The Rev. Holly A. Davis of St. John's Episcopal Church in Franklin, Pennsylvania has written to ask about the placement of announcements during the Holy Eucharist. She notes that she find "announcements at the beginning of the Mass to be, sadly, a necessary evil, announcements in the middle to be a disturbing intermission, and at the end anti-climactic to the invitation to 'go into the world.'" She asks about the "history of announcements."
Editions of the Book of Common Prayer from 1552 to 1928 provided for a limited number of announcements between the creed and the sermon hymn. The order of sermon and creed were reversed in 1979, however, requiring some rethinking about the location of announcements. The editors of the 1979 edition of the prayer book decided to allow announcements in one of three places: before the service, before the offertory, and at the conclusion of the service.
The choice from among these locations should be based on the content of the announcements made. Those that concern the service itself ("We will be singing rather than saying the psalm this morning.") belong at the beginning of the service before the opening hymn. Those that concern the ongoing activities of the congregation ("We need volunteers for the food pantry; you can sign up in the parish hall during the coffee hour.") work best at the end of the service. Those that concern the prayers of the people ("We prayed today for Judy today. She suffered a heart attack last Thursday and is at St. Phoebe's Hospital. Keep her in your prayers.") generally work best at the middle or end of the service. I am glad that the prayer book gives us options.
What I find most disruptive is the loading of all announcements at a fixed point in the liturgy without consideration of the content.
There is often another issue involved with announcements. Should they be given by the presiding clergy person or should announcements be given by members of the congregation who are involved in the events they describe? The first choice can theoretically make the announcements more concise and consistent. The second choice, however, can be a wonderful demonstration of the ministry of the laity. Lay announcements can also be very helpful to newcomers, who get to learn about both the activities of the parish and the people to contact to become involved in the activities.
Bob
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
The blessing of Ashes and Palms
I have received a question about what is involved in the blessing of ashes and palms.
The blessing of palms on Palm Sunday is new to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer; there was no equivalent form in previous American or English prayer books.
There were, however, unofficial and semi-official forms in use for much of the 20th century. Offices for Special Occasions (1916), the Book of Offices (1940), and Holy Week Offices (1958) all included forms for the blessing of palms. The first book was the work of two clergy and the last was issued by Massey Shepherd for the Associated Parishes (the liturgical renewal organization that lobbied for the 1979 prayer book). The Book of Offices was the equivalent of today's Book of Occasional Services, authorized by General Convention but not mandatory.
I do not have a copy of Offices for Special Occasions, but I do have the other two volumes. Neither of them includes a form for use on Ash Wednesday.
Episcopalians generally agree about the form of blessing people. The priest or bishop says, "May God Bless you."
The form for the blessing of objects is more complicated. Many would argue that objects are blessed only in a secondary sense--as objects put to use by people, who are the actual recipients of the blessing. Sometimes a linguistic distinction is made between blessing people and sanctifying object for use by people.
The form for palms that appears in Holy Week Offices was framed in this way: "O Lord, send thy blessing upon us who now make our prayer unto thee, and sanctify to our use these branches of palm; that we who bear them in thy name my ever hail him as our King." That is to say, people are to be blessed and objects are to be sanctified for the use by the people who are blessed.
The 1979 Book of Common Prayer form is not as clear as the form in Holy Week Offices, but it follows the same general contours: Let these branches be for us signs of his victory, and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our King, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life." This is a somewhat abbreviate form that leave the request for blessing and sanctification implied. A more complete would be: "bless us and sanctify these branches that they might be signs to us..."
The form for ashes on Ash Wednesday follows the same shortened form as that for the palms. A more complete form would be: "[Bless us and] Grant that these ashes may [be sanctified so as to ] be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence. "
Given the fact that palms are sanctified for use, it would seem logical to re-sanctify them if they changed in form (through burning) and were then put to another use on Ash Wednesday.
Bob
The blessing of palms on Palm Sunday is new to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer; there was no equivalent form in previous American or English prayer books.
There were, however, unofficial and semi-official forms in use for much of the 20th century. Offices for Special Occasions (1916), the Book of Offices (1940), and Holy Week Offices (1958) all included forms for the blessing of palms. The first book was the work of two clergy and the last was issued by Massey Shepherd for the Associated Parishes (the liturgical renewal organization that lobbied for the 1979 prayer book). The Book of Offices was the equivalent of today's Book of Occasional Services, authorized by General Convention but not mandatory.
I do not have a copy of Offices for Special Occasions, but I do have the other two volumes. Neither of them includes a form for use on Ash Wednesday.
Episcopalians generally agree about the form of blessing people. The priest or bishop says, "May God Bless you."
The form for the blessing of objects is more complicated. Many would argue that objects are blessed only in a secondary sense--as objects put to use by people, who are the actual recipients of the blessing. Sometimes a linguistic distinction is made between blessing people and sanctifying object for use by people.
The form for palms that appears in Holy Week Offices was framed in this way: "O Lord, send thy blessing upon us who now make our prayer unto thee, and sanctify to our use these branches of palm; that we who bear them in thy name my ever hail him as our King." That is to say, people are to be blessed and objects are to be sanctified for the use by the people who are blessed.
The 1979 Book of Common Prayer form is not as clear as the form in Holy Week Offices, but it follows the same general contours: Let these branches be for us signs of his victory, and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our King, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life." This is a somewhat abbreviate form that leave the request for blessing and sanctification implied. A more complete would be: "bless us and sanctify these branches that they might be signs to us..."
The form for ashes on Ash Wednesday follows the same shortened form as that for the palms. A more complete form would be: "[Bless us and] Grant that these ashes may [be sanctified so as to ] be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence. "
Given the fact that palms are sanctified for use, it would seem logical to re-sanctify them if they changed in form (through burning) and were then put to another use on Ash Wednesday.
Bob
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)