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Last Christmas Hymn: From East to West

Tomorrow is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, or, the Purification of Mary, celebrating the events of Luke 2:22-40.  As I’ve suggested and explored here before, using these 40 days from Christmas Day until tomorrow is a great way to crawl through the massive collection of Christmas songs in our hymnals.  A good choice for the last of these hymns is From East to West, from shore to shore.

This is an ancient hymn, its text written in Latin by Coelius Sedulius around the year 450.  As often is the case with ancient hymns, its English translation has been set to several different tunes, so I’m not going to include a YouTube link this time; the lyrics will have to suffice.

From East to West is a good choice for the end of this extended run of Christmas hymns because its lyrics touch upon some thematic material that makes it fitting for this point in the calendar:

  1. The appeal for “every heart”, “from East to West, from shore to shore,” to awake and sing about the newborn Christ, is very Epiphany-appropriate.  The song starts immediately with that world-wide invitation to worship Jesus.
  2. The epiphany theme of revealing the divinity of Jesus is also prominent in this song, which identifies him with godly epithets such as “the everlasting King” and “the world’s Creator” and “the Lord most high.”
  3. Mary plays a relatively prominent role in these lyrics, anticipating her prominent role in the feast of the Presentation tomorrow.  Here she is celebrated, “a maiden in her lowly place,” who becomes “the chosen vessel of his grace.”  In the doxology, the final verse of the hymn, Jesus is named as the “Virgin-born.”

In all, this is a fantastic hymn that works for Epiphanytide almost as well as for Christmastide.  I wouldn’t be afraid to pull it out almost any time of year, come to think of it, if I knew I’d be preaching or teaching Christology.  It plays out the dual reality of Jesus’ humanity and divinity, his lowliness and his exaltation, marvelously.

Perhaps you can read or sing it at the Daily Office or other time of devotion today?

From east to west, from shore to shore Let ev’ry heart awake and sing
The holy child whom Mary bore, The Christ, the everlasting king.

Behold, the world’s creator wears The form and fashion of a slave;
Our very flesh our maker shares, His fallen creature, man, to save.

For this how wondrously He wrought!  A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became, in ways beyond all thought, The chosen vessel of His grace.

And while the angels in the sky Sang praise above the silent field,
To shepherds poor the Lord Most High, the one great Shepherd, was revealed.

All glory for this blessed morn To God the Father ever be;
All praise to You, O Virgin-born, And Holy Ghost, to thee.  Amen.

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February Psalms: old-school!

Archbishop Cranmer’s 30-day cycle of Psalms applies to each month of the year, but it works out differently according to what month you’re dealing with.  Several months have 31 days, and his appointment was to repeat the 30th day’s Psalms on the 31st day.  February has 28 or 29 days, though, so presumably that means you don’t quite finish the psalter that month, right?

Right, the 1662 Prayer Book (and all thereafter) state that you get to the 28th or 29th day, and leave it at that.

However… this seems to be a simplification of a slightly different approach that came before.  I picked up a facsimile edition of the 1611 “King James” Bible some years ago, and it has a number of Prayer Book rubrics in it, including the table of daily lessons throughout the year and the order of the Psalms.  I expect these reflect the then-current 1559 (Elizabethan) Prayer Book’s order.

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Check out what it says about February (and I’ll update the spelling for you)…

And because January and March have one day above the said number, and February, which is placed between them both, hath only 28 days; February shall borrow of either of the months (of January and March) one day : and so the Psalter which shall be read in February, must begin at the last day of January, and end the first day of March.

In other words, once you finish the 30-day cycle in January, start the cycle at the beginning on the 31st (today!) and carry it through to March 1st.  That means you’ll be a day off between the Psalter and the calendar date throughout February and March, but on the upside you’ll get through all the Psalms three times without repetition or omission in the first three months of the year!

The fact that the Prayer Books after this point don’t include this rubric indicate to me that this proved too complicated in actual practice, and so the powers that be gave up on it and simplified it when the next Prayer Book was produced (in 1662).

The latest draft of the 2019 Prayer Book doesn’t look as flexible about the Psalms as its predecessors, but the fact that it authorizes two different Psalm cycles plus allows the option of further shortening and simplification indicates that our liturgists care more that we pray the Psalms regularly and in an orderly fashion than about total conformity to one system.  Therefore, consider yourself well within your rights to give “old-school February” a try, if you want!  Start with day 1 today, finish with day 30 on March 1st, and carry on through March a “day off” from the norm until we all meet back together with day 1 on April 1st.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter a ton which system you use, as long as you do use one.  It’s just nice to know (and sometimes try out) the ways of our forebears.

