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The Prayer Book (2019) is Online

Have you heard the news?  BCP 2019 in its final form, page numbers and all, was put online and officially announced during Holy Week.  I would have mentioned it here that day, but Notre Dame Cathedral’s roof was burning, and amidst all the other goings-on both in world events and in liturgical matters, there just wasn’t a good opportunity to say here “oh by the way, habemus librem!”  (Pardon the Papist joke.)

Anyway… the official website is here: http://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/

The Home tab doesn’t have much to say; just a couple quotes and a button to the text/download page.

The Text tab is where you can download the whole book as a pdf, or any of its twelve parts as either a pdf or a Word document.

The Purchase tab doesn’t contain any links for ordering books yet; that won’t be available until June.  But it does show the two options that are in the works – a standard pew edition and a leather covered edition with four ribbons.

The History tab provides a brief outline of Anglican history, particularly noting the Prayer Book tradition leading to where we are today.

The Resources tab, finally, has a couple articles and a video about the new version of the liturgies of the church, as well as buttons to other pages that provide bulletin leaflets for the Communion service throughout the three-year cycle, and another button to “miscellaneous” resources.  These include a bunch of bits and pieces that the old Texts for Common Prayer page housed, such as translations into other languages, supplementary liturgical resources, study notes and reports from the liturgical task force, and some other reference articles that explain some of the features of the liturgies that might raise questions in some quarters.

If you find yourself critical of something in the 2019 BCP, or even just unsure and curious, be sure to peruse that Resources page in case your issue is already addressed there!

Posted on by Fr. Brench

Happy Saint Mark’s Day!

If you’ve got a “Churchman’s Ordo Calendar” or other such liturgical resource hanging on your wall, you may see today is Saint Mark’s Day [transferred].  This may be puzzling to some people – why is it transferred, and what does that mean?

A certain calibre of holy day can be transferred in the event that it conflicts with another, higher ranking, holy day.  When you think of a “day” in liturgical time, imagine there is only room for one Communion service.  In the event that you get double-booked, a judgment call has to be made: which holy day will you celebrate, and will the other one just get skipped for the year, or get transferred to the next available day?

In the Prayer Book tradition, taking its cue from Western Catholic practice in general, we have Major Feast Days (“red-letter days” as provided in the Prayer Book) and we have commemorations (“black-letter days” listed in the Prayer Book calendar).  Commemorations are of a low rank; they get skipped if they coincide with a Sunday or other holy day.  The Major Feast Days, however, are generally required in the Prayer Book tradition, and therefore they will either replace the Sunday they land on (depending upon the season) or they will get bumped back to the next available date.

Saint Mark’s Day is supposed to be April 25th.  But this year, April 25th fell within Easter Week, wherein the Prayer Book tradition does not allow any non-Easter intrusions.  A few days ago I mistakenly stated that the old Prayer Books allowed holy days like this to be celebrated later in Easter Week, but closer inspection of the old calendar rules revealed that, even though Easter Week only provides two sets of Collects and Lessons, the whole week is still off-limits for other major feast days.  So whether you’re using an old or new prayer book, Saint Mark’s Day is still transferred to today.

If you take a look at both the major feast days and the commemorations throughout the year, you’ll notice that there’s a convenient gap through much of March and April where they get pretty sparse.  The average month has three major feast days in it, but March has just two, and April only one!  This is because of the overriding presence of Holy Week and Easter Week – every year, somewhere in this time of year, those two weeks in a row will blot out all the commemorations in its path, and cause any of those major feast days to be transferred.  So, the fewer saints days we schedule in these months, the less we have to deal with this situation.  Pretty smart, huh? 😉

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Book Review: Saints on Earth

Welcome to Saturday Book Review time!  On most of the Saturdays this year we’re looking at a liturgy-related book noting (as applicable) its accessibility, devotional usefulness, and reference value.  Or, how easy it is to read, the prayer life it engenders, and how much it can teach you.

