still keep to one manageable book, with less choice". TEC BCP 1979 and the CofI BCP 2004 are both obvious examples of this.
If opening a Prayer Book to pray is to remain 'Anglican coded', it needs to be the case that a Prayer Book is common. Without this, the distinguishing character of Anglican piety disappears, lost under a deluge of disparate alternatives.
On the second point, renewing a lay culture of ownership of the Prayer Book is necessary. Within living memory in the CofI - it was the case at my Confirmation as a teen in the mid-1980s - it was commonplace for each Confirmation candidate to receive a Prayer Book from their parish. I am grateful to be serving in a parish where this practice has been renewed. Here was the custom that, while Prayer Books were available in the pews, those regularly attending divine service would bring their own Prayer Books.
Why was this important? It ensured that the Prayer Book was available at home, providing a means to sustain and nourish prayer and devotion outside of divine service. As Alison Milbank implies, this did not mean that vast numbers of laity were praying Matins and Evensong by themselves. It did, however, mean that the collect, epistle, and gospel of the week could be used for meditation; or the that the collects of Matins or Evensong could be said; or that some of the day's appointed psalms could be read.
A particular aspect of this lively culture is captured by Milbank's use of the phrase "your little prayer-book". Older editions of the Prayer Book - even when combined with a hymnal - were designed to be compact, easy to slip into a pocket or bag, and unobtrusive. Even where aspects of the Prayer Book tradition have been maintained, this particular aspect has, unfortunately, been lost. Thus, for example, the CofI BCP 2004 measures 20cm long and 13cm wide. Contrast this with an old copy of the BCP 1662, combined with Hymns Ancient and Modern, which I picked up in a second-hand bookstore: 14cm long and 9cm wide. The popular BCP International Edition also demonstrates that such designs can still be delivered. While it is slightly thicker than BCP 2004 - 4cm compared to 3cm - it remains more compact: 16cm long, 11cm wide.
Names, places, occasions, times, relationships: when we see these inscribed in the inside page of a Prayer Book it speaks of how this older lay culture of owning a "your little prayer-book" quietly nurtured and sustained prayer in numerous lives, in contrasting circumstances, over a lifetime, over centuries.
To lose this 'Anglican coded' practice is not only to lose a significant means of shaping Anglican identity. It is also to lose an effective, unifying, adaptable expression of Anglican piety. There is little, if anything, that can be suggested as having replaced it, which has important - and visible - consequences for both Anglican identity and piety. Mindful of the various fashionable projects and causes in which Anglican institutions choose to invest time, attention, and resources, little would be lost and much would be gained if these were simply abandoned and that time, attention, and resources given to renewing the once and - we might hope - future lay Prayer Book culture.
I couldn't agree more! The Prayer Book is the chiefest glory of the Reformation because it put all the beauty of the Daily Office into a form easily navigable by the laity. This is something which, not so much in the Church of Ireland, but more in the CofE with its Common Worship, and here in Australia with the APBA, is rapidly being lost! And this kind of piety, I think, will become even more important as the clergy shortage intensifies.
ReplyDeleteGod bless,
Patrick
Patrick, many thanks indeed for your comment. You make an excellent point about the need for this form of piety in the context of a clergy shortage: it is a vibrant lay culture of Prayer Book ownership which could sustain Anglican life in the face of this.
DeleteBrian.
I often think that to have a little prayer book in ones pocket is to possess a portable Tabernacle in the Wilderness. It can be taken out anywhere, requires no elaborate scaffolding of ritual or inepretative preparation, and the acceptable sacrifice of praise, penitence and thanksgiving can be offered to our Creator and Redeemer.
ReplyDeleteAs Mr Homes says above, it is our chiefest glory and our most priceless inheritance.
Want a wonderful description - "a portable Tabernacle in the Wilderness". Yes, you summarise one of the key strengths of the Book of Common Prayer: all that is required, in one straightforward volume.
DeleteAs a young man in his early 20’s after years of often rather unsatisfactory free flowing prayer and often infrequent along with a stand alone lectionary app, I bought a book of common prayer from Eason’s the €10 Oxford one.
