Church Will Continue to Study Inclusive-language Texts
Episcopal News Service. July 25, 1991 [91157]
"Human language will always fall short of describing the mystery of God," according to a supporter of the General Convention decision to continue the study of Supplemental Liturgical Materials, the so-called "inclusive-language" texts.
After a three-year experimental period, a lengthy Blue Book report, a large open hearing during the convention -- and the hint that the debate about whether to continue perfecting the texts might be contentious -- the convention gave the process a three-year lease on life.
The project to develop liturgical texts that use gender-inclusive language began with a mandate from the 1988 General Convention to the Standing Liturgical Commission. Soon after the first drafts of the texts were written, the project went through several stages to perfect the texts. In the latest stage, an estimated 10,000 people from 400 parishes in the Episcopal Church submitted comments that were incorporated into the version presented to the convention.
The texts are not a replacement for the Book of Common Prayer, but are rather a collection of resources, according to Bishop Robert Ladehoff of Oregon, chair of the Standing Liturgical Commission. "They can therefore be used selectively. Some will find no use for it at all."
Several speakers at an open hearing said that they had little use for the proposed texts. According to the Very Rev. John Rodgers of Pittsburgh, the texts are exclusive of "many of us who find them linguistically awkward...at best, and theologically erroneous at worst."
The Rev. Ruth Urban of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, suggested that the texts were confusing to the people who use them. "I am not opposed to inclusive language on a human level," she said. "However, having God as a father doesn't make me less feminine. Our God is not a God of confusion -- he is a God of clarity."
However, most of the testimony at the open hearing supported the continued study of the texts. The Rev. Louis Weil, another member of the commission, said his first reaction to the mandate given the commission was "clear opposition."
"I sit here as a convert," he said. "I have changed my mind on this issue." Weil said he was concerned that "extending our prayer forms in uncharted waters" might impair the unity that church liturgy should uphold. "I became convinced of the importance of this project" as it presented part of an ongoing process of expressing "the rich diversity of the body of Christ which I think is increasingly evident to us," he said.
The Rev. Canon Lloyd S. Casson of New York, a member of the commission, said the goal of the texts was to provide broader forms of worship in which "each of us -- male, female, of any race, any background, any orientation, any age -- knows him or herself to be in the mind of God."
"Some people will say that the texts are inadequate," said Bishop William Burrill of Rochester. "All texts are inadequate. That is why the project of developing liturgical language must be ongoing," he added.
The texts also are far from an attempt to neuter the language of liturgy, as some have suggested, Burrill said. "I would suggest that it is exactly the opposite. It is to enrich the language of liturgy."
Ladehoff said the texts adopted for study three years ago at the last General Convention "have enriched the lives of many Episcopalians."
In a presentation to the House of Bishops following the open hearing, Ladehoff reviewed the development of the texts throughout the past three years. He reported that the Standing Liturgical Commission had been engaged in a "careful, responsive" process of evaluating and improving the texts.
"The comments they received and the suggestions were taken very seriously" in revisions of the texts, Ladehoff said. "There is still work to be done on these texts, and the Standing Liturgical Commission would be the first to tell us that." The only way to continue work on these texts "is through use" by congregations, which is what the resolution authorizes for the next three years, Ladehoff said. "We want to encourage this."
The two items omitted from general use have been the focus of many comments during the revision process so far, Ladehoff said. In the Doxology (paragraph 4), "'Honor and glory to God, and to the Eternal Word, and to the Holy Spirit,"' he said, "simply is not the same as 'Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."' Eucharistic Prayer 3 (paragraph 34), which focuses on the "wisdom of God," has "too many theological problems for it to be used throughout the church at this time," Ladehoff said.
With relatively little debate the House of Bishops referred the two sections back to the Standing Liturgical Commission for further study and approved the rest of the materials for continued study during the next triennium. By a wide margin the House of Deputies concurred with the bishops' decision.
These resolutions were among those ratified by the convention regarding liturgical matters:
- Authorize trial use of new commemorations in the church calendar, with referral to the Executive Council (A119s, A-120s).
- Acknowledge efforts in the development of a Mexican Hymnal (D-145a)
- Commend for study and evaluation the Common Baptismal Liturgy of the Consultation on Common Texts (A-115a).
- Continue to study, develop, and evaluate supplemental inclusive language texts (A-121a).
- Direct the Standing Commission on Church Music to prepare a series of supplements to the Hymnal 1982 (A-139a).
- Direct the Standing Liturgical Commission to work with appropriate resource persons to provide culturally sensitive liturgical texts for use in special situations and/or culturally significant events (D-184).
- Reaffirm an insistence upon baptism with water in the Triune Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (B-033a).
- Recognize the hymnal supplement "Come and Celebrate" (D-117a).
- Support the use of diverse musical styles in public worship (A-140a).
- Create propers for the use on the occasion of retirement, either of lay or clergy-(A-122s).
- Request the Standing Liturgical Commission to prepare a paper to examine the lectionary so that it may be balanced both by historical concerns and the concerns of all categories of people (A-088s).
- Study the daily eucharistic lectionary from the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Canada (C-025s).