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Lectionary Convergence: 1 Corinthians

This week we’ve got a somewhat rare event: the Daily Office Lectionary and the Sunday Communion Lectionary are crossing one another’s paths.  The Epistles in Evening Prayer started us in on 1 Corinthians a week and a half ago, and this evening is reaching chapter 12.  Yesterday and the Sunday before, the Communion lectionary has also been taking us through chapter 12.

This sort of double exposure probably happens a few times a year, at different times depending upon which year in the 3-year cycle it is.  This can be an excellent opportunity to get a perspective check on the Communion lectionary readings.  That lectionary, by default, is unable to be as comprehensive as a daily lectionary; it has to cut corners, it has to summarize books of the Bible and move on.  It is the function of the Daily Office to slog through virtually everything and put it all in context.

Having Evening Prayer take us through the bulk of 1 Corinthians in the past ten days, and finishing the book in the coming week, will be a helpful overview to remind us of the larger context as we listen to the 1 Corinthians lessons at the Sunday Communion services for the next few weeks until Lent begins.

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Book Review: the 1662 BCP

Welcome to Saturday Book Review time!  On most of the Saturdays this year we’re going to look 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’re starting with the 1662 Common Prayer Book, a very good place to start.  As I have mentioned before, this is my “second” prayer book in terms of the order and extent that I got to know a prayer book.  It was preceded by three: those of 1549 (under King Henry VIII), 1552 (under King Edward), and 1559 (under Queen Elizabeth).  The 1662 is most like the 1559, for the most part being a re-issue of the Elizabethan Prayer Book after its temporary suppression by the Puritan government which deemed the book not sufficiently reformed and “purified” from Papist influence.  For the modern reader and pray-er accustomed to variety and choice, the 1662 Prayer Book is frustratingly short on options.  On the other hand this makes it one of the thinnest and simplest Prayer Books of them all.

Some of the distinctions that mark this Prayer Book from its successors include prayers for the monarch royal family, and a cultural expectation that weekly Communion will not be received by the people, or even celebrated by the priests.

As an English book, and the Church of England being a state church, the Prayer Book quite naturally appoints quite a few collects and prayers for the reigning monarch, the royal family, and the welfare of the country at large.  Outside of the British Commonwealth this has to be “translated” into more generic prayers for the state or government leaders.  And, apart from rewriting those specific words, there is also the question of mentality – what is the more subtle influence in a Prayer Book of a national church, and how should prayers for the state be approached where the government is not a patron of the Church?

The practical pastoral issues surround the frequency of Holy Communion also marks the 17th century from the 21st.  The Communion service begins with the following rubric:

So many as intend to be partakers of the holy Communion shall signify their names to the Curate, at least some time the day before.

Imagine having to register with the clergy every week!  Clearly times and expectations have changed.  Also, in the middle of the Communion service stand three lengthy Exhortations: one announcing the celebration of Communion on an upcoming Sunday or Holy Day, one for when he sees people are negligent about coming to the Communion table, and one for the day the Communion is actually being celebrated.  Only the last of these has survived into modern prayer books – the expectation of a weekly Eucharist and the peoples’ participation therein is a surprisingly recent achievement in Anglican practice.

Comparing the lengths of liturgies between the 1662 and the common modern rites can also be jarring.  This book has shorter Communion prayers but longer prayers of the people.  Its Baptism and Confirmation services are brief affairs, but its Daily Office is robust, especially with the use of the Athanasian Creed 13 times a year and the Litany 3 times a week.

The ratings in short:

Accessibility: 4/5
I’m not sure if a 5/5 Prayer Book exists; they all have some sort of learning curve.  But the lack of options and variations go a long way to making this book as usable as it is.  The typeface and blocky filling of space is also strange to the modern eye, as prayer books today tend to have a lot of blank space between sections.  Necessary page-flipping is minimal, and the rubrics are usually very specific about what you’re supposed to do next.

