In praise of common rites
From The Revd Kevin O'Donnell Sir: Peter Mullen's article 'Jesus wept' (15 January) was exaggerated and ill-informed at times. The ASB was not meant to replace the Book of Common Prayer, but to supplement it. The fact that it has caught on so widely shows the hunger for change and modernisa- tion which exists in the Church. Further- more, it was never intended to be permanent — it had a lifespan of 20 years. Synod realised that liturgical revision would not remain frozen. New ideas would be needed, and they did not want to be stuck with anoth- er book as a focus of loyalty, as with the BCP.
Common Worship is a curate's egg. It has some strilcing and new ideas, symbols and snappy responses. It could be more literary and poetic at times, I do not deny, and you just can't beat the old BCP for that. Howev- er, Mullen ignores two things. Firstly, some of the language of the BCP is now opaque and misleading — to say 'whose property is always to have mercy' sounds like a semi- detached to some moderns. Our words have changed. And some of the theology is rather scarily primitive — God sends sickness as a trial, for example. The BCP is a period piece, a 16th-century work that is dated and was never meant to be timeless liturgy, as though It had fallen out of the heavens.
Secondly, the BP's structure was rather Odd, being the idiosyncratic work of one, admittedly talented, man. Recent liturgies have gone back to the Early Church and followed that structure. This is seen most clearly in the Eucharist, where the revisers have worked ecumenically, so that the major denominations have communion ser- vices that look and sound very similar. They go back to the structure of early rites and go behind the Reformation squabbles. Remember that the BCP was the product of theology and liturgy done in opposition, not ecumenical consultation.
Lacking in poetic feeling though the modern rites are, they communicate well in today's language, are clearly understood and are an ecumenical initiative. Most peo- ple want them. That's the truth!
Kevin O'Donnell
The Rectory, West Chiltington, West Sussex
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