Anglicans Have Set A Timeline For New Liturgies

I just receive in the mail a magazine type report from the Anglican Church in North America.  I'm not sure what to call it!  It seems to bear the title The Apostle, but it does seem to be a report, rather than a denominational magazine or newsletter.  Further, below the title and the name of the church comes what I suppose is a subtitle, "Ministry In Review."  So, it is, as I said, "a magazine type report" and a review of the ministry of the ACNA.

Within the report, one finds much interesting information, but this blog post is only going to mention two items.

First, as the title of this post indicates, the ACNA has set a timeline for their new liturgies.  -  Many of us have been waiting a long time for the development of their new Book of Common Prayer.  It looks like we will have to continue to wait for some time.  What we do know is that the Ordinal has been produced and is being used throughout the province.  -  I blogged about that back in August, though it was actually made public in June!  -  A copy of the Ordinal can be found, here.

The exciting news is that the task force is working hard on TWO forms of the Holy Eucharist liturgies, and they hope to present them to the College of Bishops at the June 2012 meeting.  Once the bishops approve the liturgies, they will be made available through the ACNA website.  -  So, Eucharistic liturgies may be available as soon as the end of June 2012.  Since this will constitute the primary worship service, this is the liturgy (or liturgies!) for which people are really waiting.

No indication was given as to why two Eucharistic liturgies are being developed, or what the differences may be.  Will it be a matter of contemporary versus Elizabethan English?  Or, will one see some influence of the '79 BCP in one of the liturgies?  -  To the latter suggestion, the report indicates that the "Theological Lens" of the task force has been concerned to root the liturgies of the church "in the tradition of our Anglican heritage while also being accessible to both long-time Anglicans and those new to the tradition."  The report goes on to say that the liturgies "will not be innovative but clearly founded in the historic Anglican Prayer Book tradition."  This last statement makes it sound like those who are used to the '79 BCP will have some adjustments to make.

However, the report also indicates that +Duncan hopes that the liturgies will "commend themselves.  In other words, there will be no coercion."  -  That seems to indicate that the province will not be saying, "This is the book we will be using."  Rather, it seems, that bishops will be allowed to continue approving whatever Prayer Book they choose (e.g., the '28, '79, or Reformed Episcopal version, etc.).  It would be a shame, though, if this new province, as it is trying to continue to coalesce, could not produce a Prayer Book that is seen as common for all ACNA parishes.

The report also indicates that they are working on the liturgy for Baptism and Confirmation, as well.

A second item from the magazine that caught my eye is the Ecumenical Relations report.  It seems that the ACNA, to one degree or another, has had some form of dialogue or conversation with (or are anticipating discussions with) the Eastern Orthodox (via the Orthodox Church in America), The Roman Catholic Church, the new North American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (the only non-Lutheran group with which the Missouri Synod folks have ever dialogued!), the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Messianic Jewish movement, the Assemblies of God, and the Presbyterian Church in America.

I think that it would be great if the Church of the Nazarene would enter into some kind of dialogue with the ACNA.  Nazarenes do not have a great history of these types of dialogue with those beyond our own tradition.  We talk with and partner with Wesleyan-Holiness churches quite a lot.  We are members of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Christian Holiness Partnership (which is now, really defunct, and, in some ways, superseded by the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium, of which we are a part), and the World Methodist Council.

Nevertheless, Nazarenes do have Anglican roots through John Wesley.  Our Articles of Faith have a clear line of decent from the Anglican Articles, as does our ritual for the Lord's Supper.  Further, the Anglicans could see in Nazarenes something of a connection regarding the way that they relate to The Episcopal Church, and the way that Nazarenes relate to The United Methodist Church.  That is to say, certain Anglican priests have been known to indicate that Nazarenes left the Methodists for becoming too liberal, just like they left TEC.  -  Now, I'm not arguing that such a statement is quite accurate, but I would say that there may be some parallels in that Nazarenes are the largest of the Wesleyan-Holiness denominations, and therefore present an alternative expression of Methodism when compared with the UMC.

Such a dialogue could help Nazarenes clarify their muddied understanding of deacons and elders orders, as well as help us begin to more clearly own a Wesleyan understanding of the sacraments and worship.  On the other hand, Anglicans could gain from us in the areas of evangelism and Wesley's understanding of Christian Perfection.  The latter could especially be pointed out in connection to the Collect of Purity.

An Evening with Marva Dawn, Robert Webber & Dan Kimball: Explanation & Comments

(See the previous two posts prior to reading.)

You will notice that we did not spend much time talking about worship. However, for those who are familiar with Robert Webber, you will have noticed that the evening followed his often used analogy of the ancient four-fold pattern of worship. There were rituals of gathering, rituals of communication (service of the Word), rituals of relationship (service of the Table), and rituals of departure.

Bob and Marva were both committed to this pattern. Marva’s commitment went beyond the pattern to the “proper” and “traditional” ways of accomplishing the pattern (e.g., “The Lord be with you,” her insistence that Dan quit playing in his food, and her preference for filet mignon.) Dan was obviously not committed to this pattern, though he was committed to the content of the evening.