Devotional Usefulness: 4/5
The biggest winner in this book is the Daily Office.  The original lectionary covers more of the Bible than pretty much any of its successors.  The prayers and canticles and collects, creeds and litany, really make Morning and Evening Prayer the heartbeat of the life of worship in this volume.  If you’re of a high church sort, you may find the Communion prayers a bit frustrating.  Some have observed a lack of evangelistic or missional emphasis in the older prayer books such as this one.  And the 17th century English can be a bit of a stumbling block to those not used to it.

Reference Value: 4/5
This is kind of tricky.  On one hand, early prayer books like the 1662 didn’t go out of their way to pepper their pages with scriptural citations.  It’s constantly quoting and paraphrasing the Bible but you don’t always get to see where it’s coming from.  It simply is what it is, and if you don’t notice where it comes from then you’ll just have to ask someone else.  On the other hand, this is, historically, the quintessential prayer book; others are measured according to this one.  So the 1662 BCP is of reference value simply on its own merits; you can compare liturgies and prayers from other books to this one, knowing this is the “standard” most Anglican provinces recognize as the common baseline.

All in all, this is a significant book.  I wouldn’t say that every Anglican ought to have and study it, but anyone who cares about Anglican tradition and history definitely should.  And that, by definition, should include all members of the clergy!

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Confession of St. Peter at Morning Prayer

As is often the case, today’s holiday, the Confession of Saint Peter, has a special reading for the Morning Office: Matthew 16:13-20.  As our new ACNA daily lectionary likes to do, this lesson is a repeat of the Gospel lesson at today’s communion service.  So if you’re saying the Daily Office but have no Eucharist to attend today, you still get the primary story of the holiday.  The downside is that if you do attend today’s Communion, you hear the same passage twice rather than hearing something different to deepen and enrich the day with further scriptural insight.

As we noted last week, this feast day is an excellent “epiphany moment”, revealing the divinity of Jesus through the words of Peter.  This feast day is actually a modern addition to the Prayer Book tradition; it first appeared for us in 1979.  And this seems a good contribution to the calendar, in my opinion, reinforcing the traditional epiphany theme.

If you haven’t been doing so, perhaps this is a good day to pull out the Surge illuminare as the first Canticle at Morning Prayer, too.  If you have, then perhaps bring back the Te Deum in honor of the major feast!

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Saint Anthony of Egypt

January 17th is the commemoration of Saint Anthony of Egypt.  He is known and remembered as one of the first hermits, from whom the monastic tradition would grow and develop.  His Life, or biography, was written by Saint Athanasius and is one of the first of its kind in Christian literature.  In that document we read that he was not seeking to “escape the world” for the sake of solitude and peace, but to do battle with the devil (or demons, at any rate) in his own soul.  Cloistered monastic or parish priest, lay person or ordained, we all face against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Nevertheless, it may feel a bit odd to commemorate a man like Saint Anthony during the Epiphany season.  At least in the modern calendar tradition, Epiphanytide is missionally focused, and the life of solitude exemplified in today’s commemoration is decidedly inward-focused, not outward.  As it happens, there are at least two ways that we can link this commemoration to the Epiphany season’s mission theme.

First, we see in the life of Anthony the reminder that no matter where we go geographically, the same spiritual forces of darkness will be waiting for us.  In the mission field (be it on a distant continent or your around your neighbor’s grill in the back yard) we will find opposition.  There is an enemy to contend with, we will be wrestling with beings not of flesh and blood.  The example of Saint Anthony reminds us that we must be ready for battle, especially as we seek to increase our service to God’s kingdom.

Second, history shows us that, paradoxically, the seemingly-inward-focused monastic tradition has greatly benefited the missional movement of the Church.  Much of Northern Europe was evangelized by monks!  In Anthony’s case, he sought solitude in the desert to fight against evil alone, and other would-be hermits came to live nearby caves so they could benefit from his wisdom.  He soon had a community of hermits – monks – and ordinary people from the cities soon started visiting this monastic community for spiritual guidance, insight, and advice.  This pattern has repeated all over the world: an intentional community of worship, fellowship, and solidarity is established, people “come and see,” often a whole village or town arises next door, and the Gospel advances into that region.  We are thus reminded, at least, that there is more than one way to go about mission and evangelism.

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Getting through Psalm 78

Depending upon your mood and state of mind (or heart) we may have a bit of a Tuesday Terror looming at Evening Prayer: the 78th Psalm.  Assuming you’re using the 30-day cycle of Psalms by Thomas Cranmer that has adorned every Prayer Book for over 450 years, this evening is when we come to Psalm 78, the second-longest Psalm in the book, and the longest that we pray straight through.

