ORDER and the Prayer Book Society.

“Let all things be done decently [with grace and dignity] and in order,” wrote the Apostle (1 Corinthians 14:40)

The Prayer Book Society of the USA is not a gathered church for it has no congregations or parishes and it is not an evangelization society for it does not plant churches.

The Society is an organization that both commends and provides a service for the churches of the Episcopal or Anglican way and polity – and what it has on offer is highly valued by some and scorned by others inside and outside the ECUSA! What it offers may be described as Ordered – that is, it aims to implement specific aspects of God’s revealed order for his creation and his church.

Perhaps it needs to be made clear that “order” is not about obeying the “orders” of a dictator, boss or military commander. Neither does it refer to the bureaucratic notion that there should be a place for everything and everything in its place. Nor it is an ideology. Rather it points to the fact that God has so made his world that there is a first, middle and last; there is a beginning, a means and an end. One thing is first, another second and yet another last and all things and persons are related according to God’s design.

The Society keeps in print and seeks to encourage use with understanding of the historic, classic prayer book of the Anglican Way – The Book of Common Prayer first published in 1549 and known in North America through three editions currently in use, that of 1662, that of 1928 and that of 1962. These editions of the one BCP contain services for each day and week, for Sundays and holy days, for baptism, confirmation, marriage, burial and other occasions. The Lectionary and each service is called “An order” for it has a beginning, a middle and ending with a clear purpose and doctrine (and thus contrasts with much modern liturgy which allows for great variety in structure and content in use). Likewise the Psalter is arranged in an ordered way for the use and edification of the people of God and by the Calendar there is a walk by faith and with Christ day by day, week by week, season by season.

Since it commends the use of the classic BCP, the Society is also committed to the primary doctrines of that Prayer Book, which it believes are the essential doctrines of Scripture expressed in both Patristic and Reformation language. Thus it is wholly committed to the doctrines of the Creeds – to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and of the One Person of our Lord Jesus made known in two natures, divine and human. Here it sees divine order revealed as belonging both to the internal life of the Trinity in the relations of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and in the external action and word of the Trinity as the Father through the Son and by the Holy Ghost creates, reveals, saves, sanctifies, judges and redeems.

Turning to the creation, divine order as it is experienced in salvation and redemption is presented in the teaching of the Catechism, in the services for Holy Baptism and for Confirmation, and in Holy Communion and the Burial Service. There is a beginning in Baptism, a continuation in Confirmation and a further continuation in the reception of Holy Communion, leading on to presence with a redeemed body at the Messianic Feast in heaven in the age to come. The Eucharistic Lectionary for the weekly Holy Communion provides in the its two parts (Advent to Trinity and Trinity to Advent) ordered doctrinal teaching on which the Church is to meditate.

Divine order, stated in the opening chapters of Genesis and confirmed by our Lord Jesus, is also seen in the creation of man as male and female and their relation to one another, where the man is first in order and the women is second. In the marriage service there is a clear presentation of the divine order wherein the male and the female are joined as one flesh for procreation and for mutual help and friendship until death causes them to be parted.

Divine order in the new covenant and within the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church is further seen in the ordered Ministry of the Bishop, Priest and Deacon, as these are assumed in the BCP and ordination services for them are provided in the Ordinal which is bound with the BCP as one book.

By submission to Divine order there is freedom to serve God in peace and joy, and this is communicated by not a few of the Collects in the BCP. By joining with the orders of angels and archangels in worship the Church experiences the first-fruit of the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity that shall be in the age to come.

The popularity of forms of services today that both lack the basic doctrines of order and are also without clear order in their structure reflects an age where discipline, formation of good habits and submission to those above us in the Lord are not highly prized, but rather individualism, subjectivism, relativism, relevancy and spontaneity are often and widely assumed to be the norms to follow.

Let all things be done decently [with grace and dignity] and in order! Let freedom be discovered through submission to the God of all freedom and let spontaneity be known in the disciplined walk in the Spirit with the Lord.

Do Visit www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928 & www.anglicanmarketplace.com

The Revd Dr. Peter Toon Septuagesima 2006