The Litany: A Gateway to Prayer

By Robin G. Jordan

The Litany, also known as the General Supplication, is the oldest portion of the Book of Common Prayer. It was first published, with its accompanying music, in 1544, as a special supplication for the English nation then at war with France and Scotland. Archbishop Cranmer prepared the Litany at the request of King Henry VIII. It is the oldest liturgical service in the English vernacular.

The Litany has fallen on hard times since the nineteenth century. It has lost favor with Anglican clergy and consequently few Anglican congregations are familiar with it. In A Parson’s Handbook, in a footnote at the bottom of page 249, Percy Dearmer who championed the more frequent use of the Litany in his own day points to the reader’s attention:

There has been a widespread idea that the Litany, so beautiful a part of the Prayer Book, is wearisome, and in consequence a most regrettable tendency to omit it. It may be wearisome when sung in the usual dragging and monotonous way, but not when its beauty is brought out by proper rendering. On Wednesdays and Fridays, and on Festivals (p. 446), the priest may well kneel and read it without note, which takes but little time, and is most devotional. Then on Sundays it can be sung to the beautiful plainsong of the Sarum Processional (The Litany and Suffrages with the Musick from the Sarum Processional: from the Oxford Press, 95 Wimpole Street, W.I), which, of course, should be sung after the manner of good reading, and not in the style of chanting which a modern writer has compared to ‘an elephant waltzing’. In this setting there is some more elaborate music, but only in the anthem and following suffrages, which are sung by the chanters. The points of the service are fully brought out when it is sung to the old tones and properly divided up between chanters, priest, and people; still more, when it is sung in procession, as it may be on ordinary Sundays. In churches where it is usually said or sung at the Litany-desk, it might be sung in procession on Rogation Sunday.

The Litany is very ancient form of prayer, its use in the Christian Church going back as far as the Fourth Century AD. The Litany-form predates Christianity and is found in the Old Testament, in the Book of Psalms. The Litany is longer than other forms of prayer because it is the most comprehensive form of prayer in the Prayer Book. It covers a wide range of concerns. In Everyman’s History of the Book of Common Prayer Percy Dearmer tell us:

Thus the Prayer Book Litany…greatly extends the realm of intercession, stretching out those touching and melodious phrases, which are now of the very marrow of the English language, to all human needs, dangers, sorrows, aspirations, and efforts towards perfection, and ending with the two beautiful supplications in which the people turn at length to pray for their own necessities. In contrast to the weak and selfish spirit of many popular modern devotions, we think proudly of the English Litany, and have a right to be proud of it; for we can turn to the whole world, Christian and otherwise, and say, "This is how we pray, this is how we are taught to think of life and death, of God and man; and this is a service we really use, a popular service, known and loved and understood by all."

He goes on to stress:

We are indeed brought to the mysteries of the Eucharist through a noble gate, through the preparation of that generous, unselfish, and humble intercession for the human race which the Litany has given us; and it is our own fault if our religion falls behind the fullness of the Gospel of Christ.

For this reason the Litany has been called the “Anglican introit.”

In The Protestantism of the Prayer Book Dyson Hague in a description of the general characteristics of Prayer Book services draws attention to the co-operative and participatory character of these services:

The Church of England, to my mind, is unique in this, not in that she recognized the right of the people to participate in the public worship of God, but in that she alone practically has made this participation an accomplished fact. She looks for the co-operation of all the people in all her services. She desires all, not only to have a part, but to have a great part.

This, he notes, is particularly characteristic of the Litany:

The Litany is another wonderful example of a form of supplication in which the priesthood of the people is practically recognized, in making them all draw near to the Throne of Grace, with liberty to speak out before God.

The rubrics of the 1662 Prayer Book direct the Litany “to be sung or said after Morning Prayer upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at other times when it shall be commanded by the Ordinary.”

In A Parson’s Handbook, on page 253, Percy Dearmer points to the reader’s attention:

The Litany is the authorized prelude to the Eucharist, and ought not to be treated as a mere appendage to Mattins; the practice of so regarding it was a gradual result of the neglect to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist.

In a footnote at the bottom of the same page, Dearmer goes on to write:

‘After Morning Prayer’ is only another way of stating what had already been ordered by Elizabeth’s Injunctions of 1559, that the Litany should be said ‘immediately before the time of communion of the Sacrament’ (Cardwell, Doc. Ann., I, p. 187); for Mattins has always been said before the hour of Communion.

The Litany formed with Morning Prayer, Ante-Communion or Holy Communion, Evening Prayer, and Catechizing a regular part of the pattern of worship on Sundays in Anglican churches until the nineteenth century. While contemporary Anglicans accustomed to an hour-long service on Sunday morning and perhaps an adult Christian education hour before the service, this pattern may seem very rigorous and even tedious, it has a long history in the Christian Church and is observed to this day in Eastern Orthodox Churches. Where this pattern has been restored in Anglican churches, and the members of the congregation pray and worship from the heart rather than going through the motions of praying and worshiping, it has transformed the life and worship of the local Anglican church community. It has helped to shift the focus of Sunday away from the churchgoers themselves to God.

In Loyalty to the Prayer Book Percy Dearmer reminds us:

The ideal of the Prayer Book, then, is plain. On Sunday morning, people are to come to church for the Holy Communion, and to hear the sermon. Preparatory to this Service is the Litany, which is the Anglican preparation for Holy Communion, and ought not to be misused: to shift it to the afternoon or evening is to do a grievous wrong to the meaning and order of Divine Service. Some time before the Litany, Mattins is to be said or sung.

The Litany is particularly appropriate in times of war, pestilence, famine, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters. We certainly live in such times. The islands of Japan were just struck by a succession of devastating earthquakes and a tsunami in a twenty-four hour period. The death toll is rising along with the number of reports of missing persons who may have been swept away by the tidal wave. Thousands are without food, shelter, and water. Fires have broken out due to ruptured gas lines, a number of nuclear reactors have malfunctioned, and radiation leaks and one explosion has been reported.

