The Prayer Book's plainness and reserve in the week before Easter

Some are put away, because the great excess and multitude of them hath so increased in these latter days, that the burden of them was intolerable; whereof Saint Augustine in his time complained, that they were grown to such a number that the estate of Christian people was in worse case concerning that matter, than were the Jews. And he counselled that such yoke and burden should be taken away, as time would serve quietly to do it. But what would Saint Augustine have said, if he had seen the Ceremonies of late days used among us; whereunto the multitude used in his time was not to be compared? 

Quoting Cranmer's 'On Ceremonies' during Holy Week might be seen as somewhat provocative. Anglican liturgies during this week, after all, now tend towards a multitude of ceremonies. My purpose in this post, however, is not to be provocative, nor to critique those who value the many various ceremonies of Holy Week (palm procession, foot washing and altar stripping, veneration of the Cross, Easter Vigil). For those who value such ceremonies, my prayer is that the rites of this week may aid in bringing a deeper communion with the Lord's Cross and Resurrection.

Whatever, however, of those of us who value a classical Prayer Book Holy Week? In its various iterations, the traditional Prayer Book has, of course, no such ceremonies for this week before Easter. A collect, epistle, and gospel is appointed for each day, from the Sunday next before Easter until Easter Even. This is all. 

To which we might add, what more is needed? 

The four Gospel accounts of the Lord's Passion are proclaimed throughout the days of this week. Much longer than the usual gospel readings provided in the Prayer Book, they both mark the solemnity of this time and set before us what the Litany terms "thine Agony and bloody Sweat ... thy Cross and Passion ... they precious Death and Burial". Here we behold what the Apostle declares to be Christianity's saving proclamation:

By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

The Prayer Book provision for this week before Easter radically, unrelentingly, determinedly centres us on the Gospel accounts of the Lord's saving Passion. By stripping away all rites and ceremonies that have been associated with this week, we are brought before these accounts without distractions, without alternative sights and activities demanding our attention. Our attention must be fixed here. 

Another consequence of the Prayer Book removing the various rites and ceremonies of Holy Week is that there is no sense of the week before Easter being a re-enactment of the stages of the Passion. The Sunday next before Easter is not 'Palm Sunday' - we are not those who greeted the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. There is no foot washing, because we are not those who gathered in the Upper Room. There is no veneration of the Cross, because the replica of the cross set before the congregation is not - despite the refrain - 'the wood of the Cross'. On the morning of Easter Even, the Lord is not in the Tomb. There is no Easter Vigil, because Christ is risen through Easter Even. And so, in the Prayer Book collect of Easter Even, prayed morning and evening on that day, we declare that our Lord "rose again for us" - not something to be anticipated later in the Easter Vigil, but saving reality throughout Easter Even.

The truth and reality of the Lord's saving Death and Resurrection is proclaimed each day of the week before Easter. The Gospel accounts of the Passion were written and are proclaimed only in the bright light of the Resurrection. When the Nicene Creed is confessed, when Gloria in excelsis is said or sung at Holy Communion throughout the week, we rejoice in the Lord's Resurrection. Christ, of whom we spiritually partake in the holy Sacrament, is now at the Father's right hand on high, risen, ascended, glorified. 

We do not journey through Holy Week, from palm procession, to Upper Room, to death on the Cross, to Empty Tomb. The Crucified Lord is the Risen and Ascended One each day of the week before Easter. And each day we are brought before this saving reality in its fulness. 

Why, then, particularly observe the week before Easter? We do so because this saving reality in its fulness is rightly commemorated year by year that we might more deeply, more fully confess it in faith. Year by year, we are brought during these days before the Lord's saving Death and Resurrection in order that we, in heart, mind, and soul, may renewed in the very heart of the Christian confession:

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead ...

The Protestant reserve of the Prayer Book's provision for the week before Easter, therefore, is intended to robustly serve the Christological centre. That those who value the ceremonies of Holy Week also seek to serve the Christological centre is joyfully acknowledged. Such ceremonies, however, are not the only way in which we proclaim Christ Crucified in this week. That Protestant reserve, too often overlooked and dismissed by contemporary liturgies, needs to be rediscovered within Anglicanism. A place should be created for it - indeed, we might say that this place is the traditional Book of Common Prayer - in recognition that amidst a culture bombarded with imagery and actions, the quieter, more contemplative approach to the week before Easter, with a perhaps greater emphasis on stillness and listening, can be attractive.

Very little of Christianity stands upon the outward action (Christ having appointed but two sacraments immediately): and ... a greater restraint is laid upon the passions, desires, and first motions of the Spirit.

So said Jeremy Taylor. It is this which underpins the plainness and reserve of the Prayer Book's provision for the week before Easter. For many, of course, such plainness and reserve holds much less attraction than the Holy Week ceremonies. As I said at the outset, my prayer is that for them the ceremonies of Holy Week will be a fruitful blessing. For others of us, however, Taylor's words point to why that plainness and reserve matters - and why, particularly in this week, we would value a recovery of such plainness and reserve, to aid in stilling us in spirit before that "tender love towards mankind" in Christ Crucified.