We’ve gone through the official Common Worship volumes (at least, the ones I own… hopefully there aren’t more out there!) so now we come a companion volume: Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship.  The book’s tag-line, so to speak, is an excerpt from an excellent hymn by Charles Wesley:

Let saints on earth in concert sing
with those whose work is done
For all the servants of our King
In heaven and earth are one.

common worship

This book, quite simply, is a collection of one-page biographies of various saints and famous men and women of Christian memory.  It omits the Major Feast (“red-letter”) Day saints on the grounds that their stories are much larger, better-known, and already provided for in plenty of other resources.  The aim of this book is to work through the calendar of minor commemorations to help people get to know these lesser feast days.  In the USA, the older volumes under the name Lesser Feasts and Fasts also contained brief biographies of the commemorations in the Episcopalian calendar, and I’ve seen those resources used by preachers, sometimes referencing them, sometimes reading from the book outright.  Saints on Earth is the same: the biographical material is written to highlight the purpose of their memory in the Church.  One could say this is a book of hagiography, minus the traditional embellishments and legendary assertions.

Of course, as this is a companion to Common Worship, it uses the commemorations list according to the Church of England; every province has a slightly different calendar.  But the overlap is large, of course, so this book can be useful for any Christian wanting to get a closer look at our predecessors.

The only caution I would voice regarding this book is the choice of who gets commemorated, and how one uses the word “Saint.”  As a traditionalist, and with a generally high-church perspective, I am very hesitant to use the word “Saint” with a capital S unless the person in question has been well-vetted by the church regarding his or her holiness of life and purity of doctrine.  The Church of England and the Episcopal Church (USA) have a history of throwing together these lists of saints including people who died only a couple decades ago, or including people outside of the Anglican Communion who taught and believed doctrines we would consider erroneous, sometimes even heretical.  That is why in my ministry and writings I try to be careful to negotiate the difference between a saints day and a commemoration.  There are a few people commemorated in this book whom I would never consider calling a Saint in the traditional sense.  So you need to be discerning with this book, and other ones like it; George Fox (for example) may have been a devout Christian, but is the founding of a new denomination (especially one with as spurious a history as the Quakers) something we really should be celebrating?

The ratings in short:

Accessibility: 5/5
The book is set out in calendar order, making it easiest to use alongside a liturgical text.  But like all the Common Worship books it has a comprehensive index, so you can find the blurb for the person you’re looking for if you don’t know their commemoration date.

Devotional Usefulness: 3/5
This is almost a “Not Applicable” category, as this book is not a liturgical text.  It can, however, supplement the celebration of minor saints days and commemorations, and in that regard it does a decent job of introducing its subjects.  The biographies are told pretty straight, however, so if one wishes to use this in a homily, this only covers the introduction; no homiletic material or scripture references are provided here.

Reference Value: 4/5
Unless you’ve got Lesser Feasts and Fasts on hand, this is one of the best books you could have for the purpose of aiding your preaching or study of the Church’s commemorations.  There are lots of biographies out there, but to have the majority of our liturgical calendar in one volume is super handy.

Of course, there are also internet resources that also fulfill this function.  The Society of Archbishop Justus has one of the most comprehensive sites along these lines.

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The Logic of Eastertide (Modern)

A couple days ago we looked at the traditional calendar’s treatment of this season; now let’s look at how it has developed through the liturgical reforms of the 20th century into the lectionary of the 2019 BCP that we have today.

The same general contour still exists: the initial emphasis is on the resurrection and Christ’s post-resurrection appearances, then comes “Good Shepherd Sunday”, and the remaining Sundays deal with teachings about the Holy Spirit, transitioning toward Ascension and Pentecost.  The modern calendar, however, has one extra Sunday of post-resurrection appearance and one less Sunday of Holy Spirit teaching… so in a way modern Eastertide is more “eastery” if you like.

And, to repeat the warning from last time, the modern naming system is “The #th Sunday of Easter” starting with Easter Day, and the traditional system is “The #th Sunday after Easter”, starting with the modern Easter II.  So, here goes…

Easter Vigil & Day

There are now four sets of readings available for the course of Easter Day.  The Easter Vigil has up to twelve Old Testament readings, followed by the baptismal discourse in Romans 6 and Matthew 28:1-10.  The Easter Sunrise service is essentially the same, though allows only a choice of one of the vigil’s OT readings.  The Principle Eucharist has the shortened traditional Epistle (Colossians 3:1-4) with a reading from Acts 10 as an alternative, and the resurrection Gospel is from Matthew, Mark, or Luke, depending upon the year.  Because Matthew’s resurrection narrative is used at the Vigil and Sunrise service, John’s narrative is also permitted in Year A so Matthew’s gospel doesn’t have to get re-used so many times.  There is then an Easter Evening option featuring the Road to Emmaus story from Luke 24 (which is also covered during Easter Week).

