wfn.org | Worship undergirds General Conventi

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August 6, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1912
Worship undergirds General Convention

     (ENS) Underlying 10 days of legislative deliberation at the 72nd
General Convention, prayer and worship provided a clarifying focus for
bishops, deputies and visitors alike.
     From the opening Eucharist with Robin Eames, archbishop of
Armagh and primate of All Ireland, to the central convention Eucharist
with Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey (full text in News
Features), participants in the convention were reminded of a wider
context for their debates on resolutions.
     "We must search for new strategies of peace," Eames said.
"There are many peace lovers but too few peacemakers."
     He urged the worshipers to be "an Easter people," to have the
courage and confidence of Christians "touched by Good Friday, who live
encapsulated in the warmth of Easter.
     "Remember that no matter how much you think you are dealing
with issues, you are not," Carey said at the combined convention
Eucharist and United Thank Offering Ingathering (text in News
Features). "You are always dealing with people."
     The great heresy, he told the worshipers, is the failure to live and
work together as Christians because of disagreements. "We dare not,
must not, should not, allow any issue~however personally sacred to
us~divide the church of God."
     Daily small group Bible study and Eucharist reinforced his
message as people of starkly divergent opinions gathered together at a sea
of round tables in the worship hall, building micro-communities that
grew in closeness over the length of the convention.
     Participants in the convention were also offered an alternative
form of Sunday morning worship as Bishop Steven Charleston of Trinity
College in Hartford, Connecticut, led a water-side service after an early
morning canoe trip on the Schuylkill River.

Legislation advances worship study 
     In its legislative actions, convention approved an addition to the
constitution that would authorize preparation and use of additional
liturgical materials. The constitutional amendment will be presented for
first reading at the next General Convention.
     The resolution, which originally called for a revised Book of
Common Prayer by the year 2006, makes no mention of the prayer book
but instead directs the Standing Liturgical Commission (which will be
merged with the Music Commission into a new Standing Commission on
Liturgy and Music) and the Standing Commission on Constitution and
Canons "to prepare a plan for liturgical revision and enrichment of the
common worship of this church."
     This plan should reflect the church's diversity "while providing
rites and structures that ensure the unity of common prayer," according
to the resolution. The new liturgical materials also should "be available
for distribution in a variety of forms, including multimedia and electronic
options."
     The new commission will be asked to consider "How do you
provide for alternative liturgical forms responsive to the multicultural,
multiethnic, multilingual and multigenerational church while maintaining
a sense of common prayer?" said Sister Jean Campbell, vice chair of the
deputies' Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee.
     The Rev. Tracey Lind, a committee member and a deputy from
the Diocese of Newark which submitted the original resolution, said, "I
think it's great, if it all works out." The substitute resolution "provides a
process for honoring The Book of Common Prayer, holding common
worship and allowing us to move forward with liturgical innovation and
inclusive language."
     Lind said she thought her diocese would feel good about the
legislation that passed. "We were trying as a diocese to get the
conversation going," she said. While some may view changes in worship
with suspicion, she said, "in many parts of the Episcopal Church, it is an
opportunity for growth and evangelism and mission. Certainly that's the
case in my church."

Florence Nightingale gets second chance
     In other action related to the church's worship and liturgy,
Florence Nightingale was offered another shot at sainthood.
     "We are delighted for the whole church that beloved Florence
Nightingale, a Christian and also one who suffered through chronic
illness most of her life, will be reconsidered in the process of
commemoration for Lesser Feasts and Fasts," said the Rev. Ted Karpf,
executive director of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition (NEAC).
"That gives us a model (of someone) who died in the 20th century and
whose spirituality will carry us well into the 21st century."
     Karpf said he was surprised and delighted that both houses so
quickly passed a resolution directing the Standing Liturgical Commission
to reconsider Nightingale for inclusion in the book and entry into the
Calendar of the Church Year. Nightingale already appears on the
English, Australian and Canadian Anglican church calendars.
     A previous attempt to add her to the calendar failed on second
reading in 1991 after allegations were raised about her life, faith and
death.
     NEAC is among those urging reconsideration in light of more
recent research. While some alleged that Nightingale died of a sexually
transmitted disease, for example, research has shown that she died of
chronic brucellosis, which has some of the same symptoms as syphilis,
said deputy Sally Bucklee of the Diocese of Washington during a meeting
of the Prayer Book and Liturgy committees.
     As a result of the brucellosis, Nightingale suffered from
spondylitis, or inflammation of the spinal column, Karpf noted. "It's
very, very painful."
     Karpf said he had been surprised during the process of
considering Nightingale by the "difficulty of incipient sexism toward
women," in which lies and falsehoods have been believed before facts
have been believed.

Other actions
     In other business, the convention:
     ~ finalized the commemorations of Julia Chester Emery, Martin
Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Macrina, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia
Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ignatius of Loyola, Paul
Jones, Alexander Crummell, Hildegarde of Bingen, and Thomas a'
Becket, and transferred commemoration of William Law to April;
     ~ moved commemoration of Teresa of Avila to October 15;
     ~ added the Contemporary English Version to the list of
authorized translations of the Bible under consideration for adoption
     ~ authorized direct translations of the Bible from the original
languages into languages other than English;
     ~ authorized new supplemental liturgical texts entitled Enriching
our Worship;
     ~ urged local congregations to test local liturgical materials for
recommendation to the Standing Liturgical Commission;
     ~ continued the funding of the Leadership Project for Musicians
Serving Small Congregations;
     ~ established and funded a Task Force on Music Collections;
     ~ directed the Commission on Church Music to prepare a hymnal
supplement featuring the work of female composers; and
     ~ allowed lay eucharistic ministers also to be called "lay
eucharistic visitors."

~Compiled by James Thrall based on an articles by Sharon Sheridan, a
freelance writer living in New Jersey; Mary Lee Simpson,
communications director for the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia; and
Carol E. Barnwell, communications director for the Diocese of Texas.