The Litany is traditionally said or sung on the Rogation Days—the three days preceding Ascension Day. They are days of solemn supplication to God for fruitful seasons and a good harvest. Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Injunctions recognized the medieval custom of singing the Litany in procession during Rogationtide. The practice of “beating the bounds of the parish” has continued in a number of churches to this day. The same injunctions direct that the Litany should be said “immediately before the time of communion.”

Due to the penitential nature of the Deprecations, the final Supplication, the Invocations, and Kyrie in the Litany some Anglican churches have adopted the practice of singing the Litany in procession on Sundays in Lent and Advent. In churches that use the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and observe this practice, the Litany ends at the Kyries and replaces all that precedes the salutation and collect. Any setting of the Kyrie may replace that printed with the Litany, and the Prayers of the People are, and the confession may, be omitted. No entrance hymn is appropriate when the Litany is used in the entrance procession of the Eucharist on Sundays of Lent and Advent. John Merbecke’s setting of the Litany is found in The Hymnal 1982 at S 67. Music for the supplication is found in the Accompaniment Edition at S 338 and S 339.

A number of more recent Prayer Books incorporate provisions to keep the Litany from unduly lengthening the service when combined with Morning Prayer or The Holy Communion. These provisions also minimize redundant elements. The General Directions for Publick Worship in the 1926 Irish Prayer Book contains the following provisions:

If Morning Prayer, the Litany, and the Order for the Administration of Holy Communion are used in conjunction, the Minister after Te Deum Laudamus may proceed to the Litany, first saying, Let us pray. In this case, at the Morning Prayer the Minister shall read either the First or Second Lesson of the Day, and in the Litany he shall omit the intercessions from That it may please thee to guard and bless to That it may please thee to give to all nations, inclusive.

The rubrics preceding the Litany in the 1926 Irish Prayer Book contain these provisions:

When the Litany is used as a separate Service, it may be preceded by a Hymn and one of the Lessons of the Day; or when used in conjunction with the Communion Service the Minister may, instead of a Lesson, use one or more of the Sentences appointed to be used at the commencement of the order for Morning Prayer, and then say, Let us pray.

When the Litany is followed by the Communion office, or by that part of it appointed to be used when there is no Communion, it shall be lawful to omit from the Litany the Lord’s Prayer and all that is set down after it. When the Litany is said at any other time, it shall be lawful to omit from it all that follows the Lord’s Prayer, and use one or more of the Occasional Prayers; the whole to conclude with A Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and The grace of, etc.

The rubrics of An Australian Prayer Book(1978) permit the saying or singing of the Litany after the Apostles’ Creed after Morning or Evening Prayer, in which case the remainder of Morning or Evening Prayer may be omitted. If the service of Holy Communion follows, they permit the Litany to be concluded after the last two supplication for ourselves. After the Lord’s Prayer the minister may use other authorized prayers; he may ask the prayers of the congregation for particular persons and needs; he may read the Collect of the Day.

The Notes following the Litany state that the Litany may be said or sung as a separate service; or instead of the last part of Morning or Evening Prayer; or before The Holy Communion. They further state that when The Holy Communion follows the Litany, everything after the last two supplications and the general intercession of The Holy Communion may be omitted.

The Litany does not need an ordained minister to say or sing it. A prayer group might use the Litany to provide structure to their meetings. The person reading the Litany could pause after each petition to give the members of the prayer group an opportunity to name particular intentions silently or aloud before cuing the response—“ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.” After the Lord’s Prayer the members of the prayer group could be given opportunity to ask the prayers of the group for particular persons and needs and to offer spontaneous petitions and thanksgivings. All might join together in reading the General Thanksgiving, followed by a Prayer of St. Chrysostom and the Grace.

Congregations and prayer groups using the Litany from the 1662 Prayer Book may want to add one of the following petitions to the Litany

After the petition for all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons—

That it may please thee to further the work of the Church in all the world, and send forth labourers into thy harvest.
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.[1928 Irish Prayer Book]

or

That it may please thee to send forth labourers into thy harvest. We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.[1928 American Prayer Book]

or

That it may please thee to send forth labourers into thy harvest, to prosper their work by thy Holy Spirit, to make thy saving health to all nations, and to hasten thy kingdom.
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. [1962 Canadian Prayer Book]

Another suitable additions may be a petition for the armed forces (see the 1926 Irish Litany, the 1928 Proposed English Litany, and the 1962 Canadian Litany). The phrase “or by air” may be inserted into the petition for travelers.

The Litany was written for times like ours—times when the Church is troubled by heresy and persecution and the world by disease, famine, natural disaster, and war. I have a vision of Anglicans taking some time from their busy lives to gather together and to pray the Litany. Lent is a good time to start. But let us not confine praying the Litany to Lent. Let us pray it all year round. Let us dip its intercessions and supplications into our hearts and pray them from the heart. Let us also be open to what God says to us as we seek Him in prayer. Let us not forget the words of James, the brother of our Lord.

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (James 2:15-16)

Let us be prepared, having prayed and heard God’s voice, to act upon what God has said to us, to obey the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Who is to say what may come from our prayer?

The Reformed Catholicism of the English Litany

[Editor’s Note: The following account of the history of the English Litany was excerpted from Dyson Hague’s The Protestantism of the Prayer Book.]

As to the Litany, it is not only a wonderfully comprehensive and satisfying service of prayer, a very model of intercessory worship, it is also a striking monument of the Protestantism of our liturgy. The various stages through which it has passed, from its original form in the Roman service, to its form as now used in the Prayer Book, are trustworthy indexes of the various transition periods of our Church. In its Romish form, it need hardly be said, the Litany was full of error. There were in it no less than sixty-two petitions to angels and archangels, men and women, dead and alive. Invocations for intercession were addressed, not only to Mary, Holy Mother of God, to Michael and Gabriel, to angels and archangels, to all the holy order of blessed spirits, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, to martyrs and evangelists, innocents and confessors, but also to St. Laurence, St. Vincent, St. Cosmas, and St. Damian, and to all the holy priests and Levites, all the holy monks and widows, all the holy monks and hermits. Kneeling upon their knees, the congregation would listen in ignorance and superstition, while there rolled forth in an unknown tongue, from the lips of the priest and the choir, such petitions as these —

“Sancta Maria, Ora pro nobis”

“Sancte Abel, Ora pro nobis,”

“Omnes sancti Dei, Orate pro nobis,”—

petitions, it need scarcely be added, as unedifying to the Church, as they were unintelligible to the suppliants.

The year 1544 marks the second stage of the Litany. It is a year worthy to be held in grateful remembrance from generation to generation of Protestant Englishmen; for in that year, 1544, thanks, under God, to the untiring vigilance of Archbishop Cranmer, prayers were used for the first time in the English tongue. “Hitherto, the people had understood no part of such prayers and suffrages as were used to be said or sung,” but now, by royal mandate, it is enjoined that certain prayers and suffrages are to be said in the language of the people.

It was certainly a most momentous innovation; it was, in fact, a national revolution. It gave a new character to the Church and the nation. It broke the spell of Popery; it established the Protestantism of England. Simply, and quietly, yet most effectually, it brought back again to primitive usage the forms of public devotion, and the religious sentiment of the people. The English Litany now introduced by authority, though substantially differing from the Roman in that it was in the English tongue and contained much new matter, was marred by many unscriptural features. While the numerous petitions to the monks and hermits, and other saints of the Roman Canon, were omitted, petitions still remained to Mary and the angels.

“St. Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.”

“All holy angels and archangels, and all holy orders of blessed spirits, pray for us.”

“All holy patriarchs, and prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, and all the blessed company of Heaven, pray for us.”

However, on the whole, it was a worthy monument of Cranmer's evangelical zeal, and of the ripening Protestantism of the English Church.

The reign of Edward the Sixth witnessed the Litany issuing forth from its final revision as pure gold refined in the furnace. Not only were all the invocations to saints and angels finally and summarily disposed of; not only was the petition, “ by the intercession of thy saints turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved,” omitted from the Collect at the end; not only were numerous petitions, breathing the most fervent spirit of evangelical truth, inserted; but the whole was remodelled and adjusted to meet the ever varying and perpetual needs of the hungering and thirsting spiritual mind. The most devout and loyal Christian can find nothing in it that, being weighed in the balance of scriptural truth, will be found faulty or wanting.

Why then, perchance some one will ask, was that grand old petition omitted, “From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities, Good Lord, deliver us”? For the simple reason, in truth, that it was no longer necessary. Finally and wholly, the Church of England had been delivered from Rome's accursed thralldom. The declaration of the King's supremacy had as completely demolished Rome's political despotism, as the establishment of the Reformed religion had abolished her spiritual despotism. What need, then, for the free man to pray that he might be freed from a yoke which he no longer wore, and from a chain which God's grace had snapped asunder?

An Ashless Ash Wednesday for Anglicans

In the sixteenth century the English Reformers abolished the imposition of ashes on the heads of parishioners on Ash Wednesday due to the superstitious beliefs that had become associated with the practice. The practice was too closely tied the Medieval doctrines of attrition, auricular confession, contrition, priestly absolution, and penance.

The imposition of ashes was not reintroduced into the Church of England and her daughter churches until the nineteenth century and then by the Ritualists. It was one of the errors in doctrine, practice, and ritual that the Romeward Movement revived to make the Anglican Church more like the Roman Catholic Church in the hopes that they would help to affect a reunion between the Church of England and the Church of Rome.

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer popularized the practice in the Episcopal Church in the closing decades of the twentieth century.

The following articles on Ashes, Ash Wednesday, Fasting, and Lent are taken from A Protestant Dictionary, which was published under the auspices of the Protestant Reformation Society in 1904, and was compiled for Evangelicals in the Church of England and the Church of Ireland.

ASHES. Used for sprinkling persons by the Romish Church. Before use, the ashes are dedicated previously by a special prayer offered by a bishop. In that prayer, invocation is made to God "that whosoever shall sprinkle themselves with these ashes for the redemption of their sins may obtain health of body and protection of soul."

ASH-WEDNESDAY. A mediaeval title given to the first day of Lent. It had formerly two names: (1) "Caput jejunii," the "head of the fast," and (2) "Dies cinerum." The forty days of Lent, being appointed in memory of our Lord s fast in the wilderness as a season of abstinence, date from the Wednesday of the first week, because it was never the custom to fast on Sundays, and in this way the full number of forty is made up. The name of "Ash-Wednesday" was given in reference to an ancient discipline, described by Gratian, according to which penitents had to appear before the Bishop and Clergy clothed in sack cloth. The seven penitential Psalms were then sung, after which ashes were thrown upon them, and they covered their heads with sackcloth. The Church of England, however, has in no way retained or sanctioned those superstitions. By the Scriptures appointed to be read and the prayers to be used, she has rather exhibited the true ideal of a fast. The old title of Ash-Wednesday is only employed as an alternative for the " first day of Lent," because before the Reformation it was "commonly so called." The revival of such practices is therefore entirely foreign to her prescribed ritual and is illegal.

FASTING. There is no command to fast in the New Testament. In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord, speaking to Jews who were then accustomed to fast, says : "When thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face ; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly (Matt. vi. 17, 18). Under the Old Testament there was but one fast distinctly enjoined namely, "the fast" on the great day of atonement (Lev. xvi. 29-31), which is referred to in Acts xxvii. 9. Other fasts were, however, enjoined on special occasions by the direction of the civil or religious authorities (e.g. Jer, xxxvi. 9). After the destruction of the Jewish State fasts became more numerous (Zech. vii. 5). But when the Lord was inquired of concerning those fasts, the answer given by the prophet Zechariah showed that those fasts were neither enjoined nor forbidden, and that persons were at liberty to make use of such days or not, according as they found fasting beneficial or otherwise to themselves; such acts not being regarded as in themselves meritorious in the sight of God (Zech. vii. 5/.). The Lord, by the mouth of Isaiah (ch. Iviii. 5-7), asks, " Is it such a fast that I have chosen ? a day for a man to afflict his soul ? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him ? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord ? Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness ; to undo the heavy burdens? . . . Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? "

