From the Rector

EDITOR’S NOTE: During Fr Robert’s sabbatical, the Bell & Tower is publishing a series of articles he wrote to explain the Episcopal liturgy.

This week we look at the Prayers of the People.

After the Creed we come to the Prayers of the People (in most of the Eucharistic Prayers). The Book of Common Prayer has two Rites; Rite I uses more traditional language and Rite II uses more modern text. Saint Philip’s primarily uses Rite II at the 9:00am and 11:15am Sunday services.

The whole of the Eucharist is an act of adoration and thanksgiving in which we bring before all that we are and all for which we hope. This includes our petitions and deep needs. So we offer a wounded Christ all that which afflicts us and those we love and we plead for Christ the Healer to show mercy upon us and to give us the strength and courage both to endure suffering and to be healers ourselves.

The Prayers of the People can be freshly written each week or periodically—and when this is done with intentionality and theological attention this can be a beautiful work of grace and love. The Prayer Book recommends that intercessions are always offered for the following:

The Universal Church, its members, and its mission
The Nation and all in authority
The welfare of the world
The concerns of the local community
Those who suffer and those in any trouble
The departed (with commemoration of a saint when appropriate)

We are invited to adapt these for local use and needs when appropriate and the current custom at Saint Philip’s is that one of the six forms that begin on page 383 of the Prayer Book is used. We edit them for local concerns and many of you will have noted the insertions of the names of victims of gun violence in Pima County as an example of such permitted and encouraged adaptation.  Perhaps the most controversial of the Prayer Book’s specific intentions are those for the departed. This was a source of deep and complex historical and theological controversy which we will review at another point.

Form I of the Prayers of the People is based on liturgies from the earliest days of the Church—the liturgies of Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostom. Form II is new and was written for the 1979 BCP by Fr Alfred Shands. It is concise and offers much needed space for individual petitions to be offered silently or aloud. Form III was based on a 1966 form that was introduced in New Zealand and also offers space for individual petitions. 

Form IV is the form Saint Philip’s currently uses most regularly. It was written for trial use in 1970 and adapted from an English set written in 1967 and revised for the South African Church in 1975. It is a blend of pieces of English and South African elements and represents the breadth of global Anglicanism.

Form V is an adaptation of Form I and allows for the Confession to be used to close the prayers. Form VI is based on a litany written for the 1969 General Convention (the Episcopal Church church-wide gathering of delegates which occurs every three years to decide on legislation of all sorts). It is a rich piece which draws from several points of Scripture from the Psalms to First and Second Chronicles, Isaiah, 2 Samuel, and Titus.

Our prayers are always answered. This is a true saying. Our prayers are always answered. They may not be answered in the way we understand, the way we hope, or the way we expect. A prosaic example might be the team prayer before a football game. When a team prays for victory and receives defeat, there is grace abounding in defeat. Most of our greatest lessons come not from wins but from losses—and prayers were answered.

To draw out the ball game analogy a bit more—the point is not that God cares about a ball game but that the ball game is one part of God. The ball, the field, the players, the sweat, the dreams, the fans, the stadium, the city, and more are all caught up in the care and attention of God. The more we are able to acknowledge the presence of God in all that we undertake the more profoundly we can carry that presence to those who need it most and ask for the grace to live life with prayer and praise always on our lips and in our hearts.

Our victories and defeats, our gifts and our weakness, our hopes and our fears are all bound up in the love of God. So pray. Pray for yourself and for those you love. Pray for grace and pray for patience. Pray for the silliness of a ball game with the sobriety of a saint. Pray for the departed and the destitute. Pray for the ragged and the rich. Pray through sobs and sighs and sins. Pray and pray some more and know that the prayers of the people are being heard and answered in ways beyond our asking or imagining.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert