revision-matters

How the church makes clergy

… and why it should think about changing

I recently found myself attending two ordinations in one week, after not having been to one for quite a while. As a result, the language of the ordination service struck me afresh.

Common Prayer in a Global Church

Episcopalians have long been known as a people of the book — the Book of Common Prayer, that is. This is a wonderful reputation to have. There is something powerful in the idea that “o’er each continent and island …. the voice of prayer is never silent.” To be able to…

When your liturgical texts tell you your parts are abhorrent

At a recent clergy day, the gathered clergy of the Diocese of Milwaukee said Morning Prayer together. In so doing, we said the Te Deum (Rite II) together, and one line jumped out at me: “When you became man to set us free…

Of queens and fathers

Most of us can readily agree that God isn’t actually a man or male in some fundamental or exclusive sense. And I think many people understand the value in moving away from gendered language for God, with its implication that some humans are made *more* in God’s image than others.

Reflections on Liturgy in a Multicultural Context

Wednesday thoughts on A068

Sometime in the next two days, a resolution addressing Prayer Book revision will come before the House of Deputies. This version of the resolution is new to the Deputies; it was adopted by the House of Bishops as a replacement for the text of the resolution that passed the House of…

Two Tweaks

My credentials to talk about revising the Book of Common Prayer are pretty meagre. I currently serve a medium-sized parish as rector, though most of my ministry has been at bedsides in hospital ICUs and Emergency Departments with people who wouldn’t know what a BCP is or, probably, care. I come from…

Telling us the truth about ourselves

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent. The Ash Wednesday liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer (page 267–269) is a powerful and meaningful text for me. I find that it names, clearly and aptly, the ways I tend to fall short of my intentions…