The Anglican Church in North America has officially released the final texts for The Book of Common Prayer 2019.
These texts can be found on the new Book of Common Prayer (BCP) website here.Commemorative editions marking the 10-year anniversary of the Anglican Church in North America will be released at Provincial Assembly in June, and pew editions will be made available for purchase shortly thereafter.
In 2009, at the formation of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Robert Duncan announced three goals for the province: to plant churches, to develop a Catechism, and to formulate a new version of The Book of Common Prayer. Duncan, who is also the Chair of the Liturgy Task Force, commented, “The prayer book has taken the longest. It had to be done right and it will shape our life for years to come, generations to come. Our mission is to reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus and, indeed, that’s what this prayer book [helps us do].”
In 1549, The Book of Common Prayer was a revolutionary addition to the life of the Church. During the Reformation, as the movement sought to make Scripture more accessible for the lay person, Archbishop Cranmer also sought to make the prayers and liturgy more accessible. He did so by creating The Book of Common Prayer – a compilation of prayers and liturgy based on Scripture in the language of the English people. During the Reformation, the prayer book went through various revisions, but The Book of Common Prayer 1662 has become the standard. The result has been described as “the Scriptures arranged for worship.”
“It has been, from the beginning, a basic and reliable way for Christians to pray,” Duncan said. The Book of Common Prayer 2019 seeks to continue this same function but set in the context of today’s Church. “What the 2019 does is take what was good from the modern liturgical renewal and also what was lost from the tradition,” Duncan says.
Like the Catechism, pieces of The Book of Common Prayer 2019 have already been translated and more translations are coming. Duncan admits he has already had calls from other provinces looking to the Liturgy Task Force for direction in developing their own revised prayer book.
As for the impact on the Anglican Church in North America, he believes the BCP 2019 will help to shape generations. After cultural revolution swept England in the 16th and 17th centuries, “the 1662 book was settling and stabilizing.” Duncan continued, “That very well may be the role that this prayer book has, and we have a hunch it’s going to be very useful and appropriate for the 21st century.”
In addition to facilitating corporate worship and encouraging the prayer life of individuals, The Book of Common Prayer also provides parents with the tools to help revitalize the spiritual life of the home. The Family Prayer liturgies “give families very simple ways of beginning to shape their children in a way of daily praying, of engaging Scripture, and of beginning to grow as Anglicans.”
All of these resources are available for download on the BCP website. The Liturgy Task Force wants “to make the texts – in Word and PDFs – very accessible. We want to do everything we can to help these texts go deep into the life of the Church.”
To download the final texts of The Book of Common Prayer 2019, click here.
To view the prototype and estimated price of the hardcopy BCP, click here.
I think it’s a shame that the importance of the ancient one year eucharistic lectionary seems to be missing in this otherwise pretty good BCP revision (from what I can tell anyway). It’s more than a shame perhaps. Did none of the architects of this BCP wonder why the reformers felt it important enough to retain the ancient one year lectionary, in the midst of all the reforms they enacted and for which they suffered and died? As far as I’m concerned the ancient one year lectionary, a theological rather than chronological lectionary, is of profound importance…
LfxN, regarding the architects of this BCP, I suppose I’m one of “those people” about whom we often speak. However, in this case, the feedback from the province had far more to do with the content of the 2019 BCP than did any member of the Liturgy Task Force. The good news for your concern is that the College of Bishops explicitly chose to go the gracious route in allowing older prayerbooks. I understand your point, but the reality is that many in the province are simply going to use a more modern 3-year lectionary, so we spent our time trying to give a non-redacted and faithful rendering of that rather than recreating what already existed. Whether we did that successfully is another discussion and not to the point. If you prefer the one year lectionary, that is absolutely available through the 1662 or any the wonderful books that preceded this one (assuming your bishop does not specifically direct something different).
Thank you Marcus (we met at the ACNA gathering at Wheaton – I’m an old colleague of David Thurlow)
Anyway, I suspect my opinion on lectionaries doesn’t resonate with many (if not most) ACNA priests, but I’ll make just a few more closing comments on this. As far as liturgical revision goes, the ACNA process has been excellent compared to virtually every other church over the last 100 years. I know the ACNA 3 year lectionary is far better than the various toxic liberal protestant versions in use, and I’d use it trusting the theological instincts and convictions of the architects. I am hoping my diocesan will make it clear that we are all to use this new book (to the exclusion of Common Worship, Kenya, Sydney etc) as a lack of common order is one of the things which sows or entrenches theological incoherence.
However, I honestly think that the 1 year lectionary was deemed as integral to the reformed Catholic character of the Anglican way from the outset, until liberal rot became formalised in various liturgies and lectionaries in the 60s. It is a vital link to the ancient and medieval church, and so I would have appreciated something explicitly said about it. For example, the fact that I’m preaching on the same readings as did Aquinas, Luther, George Herbert etc Sunday after Sunday deepens our collective coherence with the church Catholic (linking word and sacrament). It keeps my preaching grounded. I accept its logic is not easy to grasp, during Trinity season especially. On the other hand, 3 year preaching cycles don’t hammer home the basics year after year either, as we struggle to remember what was preached last week, not to mention 2 years ago. Repetition is a key part of effective catechesis.
In any case, I’m glad that the use of the classical prayer books assumes (with Episcopal approval) the use of the eucharistic lectionary contained therein. To be honest, as a member of ACNA, I think we ought to be more cautious and muted in claiming to be a movement for the ‘recovery’ of classical Anglicanism so long as we don’t recognise the importance of the classical one year lectionary of the western Church (amongst a couple of other things I won’t get into here). I’m not saying that liturgical revision isn’t necessary when it comes to questions of contextualisation (the BCP’s very existence assumes the possibility and necessity of this) but the lectionary was not open to revision for the first reformers, and I wonder if we’ve gone a bit astray pushing it aside now.
Will there be a BCP/Hymnal combo available at some future time? Very handy for choir people like myself.
Hey Blu. There isn’t a ton of clarity on the hymnal side of things right now, except that electronic media will probably play a big role for many. We’re recommending folks check out the excellent hymnal from the REC, Book of Common Praise. That said, therefore, I don’t think that’ll be forthcoming in the very near future. 2020 will bring a host of ancillary stuff, like Altar Books, a Traditional Language version of the BCP, etc., so I might just not be in the know.
Thanks, Marcus! Just wondering…. there are plenty of us who like and use a BCP/hymnal combo. Perhaps a limited run for the musicians/choristers among us?
I think you perhaps mean the 1982 Hymnal? I’m way out of my depth here, but I would guess that would lend to a whole host of copyright issues. Maybe someone more versed can tell you, but I think the Church Pension Group holds copyright for at least all of the service music. Getting them to let you bind it with the ACNA BCP would be… interesting.
Let me second the recommendation for the new REC hymnal. It’s a really good one.
Great to see that ACNA views common worship following the principles of the BCP as important.