The First American Book of Common Prayer.

What is the major issue for biblically-minded conservatives in the ECUSA? People who deem themselves to be conservative and/or traditional in theology and morality and are involved to some degree in the life of the Episcopal Church, U.S.A., feel that much is wrong with their Church. And they tend to focus upon one or two "presenting issues/problems" in order to point to what the wrong is, and where it is expressed. Such "presenting problems" can be, and perhaps should be, viewed (to change the metaphor) as the tip of the iceberg.

• 1. Beginning in the years after the Second World War, and gaining momentum in the 1970's after the revision of Canon Law, was the issue of marriage and whether the Church ought to be more liberal in its acceptance of second and third marriages for divorcees. For some then and now the relaxation of marriage discipline in the Church, and especially the allowing of divorced & remarried priests to remain as pastors [1/4 of the whole], was the opening of the door wide to the use of situation ethics and to a secular morality including that of active homosexuality.

• 2. After the illegal ordination of women in Philadelphia in 1973 and then the acceptance of this innovation in 1976 by the General Convention , the issue arose as to whether the modern Church has the authority to change the received polity, tradition and practice of the catholic Church through space and time to the present. Today there is still a minority within the ECUSA which focuses primarily on this issue as the key to what is wrong with the Episcopal Church -- as the existence and vitality of the E.S.A. (now F.in F.) witnesses.

• 3. In 1976/1979, after a decade of experimentation and trial use the General Convention authorized a new prayer book for the ECUSA. In doing so it did not call it by the name that similar publications were to be given in other Anglican Churches (e.g. An Alternative Service Book or An Australian/South African Prayer Book) but rather used the traditional name of the classic, historical prayer book of the Anglican family, The Book of Common Prayer, for it (thus not telling the truth). This setting aside of the old Book and the persecution of those committed to its continued use, together with the imposition of the new Book, was a major issue for many in the 1970's and remains a major issue for a minority to this day - as the continued existence and vitality of the Prayer Book Society witnesses.

• 4. After the publication of the 1979 prayer book, the Standing Liturgical Commission continued to publish trial services and rites and, as the years went by, so did their radical nature become more obvious. And this was most apparent in the commitment to what has been called non-excluding, inclusive and embracing language both for humankind and for Deity. Thus the use of such names as "the Father" "the Son" "the Lord" and "the King" have diminished and the use of either neutral or feminine name and images has increased. Further the sinfulness of mankind and the sacrificial Atonement of the Lord Jesus have been negated. For some people this change of language points to a change of doctrine and religion and is therefore a very major issue.

• 5. Increasingly over the last decade of the second millennium, the ordaining of actively homosexual men and women has gained momentum, as also has the public "marriage" in church of same-sex couples. As all this is presented by its advocates in terms of human rights based upon biological and psychological human make-up, it is gaining ground rapidly in the ECUSA. However, for some groups such as Episcopalians United and First Promise, these practices represent a very clear issue which truly reveals the apostasy of the leadership of the Episcopal Church.

Peter Toon, ptoon@ont.com