Having been invested with the symbols of the office of Rector (or whatever other ministry position is being celebrated with this rite), the minister now turns to prayer. It is a rare example of a long-form 18th-century prayer in a modern Prayer Book where brevity typically wins the day.
The Address
| 1789 through 1928 | 1979 & 2019 |
| O Lord my God! I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; yet thou hast honoured thy servant with appointing him to stand in thy House, and to serve at thy holy Altar. | O Lord my God, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; yet you have called your servant to stand in your house, and to serve at your altar. |
| To thee and to thy service I devote myself, mind, body, and spirit, with all their powers and faculties. | To you and to your service I devote myself, body, soul, and spirit. |
It begins with a sort of prayer of humble access referencing Matthew 8:8 / Luke 7:6, artistically contrasting the minister’s unworthiness to have God enter his or her own (earthly) house with God’s invitation to us to stand in his (heavenly) house. This is paired with the service at the altar, as the default use of this rite is for the installation of a Rector. If this rite is celebrating the beginning of a different sort of ministry, this prayer either should be omitted or substantially rewritten. Furthermore, the reference to the “altar” instead of the “holy table” is unusual in classical Prayer Book language. But, noting that this is an 18th-century composition, we rest assured that this was written a generation before the controversies of the Oxford Movement, thereby demonstrating that the terminology of an Altar is compatible with Anglican tradition and doctrine, in parallel to the terminology of “holy table”.
Unlike most prayers written before the 20th century and changed into modern idiom, the opening of this prayer retains the 3rd person self-reference – a feature that adorned most of the prayer Book collects (“O God, who has…”) that have been grammatically transformed (“O God, you have…”). Nevertheless, some of the exalted phraseology has been trimmed: “honored… with appointing him” has been reduced to “called”, God’s house and altar now stand in parallel without the latter being described as “holy”, and all the “powers and faculties” of the human person are left unmentioned. The tripartite description of the human person (in Greek, sarks, psyche, pneuma) is also reordered, and psyche is now rendered as “soul” instead of “mind”.
The First Petition
The prayer continues with an oblation (“To you and your service I devote…”), and petitions to fulfill that oblation (“Fill my memory… enlighten”). In order to be fully devoted to God and his service, the minister needs to have a mind filled with the divine truth of Sacred Scripture, with a full understanding and a conformed heart and will. All Christians are called be submitted to the Lord Jesus and his written word, the Bible, so the ministers of the Gospel are called to a heightened form of such submission.
| 1789 through 1928 | 1979 & 2019 |
| Fill my memory with the words of thy Law; enlighten my understanding with the illumination of the Holy Ghost; and may all the wishes and desires of my will centre in what thou hast commanded. | Fill my memory with the record of your mighty works; enlighten my understanding with the light of your Holy Spirit; and may all the desires of my heart and will center in what you have me do. |
The first petition is substantially the same in both old & new versions: that God would fill the minister’s memory with the Scriptures, providing enlightenment to the understanding and centering for the heart and will. The reference to the Scriptures has changed from “Law” to “record of your mighty works”. This reflects changes in English language and terminology: “law” used to denote a more general sense of order, or the way things work, compared to the more rules-specific use of the word over the course of the 20th century. By referring to the Bible as the record of God’s mighty works instead, it re-expands our focus from only the propositional teachings, or the Books of the Law of Moses, to include the whole gamut of scriptural revelation.
The Second Petition
Next, this prayer addresses the relationship between the minister (specifically a priest) and the congregation. Matching the language of the Articles of Religion, especially XXVII, the priest is likened to an “instrument” of God’s salvation. Although abhorrent to the broader evangelical world as it stands today, this sacramental language of the ministry is fully Catholic, classically Protestant, and properly Anglican. As this prayer goes on to describe, the priest must faithfully preach the Gospel and administer God’s holy Sacraments, and set forth God’s Word “by my life and teaching”. Although Anglican doctrine does not commit to referring to Holy Orders as a Sacrament on an equal level as Baptism and Holy Communion, it is “commonly called” a sacrament (Article XXV), and this prayer (along with the Ordinal) describes how the ministry of Word and Sacrament is embodied in the ordained ministry. The nature of Holy Orders therefore is what some today would term “a salvation issue”, as the priest is an instrument of God’s salvation for the immediate congregation.
