I am thinking aloud! I am speaking alone (but yet with I know the support of not a few individual persons who have a great heart for the Anglican Way). And, in the emotionally charged reality of modern Anglicanism, I expect to be misunderstood, for either I shall not explain myself sufficiently clearly, or my reader will pick out a sentence or phrase here or there and treat it as if it were all I have to say. Yet, knowing I walk into a minefield, I press on, because I believe the topic needs to be aired and aired now, for obvious reasons (e.g., the present Anglican crisis where centrifugal forces are much stronger than centripetal ones).
Right now in North America within the Essentials Movement, the Network movement, and the thirty or more streams of Episcopalian and Anglican expression (that may call “the Diaspora” or “the Continuum” or “the Extra-Mural Anglicans” or other names) there is no real unity in Liturgy, doctrine or discipline, but there is a unity in what is opposed (the apostasy of the ECUSA and Anglican Church of Canada), and there is a general agreement as to the final authority of the Scriptures for matters of faith and conduct. Happily there is active dialogue between Canada and the USA at the leadership levels.
To bring all these Anglicans/Episcopalians into a situation where they pull in the same direction, cooperate in basics like evangelization and social service, and find a common goal will require “an act of God” together with the hearty cooperation of all groups involved. For this we must pray heartily and fervently as led by the Holy Ghost.
Happily local efforts are being made to work towards this general goal and, as an example, I cite the work of the Rev John Roddham of Seattle, who acts as a facilitator for the regular meeting of the varied streams in the North West of the USA and in Vancouver. I believe that we need more and more of such local efforts for the moves towards a working unity must rise locally and cannot be forced from above. Of course conferences and meetings of leaders cannot do any harm and may help to create centripetal forces to overcome the centrifugal ones!
Here I want to make one proposal that if worthy needs to be done, as it were, from the top in a cooperative way and offered humbly and in an attractive and meaningful way from there to the local churches in Canada and the USA.
Proposal
To work towards the situation where there is One Rite in use in the North American Anglican Scene and that this One Rite is available in traditional English and contemporary English, as well as in French and Spanish.
Where are we now?
1. Canada. The first Prayer Book of the Anglican Church of Canada is the classic BCP in its edition of 1960/62. Subordinate to this is the 1985 BAS [Book of Alterative Services]. Anglicans outside the Anglican Church of Canada use the BCP of 1960/62 or its older sister, that of 1662.
2. USA. The official Prayer Book of the ECUSA is called “The Book of Common Prayer, 1979” but in shape and content and doctrine it is very much like the Canadian BAS of 1985. The authentic BCP of the American tradition is that of 1928 which was set aside in 1979. So most of the groups outside the ECUSA either use the 1928 BCP or they list it as their Formulary along with the edition of 1662.
So there is real division in worship not because of differences of churchmanship and ritual but because of the texts used. There is no doubt but that the 1979 & 1985 prayerbooks have a different doctrinal emphasis to that of the 1928 & 1960 classic editions of the BCP. Indeed, it may be argued that the major innovations since the 1970s have been made possible (or easier) because of the theological content of the new form of prayer books.
Two points are clear. First, that there is a continuing desire amongst a sizeable minority for the use of the classic editions of the BCP whether 1662, 1928 or 1960/2. Second, there is a continuing desire amongst a majority for the use of contemporary English in texts that are sound.
Therefore, what is needed – if unity is really desired – is for the churches which desire to be orthodox as reformed-Catholics (= Anglicans) to use One Rite for M P., E P., Holy Communion, etc (with of course local ceremonial and ritual emphases). And this One Rite be available in two forms, the received traditional form and the new contemporary English form, and that these two versions of the One Rite be identical in structure, shape. Here the new would be a straight literal & functional equivalency and not a similarity as in some modern liturgical texts produced in England, Ireland and Australia.
Thus in all the churches desirous to be orthodox and truly Anglican the same services would be held and experienced, with some addressing God as “Thou art” and others as “You are”, and with some being high-church and others low-church and some charismatic and others ordered. (Also the same would apply to the French speaking churches of Canada and the Spanish speaking churches in the USA and in missions.)
I think that after all the disorder and innovation since the 1970s, the Anglican Way needs a DECADE at least of order and unity. The proposal is intended to further that goal.
However, to make this goal even a possibility, what is needed right away is a carefully prepared set of texts in contemporary English, which are, as far as is possible, a functional and literal equivalent to those in the Canadian and American editions of the classic BCP. (And where there are differences between the two editions, the new contemporary edition can offer local options.)
This task if worthy is crying out to have been completed already. It is obviously urgent and needs to be ready for the aftermath of the June 2006 G C of the ECUSA. Thus, it would be good for a small working team to be established of Canadians and Americans and to be sponsored by the some of the major players in the present North American desire to recover Anglican wholeness and vitality. I think that to cover travel expenses and printing costs for an initial run of say 5,000 copies (which texts could be “tested” in the churches for a time after June 2006 before a revised edition is produced for use in the next decade) not more than $20.000.00 is required (if the team of liturgists/translators is not paid).
Anyone who wishes to know what the contemporary services could or would look and sound like is encouraged to obtain the recently published, Worshipping the Lord in the Anglican Way: Texts and Prayers from the 1928 BCP in Parallel with functional Equivalents in Contemporary English. It is available on line from anglicanmarketplace.com or by calling 1-800-727-1928. This does not offer texts for worship but rather texts in contemporary English as a door into the appreciation of the classic texts.
I stand ready to do all I can to make this goal into a reality.
May I say in closing that I am not speaking for the Prayer Book Societies of Canada and the USA, even though I am intimately involved with them and their cause (of keeping in print and use with understanding the classic BCP).
I look for the other participants in the renewal and reform movement to support this proposal initially. I am optimistic that they will. Where there is a will there is a way. The LORD will provide if this be his will.
Please join me in meditation and prayer to discern the will of God in this regard.
The Rev’d Dr. Peter Toon petertoon@msn.com Sept 11, 2005
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