An Overview of Liturgy & Ritual in The Progressive Episcopal Church,
By Rt. Rev’d Thurlow B. Weed, Secretary General
The Progressive Episcopal Church embraces a wide variety of liturgical and ritual forms, from high-church Anglo-Catholic to low-church evangelical with an “Amen corner.” Our foundation is the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church (TEC/ECUSA). However, no congregation or community is required to use it. There are many excellent prayerbooks and liturgical resources, not only in Anglicanism, but in other denominations as well. Within Anglicanism the New Zealand Prayer Book sees considerable use among us. The Iona Community Worship Books are also used widely.
This church encourages, but does not require, liturgical worship. It is important that each congregation or community make use of that ritual and liturgy to which they are accustomed. “Let local custom prevail.” One community may use the 1979 BCP in conjunction with the Hymnal 1982, while another community may use the United Methodist Worship Book together with the New National Baptist Hymnal. (Not that we have any communities with this pairing, but this is simply provided as an example.)
First and foremost, we are Anglicans. At the heart of identity is the Via Media, and we all look to Canterbury – not Rome – as our East. In the Progressive Episcopal Church we pray for our Presiding Bishops, for the Archbishop of Canterbury as the spiritual head of worldwide Anglicanism, as well as for Archbishop Richard Palmer, primate of the Anglican Free Communion, of which the Progressive Episcopal Church is a member Province.
It is the Via Media which embraces the wide variety of liturgical and ritual expression. High Church bells and smells? All good! “Mass in the Grass” at the local park or in a peaceful garden? All good! BCP? New Zealand Prayer Book? Quaker-style meeting? All good!
No matter what form our community worship service takes, it is all to venerate and give thanks to that Divine Transcendence we call God, the One from whom all blessings flow, the One who sent Jesus to teach us the Way of Peace. Yet in all the varieties of our ritual and liturgical expression, we hold dear the ancient Anglican heritage of the Via Media, the Prayer Book, and the Apostolic Succession, but within a Progressive Faith that follows closely the teachings of Jesus, and which allows the Holy Spirit to move in us to worship God in a manner that speaks to us, and draws us closer into oneness with our Creator, and the Christ within ourselves and each other. To restrict the worship in the Progressive Episcopal Church to a single prayer book and hymnal would be to restrict the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who has her own unique ways of working in us to bring us closer to God and to each other.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
This church encourages, but does not require, liturgical worship. It is important that each congregation or community make use of that ritual and liturgy to which they are accustomed. “Let local custom prevail.” One community may use the 1979 BCP in conjunction with the Hymnal 1982, while another community may use the United Methodist Worship Book together with the New National Baptist Hymnal. (Not that we have any communities with this pairing, but this is simply provided as an example.)
First and foremost, we are Anglicans. At the heart of identity is the Via Media, and we all look to Canterbury – not Rome – as our East. In the Progressive Episcopal Church we pray for our Presiding Bishops, for the Archbishop of Canterbury as the spiritual head of worldwide Anglicanism, as well as for Archbishop Richard Palmer, primate of the Anglican Free Communion, of which the Progressive Episcopal Church is a member Province.
It is the Via Media which embraces the wide variety of liturgical and ritual expression. High Church bells and smells? All good! “Mass in the Grass” at the local park or in a peaceful garden? All good! BCP? New Zealand Prayer Book? Quaker-style meeting? All good!
No matter what form our community worship service takes, it is all to venerate and give thanks to that Divine Transcendence we call God, the One from whom all blessings flow, the One who sent Jesus to teach us the Way of Peace. Yet in all the varieties of our ritual and liturgical expression, we hold dear the ancient Anglican heritage of the Via Media, the Prayer Book, and the Apostolic Succession, but within a Progressive Faith that follows closely the teachings of Jesus, and which allows the Holy Spirit to move in us to worship God in a manner that speaks to us, and draws us closer into oneness with our Creator, and the Christ within ourselves and each other. To restrict the worship in the Progressive Episcopal Church to a single prayer book and hymnal would be to restrict the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who has her own unique ways of working in us to bring us closer to God and to each other.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!