Introduction to the Book of Common Prayer
“The Prayer Book is our guide to open the scriptures.” When I first heard those words it was as if
fireworks went off in my mind and spirit. At last, all my Baptist friends who accused me of being incapable of
praying without a book—and not being biblically-based—could be set right!
The Prayer Book is a guide to open the scriptures. Our first Book of Common Prayer came on the scene in
the mid-16th century--a time when people had died trying to open the Word of God to the common man in his own
language. As is generally true in this world (and the Church), not everyone shared a passion to have God’s word so
accessible. The written Word of God, prior to the Reformation, was reserved for scholars who could read the Latin
and Greek texts of the Bible. Giving the scriptures to the people in their own tongue “would endanger scripture’s
sanctity…Some would interpret it wrongly…There would be no need for the clergy.” The furor raged, sending men
such as Wycliffe to the stake for their willingness to take the risk. But all of this is another lecture. It serves as
backdrop to the appearance of Thomas Cranmer, the boy-king Edward VI’s advisor, named Archbishop of
Canterbury in the reign of Henry VIII.
Cranmer read the signs of the times and, with a reformer’s heart, took the old Latin mass and “writ it new”
in English—the vernacular of his people. Modern minds say, “So what?” To the mid-16th century mind, it must
have seemed that the entire known world was up for grabs. Some of you will remember the furor over changing
from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer to the current 1979 Prayer Book. You may get a taste of this by observing
the wrangling between 8 o’clock Rite I devotees and those who prefer the 10 o’clock Rite II. Imagine the emotional
charge of Latin vs. English….
The Prayer Book of 1549 sought to bring 16 th c. English people back to the faith and practice of the early
Church Fathers:
“For they so ordered the matter, that all the whole Bible (or the greatest part thereof) should be read over
once in the year, intending thereby, that the Clergy, and especially such as were Ministers of the
congregation, should (by often reading, and meditation of God’s word) be stirred up to godliness
themselves, and be more able to exhort others by a wholesome doctrine, and to confute them that were
adversaries to the truth. And further, that the people (by daily hearing of holy Scripture read in the
Church) should continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God, and be the more inflamed with
the love of his true religion.”1
Thus an entire people—and much of the globe as England became a worldwide empire—began to be shaped by the
Prayer Book’s wonderful way of opening the scriptures on a daily basis.
The first Prayer Book broke the ice. A second Prayer Book—that of 1552—soon followed to bring a new
theology to Britain. The old Catholic understandings may be exemplified by the words used at the distribution of
communion in the 1549 book: “The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and
soul unto everlasting life. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul
unto everlasting life.” This very high, mysterious understanding of the sacrament presence was supplanted in the
1552 Prayer Book with the words: “Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee. Drink this in
remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for thee and be thankful.” These words echoed the reformers’
sentiments, focusing on the aspects of remembrance rather than sacramental presence. There is a marked difference
in the theology of 1549 & 1552’s Prayer Books.
By 1554 all was for naught as “Bloody Mary” ascended the throne at the death of Edward. She plunged the
nation back into Roman Catholicism, the Latin mass, and no more foolish games of religion. Mary did not last long
either. Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558—and with her came a long reign during which peace and reconciliation
came to England. The genius of her reign is typified by the solution posed in the Prayer Book of 1559. The words of
distribution became: “The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto
everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s
blood was shed for thee and be thankful.” Elizabeth had led the way to a settlement which would mark the
Anglican—and our Episcopal expression of that tradition—via media or middle way.
The example of the change in words of distribution of communion elements also gives lie to the power of
the Prayer Book for Anglican and Episcopal believers. For us the phrase lex orandi, lex credendi is indeed true—the
words of our praying are the words of our believing. When an Episcopalian is asked, “What do you believe?”, a
truly appropriate response is, “Come worship with me”, or as Jesus told those who asked him a similar question,
“Come and see”2
If you open your Prayer Book to the table of contents, you’ll find a vast array of resources. Forms for
prayer and worship are here, but there is much more. There is provision to celebrate many of the major milestones
and turning points of human life. There are resources which give us a view into the history of our Christian faith.
Perhaps most important, the prayers themselves present scripture to us (nearly 80% of the words of our prayers are
scripture or paraphrases of scripture) and the lectionaries present an ordered system for reading God’s Word (all of
it) in manageable pieces.
1
2
Preface to the First Book of Common Prayer (1549) as quoted in the BCP 1979, pp. 866 ff.
John 1:39