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The Summer Liturgy
Beginning Sunday, May 25th, we will be using alternative forms of worship primarily from the book Enriching Our Worship. According to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, “this book is offered by the Standing Liturgical Commission to the Church through the General Convention as an enrichment of our liturgical prayer. This collection is part of an ongoing process of listening to what the Spirit is saying to the Church through the diverse experience of those who gather to worship and to celebrate the sacramental rites which fashion and identify us as the People of God.
Enriching Our Worship is not intended to supplant the Book of Common Prayer, but rather to provide additional resources to assist worshiping communities wishing to expand the language, images and metaphors used in worship. In some cases the canticles and prayers represent the recovery of ancient biblical and patristic images, such as the identification of Christ with Wisdom, and in other cases images which speak of God in other than the familiar masculine terms which have been so much a part of our liturgical prayer. Expanding our vocabulary of prayer and the ways in which we name the Holy One bear witness to the fact that the mystery of God transcends all categories of knowing, including those of masculine and feminine. One of the considerations in choosing or developing the texts included in this collection has been the prayer experience of women, and the desire to honor that experience while remaining faithful to the constituent elements and norms of liturgical prayer as this Church has received and understood them. At all points along the way in the process of selection and development of texts the question has been asked: Is this text consistent with the Trinitarian and Christological formulations which we, as Anglicans, regard as normative and the ground of our common prayer?”
More of the liturgy will be contained in the Sunday bulletin as well. At various points during the summer we will change to different Eucharistic Prayers and acclamations so that we may experience the full richness of the variations offered. Some of these are from the very popular A New Zealand Prayer Book. If you find something just too irritating, remember it will pass; and if you really like something, then, either way, let me know about it. Happy Summer.
Fr. Steve
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