Ed. Note:  This is a post transcribed from a paper the late Bishop Dr. Reginald H. Hammond, AEC, circulated in 1992.

When Thomas Cranmer developed the Book of Common Prayer he had several goals in mind. One important goal was to restore the Bible, whole and uncontaminated, to its primary place in the liturgy. Another goal was to do away with the multiplicity of Rites and Services and to develop an order of service that would be "common" to each congregation, and written so that it could be used and understood by the 'average' person. That he accomplished these three goals is obvious to anyone who has diligently used the Prayer Book and who has had the opportunity to attend services in different parts of the Anglican Communion.

As an Episcopalian, prior to the adoption of the 1979 BCP, I had the opportunity to attend church in Canada, in England, Scotland and a number of different States in the Union. I was able to follow the service with no problem because the Orders of Service were "common," they were the same, except for the Hymns, that may or may not be familiar. Of course, if one was in the British Empire, one had to pray for the King or Queen and not the President, but that posed no problem. After 1979, in attending different Episcopal Churches, I found little "in common" in the Rites or Services held. Although there were prayers that may have been the same, the order and selection of differing Services made my familiarity with the Service very uncertain. The re-writing of the Book of Common Prayer by jurisdictions throughout the Anglican Communion has put in jeopardy this whole concept of common Rites and Services and has gone back to the Middle Ages when each church or Order "did their own thing."

Many people, when they rewrite something, want to put their stamp on the finished product. A kind of "Look at what I did!!!" syndrome. Cranmer, in his desire to restore the Bible to its paramount place in the liturgy was able to efface self and look only to Scripture for guidance in developing Sacraments, Rites, and Ceremonies that made up that marvelous guide to worship that has lasted for 550 years.

Cranmer's genius in restoring Scripture back into the worship of the church is best illustrated with the 'General Confession' that is used in Morning and Evening Prayer. Massey Shepherd in his "American Prayer Book Commentary" points out that this prayer is a series of Biblical Phrases based in general on Paul's analysis of sin in Romans 7:8-25. The passages quoted occur in: Isaiah 53:6...Psalm 119:176...1 Peter 2:25...Proverbs 19:21...Jeremiah 18:12...3 Chronicles 28:13...Matthew 23:23...Psalm 38:3...Luke 18:13...Psalm 51:1...Nehmiah 13:22...Psalm 51:12...Romans 15:8...1 John 2:12...Titus 11:11-1...John 14:13. This use of seventeen Bible References, from Second Chronicles to First John, shows Cranmer's genius for absorbing the revelation of God's Word as written in Scripture, being able to digest it in his mind, appropriate it in his heart and let it flow in the prayers of praise and worship. It is this ability of Thomas Cranmer to incorporate Holy Scripture into worship that truly authenticates this Book of Common Prayer.

Another area exhibiting Cranmer's ability to select and adapt the best and purist from the many Rites and Services that existed at that time are the Collects. A Collect is a rather unique prayer with a singular form. It is a prayer that asks for one thing only and consists of four or five parts: The Address, most often to the Father, but in few cases to the Son...The Acknowledgement, this states the Doctrine upon which the request is made...The Petition, what it is that we are asking for...The Aspiration, the reason we want the thing we are seeking, (this does not appear in all Collects)...The Pleading, we make our requests through Jesus Christ because He is the only way to the Father. Using the Collect for Purity as an example, the pattern would be:

Address: Almighty God

Acknowledgement: unto whom all hearts are open, all desires Known, and from whom no secrets are hid;

Petition: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit,

Aspiration: that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily Magnify Thy Holy Name;

Pleading: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Cranmer did not write all the Collects that appear in our Prayer Book, but it was his knowledge and foresight that selected the ones to be used and to rewrite those that needed editing.

The Anglican Church is an Apostolic Church. That simply means that we trace our faith (as well as our Holy Orders) back through the Apostles to Jesus Christ. In confirming and strengthening our Faith we do not look to those who would modernize or adjust the Faith so that it is more palatable to modern man, but we look to Scripture and to the Apostles and those men and women of faith who have throughout the ages kept that faith alive and well.

The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, although it has undergone a number of revisions since 1549, still has much in common with the original. Most of the Prayer Book is directly related to Holy Scripture. Moss, in his book "The Christian Faith" points out that "Most of the rules of the church which we are bound to obey, are found in the Prayer Book; in the various services, the exhortations and the Articles of Religion. Moss goes on to point out that the Articles of Religion are accepted in general terms by the clergy, and are a valuable witness to the teachings of the Church, although there is a certain amount of ambiguity in some of the articles and some may be outdated, I believe that in the main they are still statements of the Anglican Faith as it had been passed down to us from the time of the Apostles.

The Anglican Faith is based upon Scripture, Tradition and Reason. We believe, first and foremost, that Holy Scripture contains all things that are necessary for Salvation. We look to Scripture, not society, for directions for our moral and spiritual life.

We look to Tradition as another source to consider. The New Testament came to us through the oral tradition that was passed from one to another by those who knew the lord and were witnesses of what happened. Traditional methods of worship were carried on by the myriad of faithful followers through the ages.

Both Scripture and Tradition are subject to the criticism of Reason. We are exhorted to "Love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul and with all our mind." Our is not a "blind" Faith, but a Living Faith that we accept after reading Scripture, looking to the two thousand years of Tradition and seeing with our reason that it is good.

The 1928 Book of Common Prayer is a marvelous compendium of prayer, praise and worship. The content is directly from Scripture, in fact as we have shown, most the prayers and services are written using the words of Scripture. The Order of Worship is based on the Tradition of two thousand years, going back to the synagogue service that was familiar to Jesus Christ. In addition it has stood the test of Reason for four hundred and fifty years.

When we think of the Book of Common Prayer, we most often think of the Church Service and the congregation taking part in the prayers and the hymns. But that Book with the Morning and Evening Prayer and the Family Prayers are also available for the individual to develop his prayer life around the Daily Offices and, if one reads Morning and Evening Prayer, including church on Sunday, using the Lectionary to determine the Psalms and Scripture readings to be used, he will find that over the period of a year he has read most of the Psalms several times and will have read a good deal of the Bible. The Lectionary, found in the front of the Prayer Book, is not inclusive of all the Psalms and the Old and New Testaments. It follows the broad themes of the Christian Year and is selective in what its authors felt to be most important from the aspect of teaching the Faith.

Peter Toon in his book "Knowing God Through the Liturgy" says: "The Daily Office exists as the appointed means and way of being encountered by God because of his Holy love and goodness. God mercifully calls His Covenant people to be with Him, to recognize His Majesty, to confess their sins, to hear His Word, to receive his forgiveness and salvation, to petition Him and to Intercede with Him and to know Him as Lord. In this daily discipline centered upon God's self-revelation recorded in Scripture and celebrated in Psalms and Canticles there is a growing awareness of the height and depth, the breadth and length of the holy love of God. The soul gradually lays aside all human conceptions of love and is drawn into the mind of Christ to share his love."

It is my fervent prayer that each of us will, through the Grace of god, and the increasing use of the Book of Common Prayer, both in our homes and in our Churches be drawn into the mind of Christ and to share in His love.