IT IS said that the best way to learn how to play a game is to join in; you learn simply by playing the game. And yet, even if we get the rules of the game, we may fail to see what it is all about. It may seem odd to think of church services as a game, but there is a sense in which worship is playing heaven on earth. But how do you play the game, and what exactly are the rules?
When I look across the quire to the other worshippers at evensong in Canterbury Cathedral, they seem to be engaged by what is being said and sung. But do all the visitors, and even the regular worshippers, understand what is going on and why? A guide to these questions is provided in this comparatively slim, very readable, and informative guide by Samuel L. Bray and Drew Nathaniel Keane.
The book is divided into ten chapters. The first articulates an eight-point rationale for liturgical worship, and the final chapter offers insights into how worship, beliefs, and the daily living of Christian life are interconnected. In between, consecutive chapters follow the sequence of the key services in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, morning and evening Prayer, baptism and confirmation, and the eucharist.
These are written from a distinctly Evangelical perspective, and the historian will be aware of some omissions. But, for the curious, and those who may want to learn a little more, there is much to glean here, especially in the chapters setting out the place of scripture readings in our services and the round of the Christian Year, and in the penultimate chapter on the communion of saints. This latter chapter provides a lucid summary of the doctrine of the communion of saints, and some compelling vignettes of individual biblical saints, and expounds the rich spiritual insights of the collects that Thomas Cranmer crafted for these “red-letter” saints’ days.
It needs to be said that this user’s guide is something of a companion book, as it was written to accompany The 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International edition (2021), edited by our two authors and published in the United States. References to the relevant pages of this edition are given throughout the book. There are minor quibbles, but, overall, this book provides a reliable guide to some of the key rules of the game of Christian faith, life, and worship.
The Revd Christopher Irvine teaches at St Augustine’s College of Theology and the Liturgical Institute, Mirfield.
How to Use the Book of Common Prayer: A guide to the Anglican liturgy
Samuel L. Bray and Drew Nathaniel Keane
IVP £14.99
(978-1-5140-0747-1)
Church Times Bookshop £13.49
