Everyone agrees that the Episcopal Church of the USA has dramatically changed over the last forty years or so. And it has done so to a degree more advanced that the other old-line (main-line) Churches of North America.

The causes of this change from a generally conservative Church to a generally radically liberal Church are several - e.g., the general secularization of western society, the centralization of the Episcopal church as "the National Church" in NYC, the increasing adoption by the seminaries of the Church of a theology deeply affected by Enlightenment and then by post-modernist principles, the acceptance of the divorce culture that gained ground in the 1950s/1960s, the adoption of the agendas of liberationist movements and the commitment to radical liturgical innovation.

However, if we ask what is the SYMBOL that most effectively proclaims this massive change then we have to say, the new forms of worship.

Ever since the adoption of the "new" prayer book at the General Conventions of 1976 & 1979 (since known as the 1979 Book) there has been an unceasing production of ever yet more daring and innovative liturgies. In these the traditional Christian content has become less and less and the modern religious content has become more and more. Many Episcopalians today hesitate or refuse to call the God of Jesus Christ "the Father" and "our Father" as they also refuse to call Jesus "Son" or "Lord." Many also no longer are Trinitarian Christians confessing belief in the One God who is three Persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Instead they are either Unitarians, believing God to be one Person with a large variety of possible names; or they are pantheists/panentheists seeing God as the universal spirit/mind/power, again with a variety of names. Further, many of varying theist views have adopted a wholly new sexual ethic.

We may claim that the 1979 Prayer Book is the symbol of not only the radical change within the Episcopal Church in terms of ethos, worship, doctrine & discipline but also of its great loss of members since the 1960s (active membership being about one half now of what it was in 1965).

Why is this book the symbol? For at least two reasons.

1. Its very name is an error, untruth, lie and dishonesty. It is decidedly NOT "The Book of Common Prayer" but is rather "An American Prayer Book"--- a book of varied services. The last proper and true "Book of Common Prayer" in the USA is that of 1928 and this book is in the true succession from the editions of 1549 through 1662 through 1789 & 1892. In England the equivalent of the 1979 prayer book was called "An Alternative Service Book" (1980,) that is an alternative to the classic "Book of Common Prayer." Thus the very use of this 1979 book is a daily sign of the commitment to error by this Church.

2. Despite the fact that it claims to recover certain early Christian forms and ceremonies, it is the book in which or from which virtually all the major changes in the Episcopal Church are stated or proceed. E.g., this book opened up the possibility of a continuing flow of ever more radical forms of service. It changed the doctrine of the ordained ministry to include women with men. It changed the doctrine of Baptism to include in it, via its baptismal covenant, a commitment to the liberation movements of the 1960s. It introduced inclusive language into the Episcopal Church. It made official the existence of a plurality of doctrines as to what is God and what is salvation. It reduced the doctrine of holy matrimony. And so on. Thus the very use of this book is a daily sign of the rejection by this Church of the inherited worship, doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Way.

And one sad fact is this. That supposed "orthodox" and "conservative" groups actually wholly endorse and support and use this book, happily calling it by its false name, "The Book of Common Prayer." Thus these people and organizations unwittingly (in many cases) support the ECUSA in its erroneous ways and doctrines and extend its living of a lie.

Outside the ECUSA the number of those in continuing forms of Anglicanism slowly grows as people leave the ECUSA in search of authentic worship of the Holy Trinity.

THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY founded in 1971 supports the right of American Christians to be able to purchase and use the classic BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER at home, in church and personally. Its members believe that when the 1979 book is gone and is replaced by an even more radical type of "prayer book" in the next decade, the classic "Book of Common Prayer" will still be in use. Further, many younger people will be discovering it and asking why it was kept from them. Then the two major alternatives for Anglicans or Episcopalians will be - the innovative possibilities of new liturgy downloaded from a Web site and printed locally or the use of one of the editions (e.g. 1662 or 1928 or 1962 Canada) of the classic " Book of Common Prayer".

So the Society joyfully but calmly celebrates this 30th Birthday thankful to the Holy Trinity for the Anglican Way of Christianity and its expression in the classic "Book of Common Prayer." It looks to God the Father through His Son for guidance and for supplying, through His people, its needs to keep up its testimony and witness.

THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY • P O BOX 35220 • PHILADELPHIA PA 19128

The Revd Dr Peter Toon, President
April 26 2001