“Common” Prayer in the 21st Century: A Modest Carnival

As I noted previously, things are quiet so this will be a modest carnival for the time being. At the moment we only have a few entries—feel free to write something and drop me a line—we’ll get it added.

First up, we have a post from Caelius from the Monastery of the Remarkable English Martyrs. Caelius gives us Praying Amid A Series of Tubes where he tackles a number of issues beginning with the technology of liturgy and moves to its implications and what the future world will do to notions of community. As a result, he foregrounds continuity over either unity or uniformity.

Second, Mother M–my wife–has a guest post up here where she collects a number of thoughts gathered around the central questions of 1) what’s “common” about common prayer and 2) what is the place of the local and organic in relation to the common. She lifts up but does not resolve the tensionbetween the two–and the implications for the Anglican Communion. What Communion is there without a common ordo? She also does some thinking about the next BCP…

Which leads us to our third entry. Not written for the carnival, nevertheless Micah Jackson’s post at Speaking to the Soul, the spirituality blog of the Episcopal Cafe, also reflects on the next prayer book and the guiding criteria that have been in place and that will move forward into this new century.

Like Mother M, LutherPunk also thinks about the importance of ordo but in relation to Lutheran liturgical traditions of recent years. Ordo is balanced by the notion of adiaphora for a meditation on what is common and what is at the discretion of the congregation and its worship leaders.

My reflection thinks about the implications of common prayer on the coming shape of ecumenism and ecumenical discussions.

Fr. Chris Tessone has posted a piece in response to mine. Instead of a simplified rite as an ecumenical bridge–why not use one that already exists, that lacks the theological/sacramental barriers…and is spreading: the Daily Office.

The most wide-ranging and comprehensive comes to us from *Christopher at his new blog Betwixt and Between. *Christopher examines common prayer with an eye to lay participation in the world in a way not commonly experienced or discussed in America.

There are some good different directions represented here–and I’d love to see us continue the conversation on this topic. There’s more to be said on the relation between liturgical authority and uniformity in relation to the local and the organic as well as the issue of technology and liturgy addressing cultural change. In particular–I think it’d be great to see some more posts addressing these issues from Lutheran/Roman/Independent Catholic perspectives as well as more Anglicans… *nudge, nudge*

3 thoughts on ““Common” Prayer in the 21st Century: A Modest Carnival

  1. Chris (The Lutheran Zephyr)

    *nudge, nudge* – nice.

    I’ve been thinking about your carnival (wait a minute! Where’s the funnel cake and nauseating rides? Oh, different carnival), and you’ll get a late entry into this discussion from me by the end of the week . . .

    Thanks for doing this. Peace to you!

Comments are closed.