The 2nd Sunday of Easter

As in the traditional calendar, the Sunday after Easter Day deals with the disciples gathered, being visited by Jesus, and receiving the Holy Spirit.  It is lengthened, however, to include the following week’s meal when Thomas is present, satisfies his unbelief, and makes his confession of faith.  The Epistle readings now diverge for the rest of the season: outlining 1 Peter in Year A, 1 John in Year B, and Revelation in Year C.  And, although the Old Testament lessons continue their usual function of matching with the Gospel lesson, there is also an alternative track for reading from the book of Acts.  Both of these patterns conclude with the Sunday after the Ascension.

The 3rd Sunday of Easter

Here a further post-resurrection appearance is dealt with: Luke 24’s road to Emmaus (in Year A), Luke 24’s gathering of the eleven (presumably minus Thomas) (Year B), or John 21’s miraculous catch of fish (Year C).

The 4th Sunday of Easter

A week late, compared to the traditional pattern, this is the modern calendar’s Good Shepherd Sunday.  The traditional Gospel was from John 10, and so all three years of the modern calendar include different excerpts from the same chapter, catching different parts of Jesus’ Good Shepherd Discourse.  The traditional Epistle (from 1 Peter 2) is retained in Year A, when that book is the recurring epistle for the season, but in Years B & C the progressive readings from 1 John and Revelation manage to chime in the Good Shepherd theme just a little.

The 5th & 6th Sundays of Easter

Traditionally the last three Sundays picked up non-sequential excerpts from John 16.  Now that there’s a three-year cycle of lessons, even more excerpts from the Upper Room Discourse can be covered.  The 5th Sunday now has John 14:1-14 (Year A) or 14:15-21 (Year B) or 13:31-35 (Year C); the 6th Sunday now has 15:1-11 (Year A) or 15:9-17 (Year B) or 14:21-29 (Year C).

In both the old and new traditions, this progression of Gospel readings continues into the next mini-season, Ascensiontide.

So, although the general content of the modern Easter season is similar to the traditional history behind it, the arrangement is rather different.  The modern lectionary favors sequential (or at least in-order) Bible reading and has largely abandoned the topical approach to dealing with Eastertide.  One of the major indicators that the underlying logic and purpose has shifted, despite keeping many of the readings within the season, is the fact that the Collects of the Day are mostly changed from the old books to the new.

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St. Mark’s Day or not?

It’s April 25th, and that means it’s Saint Mark’s Day!
Or rather, normally it would mean that.  The question is if there’s another feast day that takes precedence.  And the answer to that comes down to the question of which calendar you’re using.  This week is Easter Week, which means something different if you’re using a modern Prayer Book (like the 1979 or the 2019) or a traditional Prayer Book (like the American 1928, English 1662, etc.).

The traditional Easter Week only appointed two special feast days – Monday and Tuesday – and thus Saint Mark’s Day will be celebrated today, Wednesday, on schedule.  But the modern calendar has special collects and lessons for the whole week, which take precedence over the major feast days, meaning that the observance of Saint Mark’s Day gets bumped back to the next available day: Monday April 29th.

If you find this rather complicated, don’t worry – liturgical calendars do take some getting used to, and there are “ranks” to our various holy days that determine which one takes precedence over the other in the event that they land on the same day. For the most part the Anglican Prayer Book tradition keeps it pretty simple; Western Catholic tradition before the Reformation was much more elaborate, and even though the Roman Catholics have reformed, streamlined, and simplified their liturgical calendar in the past few decades they’ve still got a notably more complicated system than we have.

If you’re interested in a “hierarchy of precedent”, according to the Prayer Book tradition, here it is:

  1. The Sundays of Advent, Christmas Day, the Holy Name (Circumcision) of Jesus, the Epiphany,  the 1st Sunday after Epiphany, the Last Sunday before Lent, the Sundays of Lent and Eastertide, the days of Holy Week and Easter Week, Ascension Day, the Sunday after the Ascension, Pentecost Sunday, Trinity Sunday, All Saints’ Day, the Ember Days, and the Rogation Days
  2. The Major Feast (“Red-Letter”) Days of the Prayer Book
  3. 1st & 2nd Sundays after Christmas, Sundays in Epiphanytide, and Sundays after Trinity Sunday
  4. National Days
  5. Commemorations and Other Occasions

Within item 1 and item 5 long-standing tradition sets out further layers of precedent for feast days.  But nothing in item 1 will ever land on the same date as one another, so there’s no functional reason to break up that list into further items, and item 5’s break-down can be explored another time.