In terms of genre, it covers a few bases.  It is a didactic psalm, written with the express purpose of teaching its reader, singer, or pray-er.  It is a history psalm, telling stories of the people of Israel throughout their past.  It is a parable, according to its opening verses, intending to teach us about divine faithfulness and human unfaithfulness through the medium of story.

Something that can help one get through this Psalm attentively and profitably is to break it into manageable sections:

  • Verses 1-8 are a very general introduction to this type of Psalm.
  • Verses 9-40 are the first story, summarizing the exodus, focusing on the wilderness wandering.
  • Verses 41-54 form the second story, also summarizing the exodus, but focusing more on the events in Egypt.
  • Verses 55-72 form a less organized section noting the conquest of Canaan, the split of Israel and Judah, a shout-out to Solomon’s Temple, and the kingship of David.

While the chronology is a bit mixed up, the order that may give clarity to the Psalm is perhaps the level of faithfulness exhibited by God’s people.  Much of the Psalm reveals how sinful and disobedient we can be, but there’s a trajectory of growth towards the end.  The end, reflecting on the Shepherd-King David, is a decidedly positive note to close with.

If you’re singing or chanting this Psalm, first of all congratulations – this will keep you singing for quite a while!  Second of all, consider changing the chant tune at verse 41, breaking the Psalm roughly in half.  I have heard choirs do this before with other long psalms, and it can help both break up the monotony and audibly mark the turn from one section to the next.

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Looking Ahead: two Friday Feasts

Happy Friday!  Happy Epiphanytide!  It’s unusual to have such a long beginning to the Epiphany season, having a whole week between the Day (January 6th) and the first Sunday.  It’s as if the wise men are staying to party with the holy family extra long this year 🙂

As we look ahead at the next few weeks, a succession of major feast days await us.  The two remaining this month are both on Fridays: the Confession of Saint Peter on the 18th and the Conversion of Saint Paul on the 25th.  The former was not in the historic prayer books, but now adorns our modern calendar.  If your church has a regular Friday worship service, these two holidays stand as special opportunities to celebrate the work of the Gospel in the New Testament as well as to flesh out the Epiphany season even further.

For, although we don’t know the dates of the original events – when Peter declared “you are the Christ, the son of the living God”, and when Paul encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus – it is appropriate that we celebrate these critical gospel moments during the Epiphany season.  Both of these holidays celebrate epiphanies, revelations, or showings of who Jesus is.  They fit right in to the season’s traditional overarching theme.

Eight days after that will be February 2nd, a Saturday, when the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Purification of Mary is observed.  That is the 40th day after Christmas, matching the event being 40 days after the birth of Jesus.  We’ll hear more about that when it draws near, but it’s good to mark one’s calendar ahead of time so these major holidays of the church year don’t surprise us when they arrive.

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Eve of the Epiphany

As the ACNA calendar introduction notes:

Following ancient Jewish tradition, the celebration of any Sunday begins at sundown on the Saturday that precedes it.  Therefore at Evening Prayer on Saturdays (other than Holy Days), the Collect appointed for the ensuing Sunday is used.

With today being the 5th day of January, that makes this evening the liturgical beginning of The Epiphany.  So when you settle down for Evening Prayer tonight, feel free to start using the Epiphany-specific features, such as: the Opening Sentence (Isaiah 60:30, Nations shall come…).  More definitely, the Collect of the Day this evening will be the Collect for the Epiphany:

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord…

Although the Scripture readings tonight (Jeremiah 4 and Galatians 5) are not chosen to match the feast day, one can observe the bulk of Jeremiah 4’s prophetic description of an invasion of Gentiles as a sort of pre-cursor to the Epiphany.  In that reading, the Gentiles are enemies of God’s people; in the Epiphany, Gentiles start becoming God’s people!

Happy twelfth day of Christmas, and enjoy the Epiphany starting tonight.

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How can I become a “liturgy expert”?

I do not think of myself as a liturgy expert.  I often have questions that crop up, prompting me to seek out answers from a book on my shelf or a contact on Facebook.  But I have learned that I’ve spent enough time with the liturgy of the Anglican tradition – the Prayer Books – that I know “more than the average bear” about this stuff, and am in a position to help others learn about it.

