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The following draft Bill will be debated during
this years General Synod. For further information on amendments and
passage through General Synod please contact the
General Synod Press Office.
BILL NO 11
This short Bill seeks to provide a Preface for the 2004 edition
of the Book of Common Prayer which, as was done in respect of the
1926 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, will be inserted
immediately before the Preface prefixed at the former revision of
the Book of Common Prayer.
REV CANON RB ROUNTREE
VERY REV MAJ BURROWS
To insert in the 2004 edition of the Book of
Common Prayer a Preface to precede the Preface prefixed at the
revision of 1926
WHEREAS it is desirable that the 2004 edition of the Book of
Common Prayer shall have a Preface in addition to those prefixed at
earlier revisions of the Book of Common Prayer;
BE IT ENACTED by the Archbishops and Bishops and the Clergy and
Laity of the Church of Ireland in General Synod assembled in Dublin
in the year 2003, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
The following Preface shall be inserted immediately before the
Preface prefixed at the Revision of 1926:-
THE PREFACE
PREFIXED AT THE REVISION OF 2004
In 1997 the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, after careful
consideration, requested the Church’s Liturgical Advisory Committee
to prepare a new edition of the Book of Common Prayer. Since
disestablishment, two previous editions of the Book of Common Prayer
had been produced (in 1878 and in 1926), but this new Book of Common
Prayer was to include not only services of the Church handed down
through the centuries but also services in contemporary language. In
three decades prior to 1997 the General Synod had authorised a large
number of services in modern language as alternatives to those
contained in the Book of Common Prayer and thus this book, now given
to the Church, represents the cumulative labours of committee and of
Synod over many generations.
In undertaking our task, we embraced a time-honoured vision of
Common Prayer which informs the contents and presentation of this
book. We sought to unify the worship of God’s people, while allowing
reasonable scope for diversity within the essential unity of the
Church’s prayer. We were determined to produce a book which would
have equal capacity to enrich private as well as corporate devotion.
We desired that this book, like previous editions of it, should
properly articulate and embody the Church’s faith. We hoped that the
book would strengthen our bonds of unity with sister churches who
share our approach to Common Prayer, and we were therefore fully
attentive to the reports of successive meetings of the International
Anglican Liturgical Consultation.
We trust that this book will be used and treasured by many
congregations and individuals in the years to come, and that its
contents will permeate and shape their experience of prayer.
Nevertheless, we must always remind ourselves that words, however
admirable, beautiful or useful, are never to be confused with
worship itself. The words set out on these pages are but the
beginning of worship. They need to be appropriated with care and
devotion by the People of God so that, with the aid of the Holy
Spirit, men and women may bring glory to the Father and grow in the
knowledge and likeness of Jesus Christ.
This book therefore leaves its compilers’ hands with the hope and
prayer that it will prove to be a worthy instrument by which to
proclaim the Church’s praise of God in the generation to come. It is
of course only by God’s gift that his faithful people ‘do him true
and laudable service’, but we pray also that this book will have the
capacity to draw God’s people in our time to a fresh experience of
the beauty of holiness.
Bills
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