We are pleased to announce that the latest edition of the Society’s Journal
is now available in print and online
THE ANGLICAN WAY
Vol 40, No. 2
Summer 2017
AW-vol40no2_Web
Contents:
“Prevent Us O Lord”,
Dwelling, Walking And Serving
In The Book Of Common Prayer,
by
Rowan Williams,
Master oF Magdalene College, Cambridge,
Former Archbishop of Canterbury
(Article segment appended herewith)
‘From the Editor’s Desk’,
Roberta Bayer
‘The Articles of Religion’, Part I,
Gavin Dunbar
The President of the Prayer Book Society:
‘The PBS 2017 Conference’,
Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff, Conference Organiser
and PBS Advisor
Book Review: The Benedict Option:
A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation
By Rod Dreher, Sentinel Press, New York, NY, 2017
‘For Every Syllable a Note:
Cranmer And Musical Upheaval
In The English Reformation’,
by Scott Dettra,, Director of Music,
Church of the Incarnation, Dallas,
‘Plainsong Psalms for the Parish:
Making A Case For Congregational Psalmody’,
Alexander Pryor,
Director of Chapel Music and Instructor in Church Music, Nashotah House Seminary.
‘The Liturgy of the Episcopal Church’
A Sermon From 1860,
preached at St John’s Savannah
by The Revd. George Henry Clark,
transcribed and introduced by Richard Mammana
“For Our Country’,
by William Murchison,
Board Member of the Prayer Book Society
——————-
From the Lecture by Rowan Williams:
The Book of Common Prayer is not a book for social programmes or mission initiatives, it’s not a manifesto and it’s not a rule book. And it’s quite important, in a slightly feverish and hyperactive world of liturgical revision, to be reminded that worship is not, of its essence, a matter of programmes or manifestoes. When we look at some of the prefatory material of the Book of Common Prayer, we find in the little essay ‘Of Ceremonies’ this very simple definition of what’s going on in public worship: ‘to declare and set forth Christ’s benefits unto us’. And in what I say this morning I’m going to be taking for granted two aspects of liturgy as understood in the Book of Common Prayer—that liturgy is, first of all, giving God his due; and secondly, confirming for us where we stand. And anything we might want to say about the consequences of worship in our Christian discipleship in general will arise out of these two things…..
…… a manifestation of where you dwell in Christ is a lifetime’s work, and therefore not something to be explained in any one event of worship, however charged, however rich. And it is in that continual affirmation of where we dwell, that the true educative and heart enlarging role of liturgy finally comes in. How we discover that—in the midst of a religious and indeed a secular culture often so preoccupied with making things plain, and being sure we’ve got the message
across—I don’t entirely know. But I’m very glad that we have as part of our liturgical repertory in the Church of England a book which treats so much of that anxiety with disdain, and which draws us back inexorably to those two fundamentals—of honouring God as God should be honoured, and articulating where indeed we are in relation to God. And which also takes us back, inexorably, gently and firmly, to the Johannine vision of a redeemed and restored humanity, indwelt by Christ and dwelling with him in the heavenly places; and because of that, doing ‘all such good works as [he] has prepared for us to walk in!
For the full text please go to our website at
https://anglicanway.org/print-edition/