It must be admitted that liturgy became a passion of mine during my ordination discernment process.  I was somewhat interested beforehand, but as I entered into the ministry it became my most prominent area of study and inquiry.  Certainly, having a passion for something can help one to learn a lot about it.  But there are tangible ways that you, too, can build up your comfort level with and knowledge of the Anglican Prayer Book tradition.

  1. Get to know one Prayer Book really well.  Before you branch out and examine the history and compare & contrast different books, settle in with one volume and edition.  I found that having a strong anchor first enables more fruitful exploration of other Prayer Books later on.  In my case it was the 1979 book (traditionalists, please don’t grimace too much!).  I dug around its pages, read its rubrics, physically used it at regular Communion services and in the Daily Office both alone and with others.  When someone died, I prayed and read the burial rites.  When someone was planning a wedding, I studied the marriage rite.  I used its psalter and lectionaries.  I tried out the different rites and options for the Office; and when I became a priest, I tried out most of the Communion rites too.  This familiarity with a particular Prayer Book gave me a place to stand from which to explore other liturgies.
  2. Physically use a Prayer Book on a regular basis.  This is part of point one, but needs to be mentioned separately.  If you’re mainly using an online version of the Daily Office like Mission St. Clare or legereme, then there’s a lot you’re missing.  You’re not necessarily seeing all the rubrics. The options and choices within the liturgy are being made for you.  The Psalms and lessons are provided to you without any page-flipping or book-switching.  If you only ever use a printed bulletin at the Communion service, same deal: you may be getting used to some Prayer Book content, but not the Prayer Book itself.  A missal (or reusable booklet for multiple worship services) can alleviate this loss a little bit, but not completely.  Physically bring the appropriate Prayer Book to church, and follow along in its pages.
  3. Choose an historic Prayer Book as your “second choice”.  Once you’re well-grounded in one book (which for most of my readers will either be the 1979 book or the still-finishing 2019 book), then it’s time to put a second foot in our history.  Obviously there are multiple choices, but I would recommend two possibilities: the American 1928 or the English 1662.  Between the two, I most recommend the 1662, as it is said to be the “standard” of Anglican liturgy worldwide.  All national variants trace their history back to (and through) the 1662.  It may not be perfect, but it’s a sure and certain standard.
    Follow its Sunday lectionary – read those Collects & lessons before or after church each week.  Try out its Daily Office from time to time, perhaps even take a year to use its daily lectionary.  Study its Communion service and trace the different shape that results from the prayers in their unique arrangement.  Consider (and ask others) what the significance is of the many variances between its order and the American order we’re familiar with today.
  4. Check out lots of books!  With one foot in a contemporary book that you regularly and actively use, and the other foot firmly planted in the historical tradition of Anglican liturgy, you’ll then be ready to wade into the surprisingly-deep river of Anglican liturgical texts out there.  Perhaps now the differences between 1549 and 1552 will stand out more than what you “heard about” in a seminary class somewhere.  The English proposed book from the 1920’s, their Alternative Service Book from 1980, and Common Worship from 2000 may now provide a more coherent thread of liturgical experimentation and exploration.  The African liturgy books will have more context, as will the myriads of proposed Prayer Books by the various American churches before GAFCON called for the creation of the ACNA.

This will also benefit your ministry too.

Sometimes people accuse us “liturgy nerds” of having our heads too buried in books.  We spend more time obsessing over the forms of worship than we do caring for the flock, supposedly.  But in truth, someone who is truly invested in the liturgy is actually strengthening his ability to minister to others.  Just as familiarity with the Bible helps us to bring the Word of God into the lives of others, so too does familiarity with the Prayer Book help us to bring the prayers of the church into the lives of others.  A well-seasoned Bible verse can be a real help to a person in spiritual need, and the ability to give them the reference so they look it up again later is a real gift to them!  Similarly, the right Collect, Canticle, or Psalm can be a real comfort or inspiration, and the ability to show them where to find it in the Prayer Book for revisiting will also be a valuable gift.

Sure, being a liturgy nerd just for the sake of being a liturgy nerd isn’t going to be of much use to anyone.  No passion, when undirected, is of any good, really.  But if you want to grow in the Anglican spiritual and pastoral tradition, deepening your understanding of and appreciation for the liturgy is one of the best things you can do.