Our Lord' s teaching concerning the times most suitable for fasting is set forth in the following passage : " Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bride groom is with them ? but the days will come, wen the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast" (Matt. ix. 15), which passage has been explained by the Church of England in her Homily of Fasting, Part II., as follows: "Ye shall note, that so long as God revealeth His mercy unto us, and giveth us of His benefits, either spiritual or corporal, we are said to be with the Bridegroom at the marriage. . . . But the marriage is said then to be ended, and the Bridegroom to be gone, when Almighty God smiteth us with affliction, and seenieth to leave us in the midst of a number of adversities. So God sometimes striketh private men privately with sundry adversities, as trouble of mind, loss of friends, loss of goods, long and dangerous sicknesses, & c. Then it is a fit time for that man to humble himself to Almighty God by fasting, and to mourn and bewail his sins with a sorrowful heart. . . . Again, when God shall afflict a whole region or country with wars, with famine, with pestilence . . . and such other calamities, then is it time for all states and sorts of people . . . to humble themselves by fasting, and bewail their sinful living before God."

The principle here laid down can be exemplified from Scripture histories. David fasted when his child was sick (2 Sam. xii. 16) ; Esther, with her maidens, fasted ere she went in to Ahasuerus (Esth. iv. 16) ; Ezra fasted at the river of Ahava (Ezra viii. 21); Daniel set himself to seek the Lord by prayer and fasting (Dan. ix. 3). Christ said of certain demons, "This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting" (Mark ix. 29), but the oldest MSS. omit the words "and fasting." (See R.V. and marginal note on Matt. xvii. 21.) And prior to the solemn ordination of elders, Paul and Barnabas "prayed with fasting" (Acts xiv. 23).

Our Lord Himself fasted forty days and forty nights, but during that time He did not experience the pangs of hunger. The Gospels which record the Temptation, all call attention to that fact. St. Matthew says, " He was afterward an hungered " (Matt. iv. 2). St. Mark does not mention the fasting (Mark i. 12, 13). St. Luke says of those days, "And when they were ended, He afterward hungered." The forty days appear, therefore, to have been spent in rapt ecstasy and contemplation. The actual temptation occurred at the close of that period.

Fasting, therefore, appears to be of value only when employed for the purpose of giving oneself up to continuous prayer, while abstinence from special kinds of food is nowhere enjoined or recommended in Scripture, although Daniel, in his penitential sorrow of three weeks, abstained from all pleasant food (Dan. x. 2, 3). St. Paul alludes to the "commanding to abstain from meats" as a mark of the apostasy (1 Tim. iv. 3), and a sign of weak faith in persons who attached importance to such trifling matters. " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost " (Rom. xiv. 17, and the whole of that chapter). In fine, when fasting is employed in order to be able to spend the time in prayer, it may be recommended ; but abstinence from food as a means of punishing the body and laying up " merit " is to be strongly condemned. An abstinence from certain food may be useful for "bodily exercise" or discipline "bodily exercise profiteth a little," or "for a little while " (1 Tim. iv. 8) such exercise has occasionally been useful, but is not to be regarded as really a spiritual work.

The prohibition to eat meat on fast days, prescribed by the statute 2 & 3 Edward VI., c. 19, which may be alluded to in " the Tables and Rules " attached to the Book of Common Prayer which mentions " the Fasts, and Days of Abstinence to be observed in the year," is further dwelt on in the Homily on Fasting, Part II., which states that the statute of Edward VI. referred to, was framed for political reasons. It was " in consideration of the maintaining of fisher-towns bordering upon the seas, and for the increase of fishermen, of whom do spring mariners to go upon the sea, to the furnishing of the navy of the realm. . . . Such laws of princes and other magistrates are not made to put holiness in one kind of meat and drink more than another, to make one day more holy than another, but are grounded merely upon policy," namely, as afterwards explained, for the increase and support of the English navy, and "for the sooner reducing of victuals to a more moderate price, to the better sustenance of the poor." [C. H. H. W.]

LENT. The word is derived either from the A.S. lencten (spring), or from the Dutch lenten (to make mild), the severity of winter being then relaxed. Lent is a period of forty days in the spring, immediately before Easter, prescribed as a time of fasting. The Greek and Latin names for Lent simply indicate the number of its days. Lent is asserted to have been of early, and even of Apostolic origin, but, had the latter been the case, some allusion would have been made to it in the New Testament. But in the New Testament there is no fast prescribed, nor even a positive exhortation to fasting (see FASTING). Our Lord s declaration in the A.V. concerning the boy possessed with an unclean spirit, is often quoted that "this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting" (Matt. xvii. 21; Mark ix. 29). All the best MSS., however, omit the entire verse in the account in St. Matthew, and the word " fasting " in that of St. Mark (see R.Y.). The same omission is made by the R.V. on MS. authority with regard to the word "fasting" in two other verses, viz., Acts x. 30 ; 1 Cor. vii. 5. That the oldest MSS. should agree in omitting all reference to fasting in four passages in the New Testament, where fasting was supposed to be mentioned, is highly suggestive of interpolations made in the sacred text to suit the ideas of a non-Apostolic Age.

The forty days of Lent are often said to have been instituted as a fast in memory of our Lord's "fast" of a similar period in the wilderness. But the Lord passed that period in a state of exalted spiritual meditation or ecstasy, for St. Matthew distinctly states that Christ s hunger was subsequent to the forty days, "When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred" (Matt. iv. 2). Lent had originally no real connection with the forty days fast in the desert. Lent seems to have been first established by a Pope, about A.D. 130, to be a tithe of the year (thirty-six days only), and was for centuries confined to that period. When the additional four days were added is not certain, probably not till the time of Pope Gregory II., who died in 731.

