Conference Celebrating American Book of Common Prayer Saw Mission as Key
Episcopal News Service. October 26, 1989 [89206]
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 20 -- The American version of the Book of Common Prayer, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, is a unique blend of Anglican catholicity and American diversity.
To understand the Book of Common Prayer, one must see the Episcopal Church in the context of the church catholic, as a part of the Anglican Communion, and as a part of the American nation, Dr. John Booty told the participants of a commemorative conference held in Philadelphia's Old Christ Church. Booty, professor of church history at the School of Theology, University of the South, began his thesis by contending: "The church catholic is a the reversal of the Tower of Babel. Its [the church's] essential function is reconciliation."
Booty claimed that both apostasy and the devotion to reconciliation of the church catholic are part of the history of the Episcopal Church. "From Elizabeth I onward, the genius of the Anglican Communion has been comprehensiveness and inclusiveness, based on the uniformity provided by the Book of Common Prayer," he said.
Yet, the separation of the United States from England and the ratification of the Book of Common Prayer on October 16, 1789, established a new facet for Anglicanism -- an independent church in fellowship with the Church of England. This development, Booty maintained, forced the American church to deal with a variety of theological viewpoints on the American scene.
"At the 1789 General Convention, the disagreement between 'low-church, reasonable, democracy-minded' followers of Bishop William White and 'high-church, traditional, hierarchy-minded' followers of Bishop Samuel Seabury might have resulted in two distinct Episcopal Churches," said Booty. "Instead, there was a compromise that honored the chief concerns of both sides and maintained the Anglican commitment to catholic Christianity."
The ability to reconcile differences in the midst of diversity implies a third factor that has influenced the American Book of Common Prayer, namely, the context of the American separation between church and state. Booty pointed out that this genius of the book is an important element for the American religious scene: "The Episcopal Church, though its detractors sometimes deny it, has been a church of reconciliation in a pluralistic society."
Dr. Booty's remarks provided a foundation for the remainder of the commemorative conference. Three successive lecturers suggested that the mission of the church was the key in understanding the Book of Common Prayer. Not only did the church's mission produce the book, but the book is also the vehicle for the church's mission into the future.
The Rev. James Trimble, rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia, addressed "Where the Episcopal Church Is Now," and compared the present state of confusion with the state of the church during and after the Revolutionary War.
In the light of demographic shifts and membership decline, Trimble noted that the "Episcopal Church today is not at the center of things, and radical rethinking of structure and mission needs to be done." We can recover the priority of the 1789 General Convention -- "the mission of the Gospel," said Trimble.
Among specific things that Episcopalians can do to recapture that mission emphasis, Trimble suggested: "Celebrate the new Prayer Book's emphasis on Baptism and the admission of women to the presbyterate and episcopate, and get on with being a missionary society; cooperate ecumenically to attack social ills; and take seriously the liberal tradition of the Gospel, which puts people ahead of things."
Following on Trimble's mission emphasis, Bishop Ottley of Panama cited the Anglican Consultative Council's four aims of mission -- to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom; to teach, baptize, and nurture new believers; to respond to human needs with loving service;and to seek to transform unjust structures of society; (and, Ottley added a fifth, to "strive for mutuality in mission and ministry") -- as natural outgrowths of the mission of the church spelled out in the Book of Common Prayer.
"The social injustice of today," said Bishop Ottley, "demands that the church look at poverty and excessive wealth, militarism and the arms industry, and unjust distribution of capital, land, and resources -- all of which are issues of power and powerlessness."
"If mission instead of maintenance were the priority, clergy would not have to worry about encouraging lay ministries in the world," said Dr. Frederica Harris Thompsett, academic dean and professor of church history at the Episcopal Divinity School, and the final speaker of the commemoration.
Thompsett said that in order for growth to take place, the church must have "liberation from private, individualist, parochial, and even denominational perspectives that make God hidden and small. We need to remythologize -- not demythologize -- God's power in our lives," she said.
Citing a tendency in the church to settle for the mere inclusion of diversity, Thompsett exhorted the church not to succumb to the ancient and dangerous desire for homogeneity: "We must not invoke the constitutional principle of church-state separation to excuse American Christians from social vision and social response." She maintained that the church must move in language and basic theological constructs from the "brotherhood of man" to expressions that embrace not only women but also the whole community of creation.