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The Logic of Eastertide (Traditional)

When looking at the Easter season in the old and new calendars, the most annoying challenge right off the bat is the fact the numbering system changed.  The modern system is “The #th Sunday in Easter” starting with Easter Day, and the traditional system is “The #th Sunday after Easter”, starting with the modern Easter II.  So if you just use numerical shorthands, the old and new calendars will be off by one.  I suppose the modern system was making a point of identifying Eastertide as a single unit, rather than a succession of days following the high point of Easter day itself.

Anyway, the traditional calendar with its one-year lectionary had a certain flow to it which is relatively well imitated in the modern calendar.  We’ll get to the modern one in a couple days; today we’re just looking at traditional Eastertide.

Easter Day

The resurrection of Jesus is clearly set forth, complete with multiple witnesses in the Gospel reading (John 20:1-10), today’s celebration aptly applies the resurrection to all God’s people. The Epistle (Colossians 3:1-11) chimes in with the reminder that we have died with Christ and been raised with Christ, by virtue of our union with him in Baptism. The Epistle then goes on to direct us toward heavenly Christ-like lifestyles and attitudes, which is also the prayer of the Collect.

The Octave Day – The First Sunday after Easter Day

The focus remains very close to Easter Day itself: examining the benefits of the resurrection of Christ for us. And they are many: the Collect notes the dual doctrines of justification and sanctification that flow from his death and resurrection, the Gospel (John 20:19-23) speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Epistle (1 John 5:4-12) points us knowing this testimony from God.

The Second Sunday after Easter Day

Today the Easter focus on the resurrection is expanded to include how Jesus was also an example for us to follow. Specifically, we follow him as sheep follow their shepherd. The Collect and lessons each speak of God as our shepherd, gathering us, keeping us safe, and holding us close to him. Thus today is commonly nicknamed “Good Shepherd Sunday.” But it is the Epistle (1 Peter 2:19-25)) and the Collect that turns these beautiful descriptions into instructions: we are to follow and imitate Jesus, even if it means suffering for doing nothing wrong. Knowing of his resurrection gives us hope for ours, too.

The Third Sunday after Easter Day

This Sunday we are reminded of a consistent biblical pattern: suffering and pain is temporary, while joy is eternal. In the Gospel (John 16:16-22), Jesus pointed this out to his disciples concerning his approaching death and resurrection.  The Collect and Epistle (1 Peter 2:11-17), then, take this theme and apply it very practically: because we know that the pain and suffering of life this world is temporary and the joy of God’s kingdom is eternal, we ought to live in such a way that is consistent with that eternal life.

The Fourth Sunday after Easter Day

This Sunday, we are reminded that the resurrection life in Christ is one that is patterned after and ordered by God. The Epistle reading (James 1:17-21) describes this by asserting that we must listen to the word of God, because it saves us and renews us. Additionally, it mentions gifts from above, and the Gospel reading (John 16:5-15) gives an example of this: the Holy Spirit who leads us into all God’s truth. The Collect, finally, takes these themes of listening, and gifts, and disciplines them into one beautiful and coherent prayer.

The Fifth Sunday after Easter Day (Rogation Sunday)

For the past couple weeks, hints of a change of focus have arisen as the Gospel readings have focused more and more on the departing of Jesus and the arrival of the Holy Spirit.  Now, with the Ascension Day approaching, this focus begins to take center stage as all today’s propers deal with the idea of gifts and provision from God.  The Gospel (John 16:23-33) speaks of the coming gift of the Holy Spirit.  What the Epistle reading (James 1:22-27) does, and subsequently the Collect, is turn towards us and remind us of the responsibility that comes with such wonderful gifts: thinking and living according to the will and life of the Spirit given to us.

When you look at the course of the season, there are three major contours that can be traced.