Our Lord, in Matt. ix. 15, indicated that the providential circumstances of life were the true guide as to seasons of fasting. Cassian, a disciple of Chrysostom in the fifth century, contrasting the Primitive Church with that of his own day, said, " It ought to be known that the observance of the forty days had no existence so long as the perfection of that Primitive Church remained inviolate." Lent helped in later times to increase the power of the priests. For in the Roman and Eastern Churches dispensations which permit the eat ing of meat on fast days may be obtained for a money payment, and fines are levied on those who break the Church law by eating meat on such days without a dispensation. See FASTING. [M. E. W. J.]

To read An Homily of Good Works: and First of Fasting, click here.

If No Ashes, Then What…?

The Commination is a substitute for the Reconciliation of Penitents on Ash Wednesday, a rite associated with the Medieval practices of auricular confession, priestly absolution, and acts of penance. The 51st Psalm, the suffrages, and the two collects that follow them, are taken from the Mediaeval form, which dates from about the 12th century, and did not apply to penitents in particular, but to all the faithful, upon whose heads ashes were placed, up till the Reformation. The opening part of the Commination, which forms the rest of the service, was added in the 1549 Prayer Book. The service is appointed to be said immediately after the Litany. The service was revised in the 1662 Prayer Book and the language altered.

The Commination is a service that has been subject to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. The following article from A Protestant Dictionary and accompanying excerpt from Dyson Hague’s The Protestantism of the Prayer Book address common misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

COMMINATION. A threatening. The name is applied to a service in the Prayer Book to be used on the first day of Lent and at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint. It is sometimes ignorantly and flippantly objected that members of the Church of England meet at this service to curse their neighbours, but the alternative title of the service is the " Denouncing of God s Anger and Judgments against Sinners." What is read is " the general sentences of God s cursing" not man s "against impenitent sinners " taken from His Word. It is also objected that the "godly discipline " referred to in the opening address as having existed "in the Primitive Church" dates only from about the ninth century, and that its restoration is not " much to be wished " as the service asserts that it is. But these words evidently refer only to the discipline of the early Church, not to the superstitious practices of later ages. The "open penance " in the address excludes the idea of private "Auricular Confession." The ceremony of applying ashes to penitents, revived by some Ritualists, is a Jewish superstition which has no sanction in the Prayer Book and is illegal (see Whitehead, p. 242). Still, the service as here prescribed has been often found edifying. The opening exhortation is mpressive, the recitation of the fifty-first Psalm kneeling appropriate and helpful, and the other prayers are such as Christians can join in with devotion. The service is omitted from the American and the Spanish versions of the Prayer Book, but has been partially reinstated in the former. It is retained in the Irish Prayer Book, but the reference to the restoration of discipline has been expunged. The Office was composed by our Reformers. [M. E. W. J.]

The Commination Service alone remains. With regard to the Commination Service, whatever opinions men may have as to its usefulness, it certainly cannot be held amenable to the accusation of Popery, The ceremonial of the benediction of the ashes has been discarded, and all is simple, natural, and plain. Nor is it, as some men have carelessly asserted, a service for cursing our neighbors. No man curses any one. It were impious to do so in the face of the Master's prohibition, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." The minister simply reads out "the general sentences of God's cursing against impenitent sinners" — a very different thing — that the man that maketh any carved image, curseth father and mother, etc., is cursed ; that is, the wrath of God abideth on him as long as he remains impenitent; and the people admit the righteousness and reality of that judgment by answering, Amen ! As to the exhortation that follows, we question whether in the whole compass of the Prayer Book there is to be found an address more fervent, more scriptural, more touching in its pathos, more searching in its appeal, and one that is more calculated to arouse the impenitent, and lead unconverted souls to Christ. From first to last it breathes the spirit of the yearning Christ, and is wholly interpenetrated with the purity of evangelical fervor. Herein is nothing of priestly absolution, sacramental efficacy, or reception into the fold of the Church. There may be, and are, lost, unconverted, and unregenerate souls, and in pleading, simple tones, it exhorts the hearer to turn to God ere it be too late, to come for pardon and newness of life, not to the priest, nor to the sacrament, but to Christ, the alone Advocate and Mediator.

To read the service in the 1559 Elizabethan Prayer Book, click here.
To read the service in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, click here.
To read the service in the 1926 Irish Prayer Book, click here.
To read a contemporary English version of the service, click here.
To click an alternative contemporary English version of the service, click here.

A Penitential Service

To be used on the first day of Lent, and at other times as the Bishop shall appoint.

[Editor's note: This service is to be used on the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday), and at other times as the ordinary shall appoint. It is taken from Alternative Services (2009), and is a modern English version of 'A Penitential Service’ from the 1956 Free Church of England Prayer Book ]

This service may be used after Morning or Evening Prayer, or after the Litany if the Litany follows Morning or Evening Prayer. It may be used as a part of the Second Alternative Form of Morning and Evening Worship, in which case it may replace the General Confession, the declaration of forgiveness, and the Prayers. It may also be used as a separate service.

When A Penitential Service is used as a separate service, it may be preceded by a Psalm, canticle, or hymn and one of the readings of the day.

The minister says

Brothers and sisters, let us draw near to our Lord God, with all contrition and meekness of heart mourning and lamenting our sinful life, acknowledging and confessing our offences, and seeking to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Although we have sinned, yet we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities. Let us therefore return to him, who is the merciful receiver of all true penitent sinners, assuring our selves that he is ready to receive us, and most willing to pardon us, if we come to him, with faithful repentance, if we will submit our selves to him, and from that moment on walk in his ways; if we will take his easy yoke, and light burden upon us, to follow him in lowliness, patience, and charity, and be ordered by the governance of his Holy Spirit, seeking always his glory, and serving him duly in our vocation with thanksgiving.

