Christian unity is strengthened when worshipers across the world use the same versions of prayers and hear the same readings on Sunday, says the Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers.
Meyers is the Hodges-Haynes professor of liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., and leads the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, which prepares liturgical revisions for the Episcopal Church.
“If we cannot pray together, how effectively can we witness together?” she asked in a lecture in Virginia Theological Seminary’s Prayer Book at 30 series. “Common texts are a tool to help us worship together.”
In think it is true to say that Anglicans around the world shared a common liturgical tradition (fundamentally grounded in the BCP 1662) until major liturgical revision began with the Church of South India rites. Whatever the gains, and I surely don’t want to deny them, and whatever the other losses (not least of which has been devolution of competency over liturgical development to historians of liturgy), the disappearance of this shared Anglican liturgical tradition has been a huge loss.
[blockquote]Thus, she said, some worshipers will always want to say the familiar “And lead us not into temptation†rather than the newer “Save us from the time of trial.â€[/blockquote]
The former is a more literal translation (that warrants commentary in a Christian education class), and the latter is a paraphrase that warrants additional commentary. I don’t see how εἰσφέÏω could be translated as “save” but I’m not a Greek scholar.
In point of fact, one might suggest that it was the Episcopal entity, more than the Roman Catholic Church, that began the weakening of the ecumenical consensus on liturgical translation when it began producing the heretical “supplemental” liturgical texts in the 90s. I love how Episcopalians always place the blame elsewhere. One should commend the Catholics for waking up to their translation errors.
How ironic, coming from Dr. Ruth Meyers who at Seabury had us doing all sorts of bizarre and experimental liturgies and Eucharistic prayers.
I think Meyers is a [i]Silly Specialist[/i]. “If we cannot pray together, how effectively can we witness together?â€
When praying in church we use a common text. At family events I say temptations, my niece says debts. I rarely pray noticeably in public.
I my case, any witnessing I might be able to do is by example. I try to live a Christian life. I stand ready to answer questions and participate in discussions which might bear on such.
Am I missing some point of value?
Christ is Risen!
Lex Orandi Lex Credendi
Liturgy is a reflection of faith. Scripture and the canons of the ancient church suggest communal prayer is reserved for those in accord on doctrine. Maybe I am misreading this; but it seems to me that the problem lies mostly among the Protestants.
Catholics have a more or less set liturgy. They may no longer use Latin as a common language (a great loss IMO) but the text of the Mass is substantively the same in Australia and the United States and Italy. And while there may be slight differences in translation between Greek and Slavonic if one were to go to an Orthodox liturgy in Athens and then one in Moscow it would be nearly identical.
The mess within the “liturgical” Protestant churches is essentially a reflection of their theological divisions. And let’s be frank for a moment. Theological division among Protestants is pretty much a given. This is an interesting article presenting a problem that is unresolvable due to the vary nature of Protestantism. If you want uniform liturgy then join a church that has doctrine which doesn’t change with the weather.
When is the last time the Orthodox Church tinkered with its liturgy?
Christ is risen!
One size does not fit all. The ‘ecumenical’ idea is reflective of a 1950s-70s thought form desiring that we should all be the same. Few ordinary Christians care much about that stuff any more.
[blockquote]Christian unity is strengthened when worshipers across the world use the same versions of prayers and hear the same readings on Sunday, says the Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers.[/blockquote]Amen to that! I’m sure we’re all aware how the apostle Paul used precisely the same gospel presentation wherever he went. In other news, workers’ unity is strengthened when across the world they produce precisely the same goods in their factories, drive the same cars, and live in the same homes.
A text book case is the theological use made from time to time of the vows made in TEC’s “Baptismal Covenant”. When such a distinctive theological meaning is asserted one might reasonably ask if it changes the meaning the sacrament of baptism. Of course this runs directly counter to TEC’s own ecumenical agreements (such as with ELCA) which are premised on the understanding that TEC’s baptism signifies not just similarly but identically to baptism in ELCA. (Likewise with other Provinces in the Anglican Communion).