DeleteIt really has improved my private devotional prayer life and now I pray the Daily Office daily both morning and evening prayer, except the litany as I do not know how to incorporate it into my busy life. I have made errors such as reciting the apostles creed on Christmas Day.
I did not know it at the time but that my new prayer book had the older form of English but revised to remove false friends, I don’t mind the English in it for private devotional level, but can see why more modern English Anglican prayer books have largely replaced it for public services.
While the Daily Office, Forms of Prayer to be Used at Sea, the Prayers and Thanksgivings Upon Several Occasions and Eucharist rite are really good (despite preferring rite 2 in the Church of Ireland Book of Common Prayer 2004).
Negatives for me are the lack of prayers for leaders who are not the UK Royal Family, the Third Collect for Good Friday, the Thanksgiving of Women after Child-Birth, the Solemnisation of Matrimony, the Order for the Burial of the Dead for funeral services of Anglicans who have taken their own lives are really of their time and the absence of Irish saints is disappointing.
The worrying thing is the declining use of them for private devotional prayer, the replacement of the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer with free form prayer alone, or as our current rector has suggested Scripture Union prayer books. I think the Church of Ireland should release a pocket size Book of Common Prayer 2004, and for those in ministry to encourage the use of them by Irish Anglicans in their daily lives.
I do find it interesting that you lament the lack of pocket sized editions of the Book of Common Prayer 2004, given your criticism of it lacking prayers for times of war and tumult and of common sickness despite http://laudablepractice.blogspot.com/2024/06/deliverance-from-enemy-book-of-common.html#:~:text=The%20Church%20of%20Ireland%20BCP%202004%20%2D%20while%20a%20very%20fine,it%20too%20lacks%20such%20prayers. , http://laudablepractice.blogspot.com/2020/03/common-prayer-after-end-of-history.html#:~:text=Ireland%201926%20offers%20similar%20provision,The%20Myth%20of%20God%20Incarnate. Despite prayers for times of war and tumult, common sickness, for better weather being mandated by the Prayers of Intercession. I do think these prayers as they are in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and 1926 Book of Common Prayer should be included in future revisions of our current Book of Common Prayer in more modern English spelling, like in the International English 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
John, many thanks for your comment. It is heartening to know you have been encouraged by praying the BCP daily office.
DeleteI think I am right (?) in saying that you seem to be using BCP 1662, the authorised CofE liturgy. This explains the absence of Irish saints (Saints Patrick and Columba are found in the CofI BCP 1926).
On the negatives you mention, I might make a few points. The state prayers of any Anglican BCP reflect the constitutional order of the relevant political jurisdiction. This being so, the CofI BCP 1926 and 2004 have state prayers both for Northern Ireland (the Monarch and Royal Family, Parliament) and the Republic of Ireland (the President, Oireachtas). The third collect of Good Friday has, I think wisely, been removed from BCP 2004. I have published a few posts on the matter and various alternatives. I would strongly defend the Thanksgiving after Child-Birth, reflecting the dangers women experience as they give birth. (There is also, of course, a version of this in BCP 2004.) The Solemnisation of Matrimony was revised by the CofI, with BCP 1926 providing a more prudent introductory preface (as in the 1928 proposed revision in England). Finally, yes, the provision of those who died by suicide in 1662 certainly needed revision.
While, yes, I am critical of aspects of BCP 2004, I do think it is more important to revive and renew the lay culture of Prayer Book ownership and use.
Definitely agreed, in future I might look at a 1926 Book of Common Prayer pocket sized in future, not sure how long the little Oxford 1662 Book of Common Prayer books last.
DeleteRegarding the Thanksgiving after Child-Birth service, would be interesting to see what the opinion of Anglicans who are women are.
One thing that has also improved is the Funeral for Children who are Not Baptised.
One thing I like about the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is it’s straightforward lectionary which only has 4 bible readings a day.
Regardless an Irish Book of Common Prayer society is needed.
The problem with 1926 is that it is no longer in print. That will cause a problem in years to come as the 1926 Psalter is still explicitly authorised by BCP 2004.
Delete