  1. The Epistles move from the exalted “theological” writings of 1 John to the more balanced writings of 1 Peter to the bluntly practical writings of James.  This is something like descending a staircase from the lofty heights of Easter toward the more tangible earthly mission that will be given in Ascensiontide and Pentecost.
  2. The Gospel lessons are all from John.  In general, his gospel book tends to be treated as the “festal” book, containing the exalted texts for the high points of the Christian year such as this.
  3. Overall, these Sundays move from dealing with the resurrection of Jesus into his Upper Room Discourse where he speaks extensively of the Holy Spirit.  The Easter resurrection focus this transitions toward the topics of Pentecost.

One oddity resulting from these seasonal progressions is the fact that there are several readings from week to week that take you out of sequence, even backwards, through single passages.  This happens with 1 Peter 2 for two Sundays, and with John 16 in the last three Sundays.  Again it should be pointed out that in the classical prayer book tradition, continuous readings through Scripture was the function of the daily office lectionary; the Sunday Communion lectionary dealt with Gospel topics on a seasonal basis.

Anyway, that is the traditional set of Sundays in the Easter season.  If you’re more familiar with the revised common lectionary you will probably still recognize some of this shape.  But we’ll get into that, and the comparison between them, later this week.

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The Easter Anthems – Pascha Nostrum

The Pascha Nostrum is a beautiful set of anthems that Anglican tradition uses at Easter.  It is built upon three scriptural references: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, Romans 6:9-11, and 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, each bookended with an Alleluia for good measure.

It has always been in Anglican Prayer Books, but its location has changed in modern practice.  Traditionally, it was placed among the Propers (the Collects and Lessons), for Easter Day; in modern books it is placed in the Morning Prayer liturgy.  It’s interesting to note how the rubrics for this canticle have changed over the years.

1662 BCP:

At Morning Prayer, instead of the Psalm: O Come, let us, &c. these Anthems shall be sung or said.

1928 BCP:

At Morning Prayer, instead of the Venite, the following shall be said, and may be said throughout the Octave.

2019 BCP:

During the first week of Easter, the Pascha Nostrum, without antiphons, is used in place of the Invitatory Psalm, and it may be used throughout Eastertide.

What stays the same? its function.  This Canticle is always used in place of the Venite in Morning Prayer.  What has changed? its duration of use.  The implication back in 1662 is that this canticle (or set of anthems) only gets used on Easter Day.  By 1928 in the US, it was authorized throughout the octave – that is, the first eight days of Eastertide.  Now, it is appointed (not merely authorized) throughout Easter Week and authorized for the rest of Eastertide.  With this increased anticipated use, it’s no wonder that modern prayer books have opted for printing this canticle directly in the Morning Prayer liturgy, so it’s more accessible!

There is also a custom in some places of using the Pascha Nostrum in place of the Gloria in excelsis Deo near the beginning of the Communion service, under the modern rubrics that allow other hymns of praise to take its place.  Especially in church cultures where nobody is really praying the Daily Office, this can be a great way of introducing elements of the Office liturgies to the congregation.  Such points of contact and familiarity will prove helpful when trying to make that move toward teaching people to pray the Office.

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Easter Week, Old & New

It’s a little unfair to run a comparison between Easter Week in the traditional Prayer Books and the modern ones; the major difference is that before the great revision of the 1970’s Easter Week only contained two special weekdays – Monday and Tuesday – while the new books have special a Communion service for each day through Saturday.

I can’t help but wonder how many Anglican (or Episcopalian) churches actually take advantage of all six weekdays between the first two Sundays of Eastertide.  After all, the prevailing opinion after the rigors of Holy Week and Easter Day seems to be along these lines:

Facebook-Proposed-addition-to-the-Book-of-c071c1[1]
this makes the rounds on the internet every year; this copy is from https://me.me/i/mondays-facebook-proposed-addition-to-the-book-of-146408
Whateverso, whether it’s two days or six, we have a Prayer-Book-authorized tradition of continued celebration after Easter Day.

The traditional Easter Monday’s Collect is as follows:

O God, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciplines in the breaking of bread; Open, we pray thee, the eyes of our faith, that we may behold thee in all thy works; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

It was paired with a reading from Acts 10:34-43 and Luke 24:13-35.  In the modern calendar the same Collect and Gospel show up on Easter Thursday, which I assume is due to its eucharistic theme – providing an echo of Maundy Thursday a week later.  Instead of Acts 10, however, Acts 3:11-26 is paired with with the Gospel & Collect, replacing Saint Peter’s teaching to Cornelius with his sermon about the fulfillment of the prophets in Jesus Christ, which still matches up with Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel reading – perhaps even more succinctly.

