Thursday, September 11, 2003

Mistaken Identity - the wrong mother

On BBC TV there is a popular soap opera called "Neighbours". Right now one of the main characters, a wife and mother in her 40s, has discovered that the persons whom she called Mum and Dad for 40 years are not her biological parents, and that her aunt (whom she has tolerated rather than admired) is her real mother and her father is long gone. She is having a very tough time accepting this reality and especially treating her biological mother (who loves her dearly and is nearby) with respect and affection. Though her family try to persuade her of what is right and good, she finds herself not easily accepting of her real mother (even though her adoptive mother is dead).

No story is fully adequate as an illustration of church doctrine and politics. But this story does, however imperfectly, serve as a kind of parable of what has happened to thousands of well-intentioned, committed & conservative Episcopalians, who are like the 40 year old woman in the story.

They were told that the book they used each Sunday for "Holy Eucharist" and on other occasions for Morning Prayer, Baptism and Weddings was "The Book of Common Prayer." Further, because of the Preface from the 1789 BCP contained in this book, it was generally assumed that this Prayer Book was the natural successor of that 1789 Prayer Book [the first truly USA edition of the English 1662 BCP], as also of the two further American editions of 1892 & 1928. Some were aware that The Book of Common Prayer (edition of 1928) was still available from Oxford University Press, but they were taught (as much by clergy attitude as by words) that it belonged to the past and was out of date and of no relevance to them. Copies of it in church cupboards gathered dust or were quietly destroyed.

The present crisis in the ECUSA over biblical authority and church tradition and teaching has caused the winds to blow as it were into conservative parishes from a totally new direction - from the past into the present. Episcopalians, who have been shocked by the Gene Robinson affair, are coming to see that they have been misled and misdirected by the General Convention not only over same-sex partnerships & blessings but also over even more important things - e.g. The Formularies of the Church. In short, they have been lied to as to the identity of their true Mother.

Conservative Episcopalians are beginning to see - but it is very hard for them to accept [and this is especially so of the bishops] - that they have been calling "mother" that which is not truly "mother" while the true "mother" [the real BCP - edition of 1928] has been there all the time treated as a kind of elderly aunt, who is expected to die, and thus visits to her have been forbidden.

It is going to be a painful process for conservative Episcopalians to recognize who is their true doctrinal/liturgical Mother and to embrace her, to restore to its place as the Chief Formulary that Mother [the BCP 1928] and to treat what they have regarded as mother as their aunt. In other words to treat as a book of alternative services and not a formulary at all the 1979 book, which for so long they have believed is their mother.

Extra Note:

For those who are ready to examine the 1928 BCP as the real Formulary but have difficulties over what they have been told is archaic and obsolete language, may I commend to your study, "Neither Archaic nor Obsolete. The Language of Common Prayer & Public Worship" by Tarsitano & Toon. (Call 1-800-PBS-1928 for a copy or go to www.anglicanmarketplace.com ) This will remove many of your prejudices.

For those who desire to read a serious & major critique of the new forms of alternative services from the point of view of the classic Formularies, see "Common Worship Considered" published Sept 2003 in the UK and described on www.edgewaysbooks.com where there are secure ordering facilities for dollar based credit cards.

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)

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