The Book of Common Prayer: The less practical (but almost equally important) answer to Why?

It's taken me awhile to really decide how to proceed with this part of the story, and I'm still not completely sure I've got a clear idea, but now seems like the time for writing.

I thought about calling this post "Anglican theology" or "Anglican history" or "I like pretty words" or somesuch thing, but I've realized that all these points can be adequately summarized by talking about the major role the actual Book of Common Prayer has played in our journey to the holy catholic and apostolic church. The BCP contains everything I love about Anglican theology, is itself the penultimate product of Anglican history, and is full of, well, pretty words. The prayers, whether they be collects, the prayers of the people, prayers for special occasions, or the majestic eucharistic prayers, are able to bring me into a sense of God's quiet, terrifying presence in corporate worship in a way that other liturgical and/or praise and worship forms have not. The BCP (especially the 1979 edition) has the Eucharist as its heartbeat, and that's vitally important in my development as a follower of Christ. Whether it was growing up United Methodist, where we didn't celebrate communion every week, or my formative years in the independent Christian Churches, where we did celebrate every week, but usually in a rushed, awkward manner in between the sermon and the offering, I'd been yearning for Holy Communion to be restored to its rightful place (in my opinion) at the center of weekly worship. Needless to say, that's exactly what we found in Episcopal worship.

I particularly love that the BCP's treatment of the Eucharist was born in historical compromise between the Roman Catholics and Protestants in Britain, and is manifested in a crucial theological balancing act between the catholic belief in the real presence of Christ in the elements (a view I've always, albeit sometimes very privately, held) and the protestant understanding of communion as a memorial feast (again, a view I've always held). It seems silly to me to divorce these views from each other, as they both ring true and both seem to have the support of scripture.

I could go on and on about the other ways in which I've come to appreciate the beauty of Anglican compromise, and spend just as much time lamenting the ways in which this specific genius is being ignored in the current battles over Episcopalianism's direction, but then I wouldn't have anything to rant about in future posts.

Suffice it to say for now that it was the combination of the loving community we discovered at Trinity Parish and the amazing theology we discovered in the Book of Common Prayer that convinced us that we should let a bishop squeeze our heads and confirm us as members of The Episcopal Church. Now that we find ourselves in a new church, in a new diocese, there are definitely challenges to that decision, but nonetheless we carry on with our new faith home.