The traditional Easter Tuesday has the same Collect as the modern Easter Monday – that we who celebrate the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys.  The readings are completely different, however.  The traditional appointment is Acts 13:26-41 and Luke 24:36-48 (Paul’s preaching and Jesus’ second appearance, to all the eleven on Easter evening).

The logic of the traditional calendar is an interesting mix of continual build-up and topical array.  The Gospel readings are both from Luke 24, following the course of the afternoon and evening of the first Easter Day.  The readings from Acts chime in with apostolic preaching that spells out the singularity of salvation in Christ.

The modern Easter Week, however, looks like this:

Monday: Acts  2:14,22-32 (Peter’s first sermon of OT background for Christ)
Matthew 28:9-15 (Jesus sends the women to the disciples, soldiers are given hush money)

Tuesday: Acts 2:14,36-41 (Peter’s first sermon, calling for repentance and baptism)
John 20:11-18 (Jesus speaks with Mary Magdalene in the garden)

Wednesday: Acts 3:1-10 (Peter & John heal a lame beggar)
Luke 24:13-35 (Jesus with two disciplines on the road to Emmaus)

Thursday: Acts 3:11-26 (Peter’s second sermon, identifying Jesus as the greatest prophet)
Luke 24:36-49 (Jesus with the disciples on that first evening)

Friday: 1 Peter 1:3-9 (Peter’s greeting of joy in Christ despite trials)
John 21:1-14 (Jesus visits seven disciples going fishing)

Saturday: Acts 4:1-22 (Peter and John defend their faith in Jesus before a Jewish council)
Mark 16:9-20 (St. Mark’s quick summary of post-resurrection events)

The emphasis, for both readings, is on continuity of story.  The Gospel readings follow closely (though not quite exhaustively) the narrative of the rest of Jesus’ resurrection day, and then moves on through most of his post-resurrection appearances.  A couple major omissions can be identified, such as the story of Thomas’ denial, but those are generally covered on the following two Sundays (as well as a bit of overlap with the Gospels read in this week).  The first lesson focuses on the beginning of Acts, especially the earliest examples of apostolic preaching.  There is a tradition that the modern lectionary takes very seriously of reading the book of Acts through the Easter season.  I cannot account for the reason behind this, exactly (why not start this at Pentecost, for example?) but it is a prominent feature of the Eastertide lectionary entries.

A cynic might accuse the modern Easter Week of destroying the Prayer Book tradition’s take on Easter Monday and Tuesday.  A more charitable take on the modern form, however, would be that the traditional approach of tracing the post-resurrection stories of Jesus and the apostolic preaching in Acts has simply been expanded from two days to six.  The topic coherence is lessened (especially the old Eucharistic focus on Easter Monday), but the scriptural coverage is widened.

And, of course, a real question to ask before even trying to get into a debate between old and new here is who’s actually going to church during Easter week?  Does all our planning go into Holy Week such that Easter week days are neglected?  Are we so burned out by the end of the Easter Vigil that we don’t have any energy left to keep up the celebration of the resurrection for another two or six days?  Interesting things to think about.

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Before the Vigil

These days, Easter Vigils are super cool and popular.  A lot of churches that hold them end up drawing visitors from other Christian denominations who don’t practice this piece of liturgical tradition.  And hey, who can blame anyone, nowhere else can one find such a broad sweep of Scripture readings proclaiming so much of the Gospel history in the Bible in just one worship service.  Add in the fire and the candles and the dark-and-light drama and the baptisms and the sudden burst of joyful Alleluias, and you’ve got a memorable liturgical experience almost without trying.

I think it’s safe to say that the great majority of Anglicans in this country are happy to have the Easter Vigil authorized and (to some extent) directed in modern Prayer Books.

