Worship and Edification in The Book of Common Prayer
Posted on May 19, 2016
Filed under History, Theology
“How do we decide what to do with our services? Go trad? Or kick out all liturgy and call it a ‘youth service’? And whatever you do, you know some people won’t be happy. If we were to list all the things that churches can argue over, ‘worship’ would consistently come right at the top.
A wise older minister once observed that even the most united church has the ability to rip itself apart over the choice of hymn book in the pews. This can’t be right, but what is the answer?
David Peterson’s article takes us on a brief overview of a biblical answer to the two questions sitting right at the heart of these arguments—what is worship? And why do we gather as a church?…”
– At the Church Society’s blog, Ben Thompson highlights a 2012 article by David Peterson (pictured) in Churchman: “Worship and Edification in the Book of Common Prayer.” (PDF file)
“Amidst the confusion of contemporary practices and the diversity of opinions about why we gather, it is instructive to return to the simple models we have in The Book of Common Prayer and consider its profound teaching, both stated and implied, concerning worship and edification.
In the three hundred and fifty years since the 1662 revision, it has taken many of us less than thirty years to ‘lose the plot’ as Anglicans in the way we ‘do church.’…”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…