All kneel and say this Psalm

Misere mei deus (Psalm 51:1-17)

Have mercy on me, O God, in your great goodness;
according to the abundance of your compassion
blot out my offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
So that you are justified in your sentence
and righteous in your judgment.
I have been wicked even from my birth,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
Behold, you desire truth deep within me
and shall make me understand wisdom
in the depths of my heart.
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean;
wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear of joy and gladness,
that the bones you have broken may rejoice.
Turn your face from my sins
and blot out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your salvation
and sustain me with your gracious spirit;
Then shall I teach your ways to the wicked
and sinners shall return to you.
Deliver me from my guilt, O God,
the God of my salvation,
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
For you desire no sacrifice, else I would give it;
you take no delight in burnt offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Then the minister says

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. AMEN.

or

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. AMEN.

Lord, save your servants,
who put their trust in you.

Lord, send them help from your holy place,
and evermore defend them.

Help us, O God, our Savior;
and for the glory of your Name deliver us;
be merciful to us sinners, for your name’s sake.

Lord, hear our prayer,
and let our cry come to you.

Let us pray.

O Lord, we implore you to mercifully hear our prayers, and spare all those who confess their sins to you, that they (whose consciences by sin are accused) by your merciful pardon may be absolved; through Christ our Lord. AMEN.

O Most mighty God, and merciful Father, you have compassion upon all people, and hate nothing that you have made: you do not desire the death of sinners, but rather that they should turn from sin, and be saved: mercifully forgive us our offenses, and comfort us, who are grieved and wearied with the burden of our sin. Your property is to have mercy, to you alone belong the forgiveness of sins: spare us therefore good Lord; spare your people whom you have redeemed. Enter not into judgment with your servants, who are vile dust, and miserable sinners, but so turn your anger from us who meekly acknowledge our vileness, and truly repent of our faults: so make haste to help us in this world, that we may ever live with you in the world to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

All say

Turn us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned. Be favorable O Lord, be favorable to your people, who turn to you, in weeping, fasting, and praying, for you are a merciful God, full of compassion, long suffering, and of a great pity. You spare us when we deserve punishment, and in your wrath you think upon mercy, spare your people good Lord, spare them, and let not your heritage be brought to confusion: hear us O Lord for your mercy is great, and after the multitude of your mercies, look upon us; through the merits and mediation of your blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Then the minister alone says

The Lord bless us and keep us; the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace, now and for evermore. AMEN.

A Commination, or Denouncing of God s Anger and Judgments against Sinners.

[Editor's note: This service is to be used on the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday), and at other times as the ordinary shall appoint. It is taken from An American Prayer Book (2009) and is a modern English adaptation of 'A Commination' from the 1559 Elizabethan Prayer Book and the 1662 Restoration Prayer Book.]

This service may be used after Morning or Evening Prayer, or after the Litany if the Litany follows Morning or Evening Prayer. It may be used as a part of the Second Alternative Form of Morning and Evening Worship, in which case it may replace the General Confession, the Absolution (or declaration of forgiveness), and the Prayers. It may also be used as a separate service.

When A Penitential Service is used as a separate service, it may be preceded by a Psalm, canticle, or hymn and one of the readings of the day.

The minister says

Brothers and sisters, there has been, from ancient times, a godly custom in the Church, that, at the beginning of Lent, Christian people should be warned and reminded in a special manner, of the wrath of God revealed by heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, in order that they may take to heart their own sinfulness and continuing need to turn to God, and not become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It is therefore fitting, that at this time (in the presence of you all) should be read the general sentences of God’s cursing against impenitent sinners, gathered out of the twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy, and other places of Scripture; and that you should answer to every sentence, Amen: to the intent that, being admonished of the great indignation of God against sinners, you may be moved to sincere and true repentance, and may walk more warily in these dangerous days, fleeing from such vices, for the which you affirm with your own mouths, the curse of God to be due.

Then the minister says.

Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of craftsman, and sets it up in secret. AMEN
Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father and his mother. AMEN
Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor’s landmark. AMEN.
Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road. AMEN.
Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.AMEN.
Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret. AMEN.
Cursed be anyone who lies with his neighbor’s wife. AMEN
Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood. AMEN.
Cursed be anyone who puts his trust in man, and takes man for his defense, and in his heart departs from the Lord. AMEN.
Cursed be the unmerciful, the sexually immoral, and the greedy, the idolaters, slanderers, drunkards, and swindlers. AMEN.

Then the minister says

Now seeing that all are accursed (as the Prophet David bears witness) who err, and wander from the commandments of God, let us (remembering the dreadful judgment hanging over our heads, and being always at hand) return to our Lord God, with all contrition and meekness of heart mourning and lamenting our sinful life, acknowledging and confessing our offences, and seeking to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Even now is the axe laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit, is cut down and thrown into the fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God: he shall rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Then, on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment shall be revealed, shall appear the wrath that those with a hard and impenitent heart are storing up for themselves, who presumed upon the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience, by which he meant to lead them to repentance. Then they will call upon me, says the Lord, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently but will not find me. And because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, it shall be too late to knock, when the door shall be shut, and too late to cry for mercy, when it is the time of justice. O terrible voice of most just judgment, which shall be pronounced upon them, when it shall be said to them: “Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Let us, brothers and sisters, take heed in good time, for now is the day of salvation. Night is coming when no one can work; but let us while we have the light, believe in the light, that we may become sons of light; that we may not be caste into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let us not abuse the goodness of God, who calls us mercifully to amendment, and of his endless pity promises us forgiveness of that which is past, if (with a whole mind and true heart) we return to him. Though our sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone (declares the Lord God) so turn and live. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities. Let us therefore return to him, who is the merciful receiver of all true penitent sinners, assuring our selves that he is ready to receive us, and most willing to pardon us, if we come to him, with faithful repentance, if we will submit our selves to him, and from that moment on walk in his ways; if we will take his easy yoke, and light burden upon us, to follow him in lowliness, patience, and charity, and be ordered by the governance of his Holy Spirit, seeking always his glory, and serving him duly in our vocation with thanksgiving. If we do this, Christ will deliver us from the curse of the law, and from the extreme malediction, that shall alight upon those who shall be set on the left hand. And he will set us on his right hand, and give us the blessed benediction of his Father, commanding us to take possession of his glorious kingdom; to which he condescends to bring us all, out of his infinite mercy. Amen.