You will also notice that Dan showed up early, in that he and the emerging worship movement are “out front, on the cutting edge.” Bob was chasing behind, because he is, self-consciously, trying to help shape some of the emerging worship movement. At the same time, Bob was trying to pull Marva along. I see Robert Webber as trying to be the mediator. Marva Dawn was determined not to be early or late, but right on time. That is also reflected at the conclusion of the evening.

One of the reasons that Dan wasn’t content to be in the living room, though he did still carry on some conversation, was simply to reflect his insistence to be “hands on.” The cross in the mashed potatoes was another attempt to express emerging practices in worship.

One thing that they all had in common was the critique that much of the contemporary “seeker movement,” along with much of the rest of the Church, had lost much of the “meat and potatoes” of the gospel (i.e., the content of worship).

Perhaps obviously, I am in much more agreement with Robert Webber. I want to be open to “new (postmodern?) expressions” of worship, as reflected in the emerging church. However, I am committed to the ancient four-fold pattern. The freedom of expression needs the historic patterns of worship to help guard it from becoming something less than Christian. Unlike Marva Dawn, however, I am much more interested in blending elements and styles within the pattern. I agree with all of them that the true content of worship must be restored.

An Evening with Marva Dawn, Robert Webber & Dan Kimball: The Visit

(See the previous post before reading.)

It was about ten minutes before they were to arrive when the doorbell rang. As I opened the door, I saw Dan Kimball. As I invited him in, I heard someone hollering, “Wait up.” As I looked down the sidewalk, there was Bob Webber running to catch up with Dan, while, at the same time, holding Marva Dawn’s hand, pulling her along.

I said “Hi” and “Welcome” to each one of them, as they arrived, inviting them to come in. Dan immediately headed to the kitchen. Bob, responded to my greeting, and Marva said, “The Lord be with you.” Bob and I said, “And also with you.”

As I invited them into the living room for a moment, I heard Dan holler from the kitchen, “Thanks for inviting us over.” - Bob and Marva sat down with me in the living room. We had a drink and talked a bit about their trip to Greencastle. I could tell that Bob was a bit distracted. He eventually stood up and walked a little closer to the kitchen in order to ask Dan about his trip. As he did so, Marva said, “I just don’t understand why Dan can’t come in here and talk with us.” Bob said, “I have tried to talk with him about that. You know he has a very ‘artsy’ personality and is a bit of a ‘free spirit,’ but I have tried to explain to him that he can still be ‘artsy,’ and that the traditional form can actual help to aid his ‘free spirit.’ Marva responded, “Well, I don’t know about all of that ‘free spirit’ stuff, but he should be in here with the rest of us.”

After some time of small talk, we entered into the dinning room. Dan met us there, bringing some of the dishes with him. (It was obvious that he had already been snacking on some of the dessert.)

During dinner we discussed some of what has happened in the “seeker movement” of the ‘80’s and 90’s. All agreed that much of the content of the gospel had been diminished. Marva was convinced that it was by design, but Bob was not so sure that it was purposeful. Dan didn’t really comment, but we noticed that he was drawing a cross in his mashed potatoes with his fork. Bob said, “That’s a cool cross.” Marva said, “Oh, Dan, quite playing in your food and grow up. - And please use your napkin rather than your sleeve!” - After dinner, all expressed their appreciation for some real meat and potatoes, but Marva did express that she would have preferred fillet mignon, but the roast was still pretty good; certainly a lot better than the hamburgers that so many serve when she comes to dinner.

After what seemed like a short time, Bob looked at his watch and said, “Oh, it’s getting late, and we had better go.” Marva looked at her watch and said, “I told you that we should have left fifteen minutes ago. We got up and headed to the door, but Dan stayed behind for one more helping. Marva was ready to go, but Bob insisted that they wait for Dan. I thanked all of them for coming and expressed that I would love to have them back again. They all expressed appreciation for my invitation, and then headed out the door.

An Evening with Marva Dawn, Robert Webber & Dan Kimball: A Prologue

Recently, I have observed some discussion on and connected to Face Book concerning the "emergent movement," and "Emergent Nazarenes." The "emergents" were identified by "Concerned Nazarenes" as being less than Christian and more than dangerous. Additionally, a very large brush was being used to paint a wide variety of people as being emergent.

The late Robert Webber was included as a part of the (dangerous) emergent movement. First, I considered the labels to be far too general and too broad. Second, I took some issue with what was stated about Webber's role in the emergent movement. I should explain at this point, I have been greatly influenced by Bob Webber and his work, and I do not consider myself to be "emergent."

In the following two posts, I will be presenting a copy of my online response to a question given to one of my D.Min. classes a number of years ago. We were supposed to have imagined having coffee with Dan Kimball, Robert Webber, & Marva Dawn, and describe the conversation that would have taken place concerning worship. My response was nothing profound, but I had a lot of fun and others in the class seemed to enjoy it. - I hope that you do, as well. (I did take some liberties with the question.)