- Admin
Historic Worship
Updated: Aug 13, 2019

Would Christians of other times and places even recognize as Christian worship,
what happens on Sunday mornings in today's congregations? Where are the Bible readings and Psalms, the creeds and formulations like the Gloria Patri and Gloria in
Excelsis Deo (known as the minor and major doxologies), the Lord's Supper and the
Lord's Prayer?
It is easy to think of tradition as that which is past, a lifeless shell, what ought to be
left to history. But everywhere the destructive consequences of forgetting our
heritage - whether as Christians or Americans - are clear. We live in a generation
that has been systematically cut off from its past. Renewal, and in fact, spiritual life
and safety, depend upon a different premise: tradition is not that which is dead, but
that which is already living.
Rediscovering historic Christian worship is to discover the living Christian witness
from the time of the Apostles to our day. It is to tie into the foundation. To use the
Biblical metaphor, as living stones, we are to be a part of God's building, built upon
the one foundation.
The Book of Common Prayer, or simply Prayer Book is the product of the Church of
England (Anglican) as it was reformed through the Protestant Reformation. It is
historic, Christian worship. It is the Bible and good theology in action, that is,
expressed in serving God through worship.