wfn.org | Resolutions on new prayer book, and more

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2000-104

Resolutions on new prayer book, rites for sick and dying, 
and sexuality offered by liturgy commission

by Sharon Sheridan

     (ENS) A proposal to revise the 1979 prayer book and 
new rites for ministry to the sick and dying are among the 
recommendations from the Standing Commission on Liturgy and 
Music.

     In a closely watched report in the Blue Book, the 
commission also recommended that the decision on whether to 
ordain non-celibate homosexuals or bless their 
relationships should be made at the diocesan level since 
there is no consensus as a church on these issues.

     The commission asks convention to authorize it to 
develop a plan for revising and renewing worship "based on 
a thoroughgoing process of data collection involving 
parishes, dioceses, provinces, and the organizations of 
this church."

     Under a proposed timeline, this would lead to a 
revision of the Book of Common Prayer in 2012. But it 
involves much more than simply producing a new book, 
including using multimedia technologies, incorporating 
music in the revision process and simultaneously developing 
liturgies in different languages.

     "A book is part of it, but it envisions a broader 
concept of liturgical renewal," said Sister Jean Campbell, 
OSH, commission vice chair from the Diocese of New York. 
"What we have learned is that text is only one aspect of 
the worship experience, that it has to do with how the 
texts assist a congregation in praying together as a 
community of faith," said Campbell, who is also a priest. 
"And so, what this proposal outlined is not just the 
production of a book in English but assisting communities 
of people to enter into a process of liturgical renewal and 
revision that takes into consideration multiple languages 
and cultures.

     "A lot of the renewal of liturgy is going to be a 
recovery of senses in liturgy. We've tended to pray with 
our heads," she said. Campbell expects the process to 
explore how elements such as movement, gesture, vestments, 
space and the incorporation of visual images can enrich 
worship.

     The commission requests $750,000 in funding. "That's 
the crucial piece," Campbell said, noting the process can't 
begin without it.

Rites for sick and dying

     The commission also has submitted to General 
Convention a new set of rites, including suggested hymns, 
for ministry with the sick and dying. The expanded rites 
include public healing services, incorporating sacramental 
healing in the Eucharist and individual ministration in a 
home or health-care facility.

     There is a new "form of prayer when life-sustaining 
treatment is withheld or discontinued" and additional 
prayers for use with or by the sick that cover 
circumstances such as confinement, loss of a pregnancy and 
loss of memory as well as prayers for caregivers and 
emergency workers. The commission also adds a separate 
service for the burial of a child, a rite that was 
eliminated in the 1979 prayer book.

     "We felt that there was a need for some services that 
corresponded more to current practice of healing services," 
said Phoebe Pettingell of the Diocese of Fond du Lac 
(Wisconsin), chair of the expansive language committee that 
developed the liturgies. "We felt that the church really 
needed to start addressing the issue of pastoral rites for 
the removal of life-sustaining treatment." She added that 
"one of the things that I hear most is the lack of rites 
for crisis pregnancies, infertility, stillbirths, 
miscarriage."

     The committee consulted with a broad cross-section of 
Episcopalians and with ecumenical partners, Pettingell 
said. It did not change the language in old prayers "unless 
a word has either become so obscure that people don't 
understand the original meaning or unless it's taken on 
some sort of offensive connotations," she noted. "People 
who would rather have a different kind of language can use 
another prayer. That's why we have so many possibilities in 
it, because this is a time where people should really have 
what will most speak to them in sickness and crisis."

Other resolutions recommend:

     *Adding commemorations for nurse and social reformer 
Florence Nightingale, priest and Native American missionary 
Enmegahbowh and Philip the Deacon to the church calendar.

          *Replacing the lectionary of the Book of Common 
Prayer with the Revised Common Lectionary, which is 
becoming the common lectionary among Christian 
denominations.

          *Continuing the Leadership Program for Musicians 
Serving Small Congregations.

--Sharon Sheridan of New Jersey is interim editor of The 
Voice in the Diocese of Newark and is a frequent 
contributor to Episcopal Life. She is on the Convention 
Daily