HOWEVER, this wonderful recuperation of pre-reformation tradition has come with a price: Holy Saturday.  Known as “Easter Even” in the classical prayer books, this was – and technically still is – the official liturgy of Holy Saturday.  In anticipation of the Great Vigil of Easter, many people forget about Holy Saturday, to the point where more and more churches are labeling The Triduum as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil.  This is incorrect!  The Triduum, as we saw in fair detail a couple days ago here, ends with the Holy Saturday liturgy.  The Vigil is not part of the Triduum.  It’s not even part of Holy Week or Lent, it’s the beginning of Easter.

If you’re excited about attending an Easter Vigil tonight, please do what you can to attend, or pray on your own, the Holy Saturday liturgy first.  You can do it in like five minutes.  Actually, here, I’ll copy the liturgy right here so you can pray it right now!

H O L Y  S A T U R D A Y

There is no celebration of the Eucharist on this day.

The Officiant says: Let us pray.

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

or this

O God of the living, on this day your Son our Savior descended to the place of the dead: Look with kindness on all of us who wait in hope for liberation from the corruption of sin and death, and give us a share in the glory of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

T H E  L E S S O N S

JOB 14:1-14
PSALM 130
1 PETER 4:1-8
MATTHEW 27:57-66

After the Gospel, a homily may follow.

My homily is this: Note that the traditional Collect & Lessons are slightly different from the modern.  The main emphasis difference between traditional and modern Holy Saturday is the baptismal material, which we now have emphasized in the Easter Vigil instead.

The following is then sung or said.

T H E  A N T H E M

Man born of woman has but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
He springs up, and is cut down like a flower; he flees like a shadow,
and never continues the same.

In the midst of life we are in death: of whom do we seek strength, but you, O Lord,
who for our sins are justly displeased?

Yet, O Lord God most holy,
O Lord most mighty,
O holy and most merciful Savior,
deliver us not into the pains of eternal death.

You know, O Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not your ears to our prayer;
but spare us, Lord most holy,
O God most mighty,
O holy and merciful Savior,
most worthy Judge eternal,
do not let us, in this our final hour,
through the pain of death, fall away from you.

The Officiant and People together pray the Lord’s Prayer. The concluding doxology is customarily omitted.

The Officiant concludes: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.  Amen.

 

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So many Psalms!

There are a lot of Psalms kicking around this time of year.  Today, Good Friday, has quite a few available to us.  In the classical Prayer Books this was one of the very few days in the year that got its own set of Psalms for the Daily Office, interrupting the 30-day cycle.

Morning Prayer: 22, 40, 54
Evening Prayer: 69, 88

Looking at the modern liturgy of our 2019 BCP, it’s not quite as heavy-handed on the Office, but the options still give a similar range:

Friday Morning Prayer: 40
Good Friday Service: 22 or 40:1-16 or 69:1-22
Friday Evening Prayer: 102

Saturday Morning Prayer: 88
Holy Saturday Service: 130 or 88 or 31:1-6
Saturday Evening Prayer: 91

You’ll notice that there is a little overlap between the Psalms offered in the primary service and the Psalms offered in the Daily Office, and a lot of overlap with the traditional Prayer Book Psalms.  Although the execution and placement has changed, it’s nice to see that the contents of our venerable tradition have not been lost entirely.

If you’re a worship planner for your congregation, you should observe that the primary worship service for Friday and Saturday in the Triduum offer three choices of Psalms… and our lectionary has a three-year cycle.  This is not presented as a rule, but it is a logical assumption that we should cycle between those three Psalms year by year.  If you want to cast an eye back to general Western tradition, the Gradual Psalm for Good Friday was from Psalm 54 and Psalm 42 for Holy Saturday, neither of which are appointed in our Prayer Book.  You could, however, add them to the Daily Office Psalmody on their proper days (the former is already there in the classical Prayer Books anyway).

Furthermore, whether you’re a worship planner or not, something anyone can do is add Psalms to the recitation of the Daily Office on one’s own.  Assuming you’re able to know what Psalm the main liturgy at church will use later today, you can fill in the other Psalm options to your recitation of the Office.  So if Psalm 69 is featuring at the Good Friday liturgy today, then consider adding Psalm 22 to Morning Prayer; perhaps you can grab Psalm 54 from the classical Prayer Books also, to add to Evening Prayer.

Same deal with Holy Saturday; take a look at the Psalms appointed, and consider how you might use up ones “left out” this year.  I mean, hey, it’s the Triduum… there’s no such thing as praying too much on days like these!