“Very significant progress has been made toward a Book of Common Prayer 2019,” Archbishop Robert Duncan, the Liturgy Task Force chair, reported to the College of Bishops.
“The present plan is to produce all the working texts of a new prayer book by mid-2016, and then use the following 18-24 months to finalize the texts of a Book of Common Prayer 2019,” he wrote.
Archbishop Duncan served as Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (2009-2014) and currently serves as the Chair of the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force and the Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
The working texts released are:
- Collects of the Christian Year restores many of Cranmer’s collects to use in the Church. Collecting prayers are provided for every Season and Sunday of the Year, as well as for Red-Letter Holy Days and for optional observances within the Christian Year.
- 3-Year Eucharistic Lectionary This lectionary favors the long tradition of the Church for lessons connected typologically and thematically, particularly as regards the Old Testament Reading and the Gospel. The Bishop of a Diocese may authorize additional usages, such as the Revised Common Lectionary or preaching series on particular books or themes of the Bible.
- Daily Office Lectionary restores the pattern—common among Anglicans from the time of the Reformation—of Old Testament and New Testament readings at both Morning and Evening Prayer. The purpose is to read through the Old Testament once each year, and through the New Testament twice. The pattern of recommended psalm reading is based on Cranmer’s 30-day psalm cycle, but also allows for one to read the cycle over as long as two months.
- Midday Prayer and Compline are also being presented. These minor offices are consistent with the long tradition of these rites in the Western Church.
- Family Prayer is offered to the Church with special concern for families with young children. There are four simplified offices for use in the morning, at noonday, in the evening and at bedtime. These offices allow families to draw on the patterns and content of Daily Morning and
- The Holy Eucharist (Ancient Canon) – In response to the request of clergy and laity across the Church, conveyed through the College of Bishops, an English language eucharistic canon, based on a liturgy by St. Hippolytus, is being presented. In addition, an alternate form of the Prayers of the People, based on the work of St. John Chrysostom, is offered in the complete form of this eucharistic rite.
To send feedback to the Task Force on Liturgy, please email liturgytaskforce@anglicanchurch.net.
The members of the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force are:
• The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Chair
• The Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman, Vice Chair
• The Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer, Senior Reader
• The Ven. Darrell Critch
• The Rev. Chip Edgar
• The Rev. Jonathan Kanary
• The Rev. Dr. Arnold Klukas
• The Rev. Can. Ron Moock
• The Rev. Can. Andrea Mueller
For further information:
To download the working texts, visit the webpage for the Texts for Common Prayer here.
You can also watch Archbishop Duncan’s full report from the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force to Provincial Council 2015 here.
The written report to Provincial Council 2015 from the Task Force is available online here.