All kneel and say this Psalm.

Misere mei deus (Psalm 51:1-17)

Have mercy on me, O God, in your great goodness;
according to the abundance of your compassion
blot out my offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
So that you are justified in your sentence
and righteous in your judgment.
I have been wicked even from my birth,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
Behold, you desire truth deep within me
and shall make me understand wisdom
in the depths of my heart.
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean;
wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear of joy and gladness,
that the bones you have broken may rejoice.
Turn your face from my sins
and blot out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your salvation
and sustain me with your gracious spirit;
Then shall I teach your ways to the wicked
and sinners shall return to you.
Deliver me from my guilt, O God,
the God of my salvation,
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
For you desire no sacrifice, else I would give it;
you take no delight in burnt offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Then the minister says

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. AMEN.

or

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. AMEN.

Lord, save your servants,
who put their trust in you.

Lord, send them help from your holy place,
and evermore defend them.

Help us, O God, our Savior;
and for the glory of your Name deliver us;
be merciful to us sinners, for your name’s sake.

Lord, hear our prayer,
and let our cry come to you.

Let us pray.

O Lord, we implore you to mercifully hear our prayers, and spare all those who confess their sins to you, that they (whose consciences by sin are accused) by your merciful pardon may be absolved; through Christ our Lord. AMEN.

O Most mighty God, and merciful Father, you have compassion upon all people, and hate nothing that you have made: you do not desire the death of sinners, but rather that they should turn from sin, and be saved: mercifully forgive us our offenses, and comfort us, who are grieved and wearied with the burden of our sin. Your property is to have mercy, to you alone belongs the forgiveness of sins: spare us therefore good Lord, spare your people whom you have redeemed. Enter not into judgment with your servants, who are vile dust, and miserable sinners, but so turn your anger from us who meekly acknowledge our vileness, and truly repent of our faults: so make haste to help us in this world, that we may ever live with you in the world to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

All say

Turn us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned. Be favorable O Lord, be favorable to your people, who turn to you, in weeping, fasting, and praying, for you are a merciful God, full of compassion, long suffering, and of a great pity. You spare us when we deserve punishment, and in your wrath you think upon mercy, spare your people good Lord, spare them, and let not your heritage be brought to confusion: hear us O Lord for your mercy is great, and after the multitude of your mercies, look upon us; through the merits and mediation of your blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Then the minister alone says

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace, both now and evermore. AMEN.

The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century

By Robin G. Jordan

What are the challenges that we face as Anglican Christians in the twenty-first century? I have identified fifteen challenges. I believe that they represent only the tip of the iceberg. Many more challenges lie submerged and out of sight

One challenge we face is an Anglican Church that is deeply divided over what is Anglican orthodoxy. This division was clearly evident in the absence of fifteen primates from the last Primates’ Meeting. The issue of Anglican orthodoxy not only divides the provinces of the Anglican Communion but also the different Anglican bodies in North America. It divides the newer Anglican bodies internally although these bodies have yet to recognize and acknowledge its existence, much less its problematic nature and the extent and seriousness of the problem.

The Roman Catholic Church is taking advantage of the Anglican Church’s divisions with the erection of the Anglican Ordinariates. Roman Catholics are actively urging Anglo-Catholics to desert the Anglican Church for the Roman Catholic Church and disparaging the Catholicism of Anglo-Catholics reluctant to leave the Anglican Church.

A second challenge we face is a resurgent Islam and Islamic extremism. We see growing Muslim populations in Western countries that were formerly Christian but have succumbed to secularism. These populations are supplying Islamic extremists with fresh recruits in their campaign of jihad against the West. They are forcing beds for jihadism.

A third challenge we face is an aggressive form of atheism that is simply not content to disbelieve in God but is intent upon spreading its disbelief. In the United States the Center for Inquiry has launched a multimedia ad campaign declaring that atheists and the nonreligious can live good, meaningful lives without God. "You don't need God – to hope, to care, to love, to live," the ad states. The Center for Inquiry is a humanist group that seeks to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.

A fourth challenge we face is a growing secularism that champions equality over religious freedom and shows a decidedly unfriendly face to Christianity. The United Kingdom is feeling its impact from a recent High Court case in which the judges ruled that Great Britain is a multicultural secular nation in which equality rights take precedence over liberty of religious opinion. Christian couples who on the basis of their religious convictions cannot teach the acceptability of homosexuality and homosexual practice and sexual relations outside of marriage have been barred from fostering children in their homes.

A fifth challenge we face is political unrest in the Mid-East. Pro-democracy movements have toppled Tunisia and Egypt’s longstanding leaders and are seeking to drive Libya’s Mommar Gadhafi from power. There is a very serious likelihood that Islamic extremist will capitalize upon this unrest to establish Islamist regimes in these countries.

A sixth challenge we face is the intensification of the persecution of Christians in predominantly Muslim countries or in countries with substantial Muslim populations like Nigeria. Earlier this week Islamist extremists murdered Pakistan’s Minister for Minorities, a Christian, shooting him down in the street. The murdered man had advocated the reform of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which Muslims have abused to pursue grudges against Pakistan’s minority Christian population. The Communist Party and the Chinese government have ratcheted up their persecution of Christians in China. Militant Hindu groups continue their attacks on Christians in India.

A seventh challenge we face the rapid growth of technology in and outside of the United States, a revolution in communication, and the tremendous impact it is having upon Western culture and the larger world. It is predicted that by the middle of the Twenty-First Century computer technology will become so advanced that artificial intelligence will become a reality. This prediction conjures up images of Skynet and the deadly killer robots of the Terminator movies, as well as the robot rebellion of I, Robot.

Whatever the future may hold for the human race, the technology explosion of today is altering lives in ways we do not fully understand or appreciate. It is having both a positive impact and a negative impact upon churches.