| 1789 through 1928 | 1979 | 2019 |
| And, to make me instrumental in promoting the salvation of the people now committed to my charge, grant that I may faithfully administer thy holy Sacraments, and by my life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word. | Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care, and grant that I may faithfully administer your holy sacraments, and by my life and teaching set forth your true and living Word. | Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care, and grant that I may faithfully preach the Gospel and administer your holy Sacraments, and by my life and teaching set forth your true and living Word. |
The largest change to this prayer is found in the second petition. Originally, the minister prays to be made “instrumental in promoting the salvation of the people”, but in 1979 this switched to “make me an instrument of your salvation.” This subtle shift may be considered to be a red flag of sacerdotalism: the priest becoming a vehicle of dispensing God’s grace, rather than an instrumental promotor of God’s grace. Although the change of language and meaning in this prayer from 1928 to 1979 is real, it does not represent a substantial change in the Anglican doctrine of Holy Orders; the text of the Ordinal has always retained the language of the priest forgiving and remitting the sins of the people, which is very much an instrumental role in the dispensing of God’s grace. Furthermore, the rest of the petition provides clarification as to the minister’s role – both as an instrumental promoter and as an instrument of God’s grace. Faithful administration of the Sacraments and the setting forth of God’s Word through one’s life and teaching are named as the means of the minister’s instrumentality in the salvation of God’s people. The addition of “that I may faithfully preach the Gospel” in the present book introduces a redundancy with the final phrase which is slightly awkward, but it does serve to broaden the meaning of the instrumentality of the priest if the 1979 text went a little too far.
The Third Petition and Doxology
With this terrible responsibility in mind, the Rector then prays for God’s help: prayer with “quickened” (that is, enlivened) devotion, higher love and thankfulness with which to praise God, readiness of thought and expression in preaching, and zeal for godly preparation for times and offices of worship. In short, the priest’s entire life needs to be transformed by the Holy Spirit in order for the ministry to be carried out. The petition concludes with a mission-oriented prayer: that the message of the Bible may be presented so clearly and brightly that “all the world may be drawn” into the Church. Obviously this is beyond the scope of any individual priest’s ministry, and thus sets it (and every individual church and ministry) within the context of the Church Catholic – the whole blessed Kingdom of God whose work in this world is inexorable and inevitable.
| 1789 through 1928 | 1979 | 2019 |
| Be ever with me in the performance of all the duties of my ministry; in prayer, to quicken my devotion; in praises, to heighten my love and gratitude; and in preaching, to give a readiness of thought and expression suitable to the clearness and excellency of thy holy Word. | Be always with me in carrying out the duties of my ministry. In prayer, quicken my devotion; in praises, heighten my love and gratitude; in preaching, give me readiness of thought and expression; and grant that, by the clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may be drawn into your blessed kingdom. | Be always with me in carrying out the duties of my ministry. In prayer, quicken my devotion; in praises, heighten my love and gratitude; in preaching, give me readiness of thought and expression; in worship, increase my zeal for godly preparation; and grant that, by the clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may be drawn into your blessed kingdom. |
| Grant this for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Saviour. | All this I ask for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. | |
The third and final petition is largely the same as its original form, differing primarily in the details of its expression rather than its substantial meaning. The grammar, too, has been restructured, favoring shorter sentences over the older constructions which strung together several phrases into one sentence.
The most notable change is the addition of the “in worship…” phrase. Classically, the overlap between prayer, praise, and worship has been so great that to list them separately would be redundant and artificial. Having added “worship” alongside “prayer” and “praises”, the 2019 Prayer Book may be suggesting more particular definitions of all three than would be historically recognizable.
The final phrase concerning the clearness and brightness of your holy Word was originally part of the minister’s prayer for his preaching. It was first separated in 1979, attached instead to a missiological prayer where it remains today.
Lastly, this is not for the glory of the priest, or of the priesthood, or of the church, but for the sake of Jesus. His name only is worth proclaiming through all of this.
The Saint Aelfric Customary 