BCP2020

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is the liturgical heart of the Church of England. It demonstrates within its pages the fullness of what the Church believes and it is in itself one of the most effective ways of teaching the Christian Faith.

All:

O God, the Father of heaven; have mercy upon us miserable sinners.

O God the Son, Redeemer of the world; have mercy upon us miserable sinners.

Dear ...... in the Sacrament of Baptism our Heavenly Father sets His people free from the power of sin and death by uniting us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Brothers and sisters, confirmation is the occasion when those who have decided that they want to love and follow Jesus Christ, make a clear declaration of their Christian faith before the assembled family of God and promise that they wish to serve Him to the end of their lives.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord: whoever believes in Me, although he may be dead, yet he will live: and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s preface to the Ordinal, written in 1550, makes it clear that the Church of England holds to the historic threefold ministry of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, which is foreshadowed in the New Testament, if only given its final expression in the early Christian centuries.

SERVICE OF INSTITUTION OF NEW MINISTERS

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Compline puts us into a quiet frame of mind after busy days and takes us through relevant Scriptures and prayers which bring Christian peace and contentment into play as our last waking thoughts before we commit ourselves into the Lord’s hands, go to bed and fall asleep.

Bishop Miles Coverdale’s 1535 translation of the Psalms, based upon the Latin Vulgate, has rightly delighted English speaking Christians for centuries. His version stands out above all others as lively, metrical and memorable.

O God, the Creator and Preserver of the entire human race, we humbly pray to You for all people and their varied illnesses, problems and circumstances; that You would be pleased to make Your ways known to them, Your saving health to all nations...

Traditionally Rogation is celebrated in May at a time when Spring is well and truly under way and the parish gathers together to ask for God’s blessing on the new crops and livestock, whose growth will have already begun.

We asked for God's blessing upon our farms and gardens, our flocks of sheep, our herds of cattle, our fields, hedges and woods. Today we come into God’s house with thankful hearts, knowing that He has answered our prayers and we will now offer to Him the finest of our harvest.

This service, which is a salutary reminder of God’s anger and righteous judgment against sinners, may be used on Ash Wednesday, during Lent, at Advent or at any other times when it may be found helpful. The 1662 rite has been shortened in places where there would be a danger of verbal overload for modern congregations.

These Articles were agreed by the Archbishops and Bishops of both provinces of Canterbury and York at a Convocation held in London in 1562, three years after the issue of the Elizabethan Prayer Book and intended to avoid the promulgation of conflicting opinions and establishing consent as to what the Church of England considers to be true religion.