An eighth challenge we face is a struggling economy, reduced incomes, and rising food and fuel prices. This has not only led to a reduction of family and individual giving to churches but has also led to a similar reduction of the distance that families and individuals are willing to drive to a church of their choice. More and more churches are unable to afford a full-time paid professional pastor. The travel expenses of pastors serving two or more yoked churches have skyrocketed. Rather than attending churches closer to home, families and individuals have stopped going to church altogether. The higher cost of fuel is particularly affecting the rural church serving low-density population areas in which the population is widely scattered.

A ninth challenge we face is the prospect of overpopulation, the growing scarcity of arable land and water for irrigation, and widespread famine around the world. As fossil fuels become scarcer and the transportation of foodstuffs more difficult, Western countries like Canada, the European Union, and the United States, which import fruit, vegetables, and other foods from Third-World countries, will also experience food shortages. Third-World countries presently supplying Western countries may stop selling produce to the Western countries and divert land use to growing crops to feed their starving and increasingly turbulent populations.

A tenth challenge we face is the continuing urbanization of our society as more and more people flock to the cities. This mass migration to the cities is draining the population of rural areas and impacting the lives of the people remaining in these areas. It is reducing the quality of living both in the cities and the rural areas. Among the results of this population shift is that unchurched population of the cities is growing while the constituencies from which the rural church drew its members are disappearing. With them are disappearing the rural church’s financial base and its source of church leaders and volunteers.

An eleventh challenge we face is the real or imagined prospect of global warming due to natural or human causes and a public divided into two camps—believers and skeptics. If it is indeed real, then it is going to impact our lives in ways that we may not imagine. Among the possible consequences are rising oceans, the loss of arable land to the sea, and the incursion of salt water into river estuaries.

A twelfth challenge is the changes through which our society is going—the breakdown of community and family and the isolation of individuals from each other, the radicalization of politics, the normalization of homosexuality and other forms of sexual orientation (considered to be forms of sexual deviancy by the psychiatric community in the last century and still considered to be forms of sexual immorality by Christians, Jews, and Muslims), and the disinterest in and even antipathy toward organized religion.

A thirteenth challenge is a large aging population of Boomers and the divide between this population and the younger generations, the insolvency of the social security system, the rising cost of health care and the very real possibility of health care rationing and mandatory euthanasia.

A fourteenth challenge is the price of real estate, the cost of construction, and a spate of church foreclosures that has churches reconsidering plans to buy land and construct a building. Zoning laws are preventing churches from leasing buildings or even meeting in apartments or houses. The church with its own building is becoming a thing of the past.

A fifteenth challenge is competition from other denominations and other religions. While two of the largest Christian denominations—the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church—are losing ground in the United States, cults like the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are gaining ground. The rate at which Wicca and other forms of Neo-Paganism is growing in North America is not yet documented.

The Anglican Church faces other challenges. One challenge I did not include in this list is the spiritual myopia of Anglicans in North America. We cannot see beyond our noses. We face a number of the Anglican Church’s toughest challenges and we choose to adopt a 1950s style of ministry and worship that ill-suited to the challenges that we face. The world is changing rapidly around us, and we act as if The Honeymooners is still on TV and TVs have black and white pictures and antennas on the roof. It is time for Anglicans to face up to reality. Ozzie and Harriet are dead and Beaver is in his early sixties. There is no going back.

If Anglicans are going to serve the cause of the gospel in the new millennium, they need to start thinking out of the box. They need to stop thinking in terms of dioceses, parish churches, full-time paid professional clergy, chancel choirs, and Sunday schools—what has for Anglicans been the conventional church. Retreating to the familiar is not the way to cope with a changing world. The conventional church model is not the best model for these times. It is going to work in fewer places and with fewer people. Some Anglicans may be content for the Anglican Church to become smaller not only in size but also in impact as longs as things do not change. They remain—at least from the standpoint of these Anglicans—as they have always been.

In the sixteenth century the English Reformers undertook the reform of the Church of England. The primary reason that they undertook this reform was so that the English Church would once more serve the cause of the gospel. They stripped away everything that they believed would prevent it from accomplishing that purpose and retained what they thought would help it carryout the same purpose.

They restored the Bible to a central place in the teaching and life of the Church of England. They recovered the gospel of divine grace and did away with the Medieval beliefs and practices that had displaced it—purgatory, the sale of indulgences, the invocation of saints, the sacrifice of Masses, and prayers for the dead.

They retained elements of the Medieval Church—bishops, archdeacons, rural deans, the parish system, and the ecclesiastical courts, believing that they could serve the gospel cause. They kept the liturgy and thoroughly reformed it.

We need to undertake the reform of the Anglican Church in our own day. This reformation must be both church-wide and local. In some areas changes need to be made at the denominational level, for example, changes in the recruitment, training, deployment, and licensing of clergy. In other areas they need to be made in a particular church, in a particular community. A church may need to rethink how it does gospel ministry.

One thing that should be on the top of our list is the recovery of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone. It was for their support of this doctrine and their rejection of the Medieval doctrines of the eucharistic sacrifice and the substantive presence of Christ in the eucharistic elements that Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and others suffered martyrdom. It was the linchpin of the English Reformation as it was for the Continental Reformation. If North American Anglicans cannot agree on this doctrine, it does not matter whether they agree on other basic Christian doctrines.

While fronted with numerous challenges, Anglican Christians are also faced with numerous opportunities. God has put the world’s largest English-speaking mission field right outside the front door of North American Anglicans. They live and work in it. It encompasses their friends, relatives, neighbors, colleagues, and fellow students. This is the mission field in which God has placed them and it is in this mission field that God expects most of them to serve Him—to fulfill the Great Commission.

Jesus said go out into the world and make known the good news to everybody. He did not say this just to the disciples, to the clergy of his future Church, to the more zealous of her members. He said it to the whole Church—to all Christians in all places in all times.

When your parents presented you for baptism, they dedicated you to God and set you apart for God’s service. When you presented yourself for confirmation, you ratified the vows they made at your baptism and said, “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”

You did not sign on to be a hearer of sermons. You did not sign on to be a partaker of communion. You signed on to be a missionary for God—to be a bearer of good news.

Why then are you staring at a computer screen and not going about God’s business?