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The Book of Common Prayer Session 4: December 17, 2017 Holy Baptism and the Sacramental Rites Trinity Episcopal Church, Longview, Texas The Rev. Frank W. Hughes, Ph.D.

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Page 1: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

The Book of Common PrayerSession 4: December 17, 2017Holy Baptism and the Sacramental RitesTrinity Episcopal Church, Longview, TexasThe Rev. Frank W. Hughes, Ph.D.

Page 2: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Today’s Session•Today we will study the most important changes that took place when The Book of Common Prayer was revised by action of the General Conventions of 1976 and 1979.

•These extremely momentous changes were in the practice and theological understanding of Holy Baptism.

•The changes in Baptism were part and parcel of changes in Christian initiation,which has absolutely everything to do with the Christian life.

Page 3: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Confirmation in the NT?•In the New Testament, there is no indication of any rite of initiation into the church other than Baptism.

•The exception to this was the passage in Acts 8:14‐17 (cf. Acts 19:1‐7), where apostles laid hands on those who had previously been baptized.

•But they did so because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit, having been received the baptism of John the Baptist (Acts 19) or been baptized in the name of Jesus only (Acts 8).

Page 4: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Confirmation?•These Acts passages were usually used to describe what Confirmation was.

•Close examination shows that both passages were intended to show that the laying on of hands by apostles was actually used to correct a defective baptism.

•Yet in sacramental theology, why would a baptism done with water and with the Trinitarian formula need to be corrected?

Page 5: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Baptismal Anointing by Leonel L. Mitchell (1966)•The famous book by Leonel Mitchell showed conclusively that baptism, as practiced by the early church in both east and west, included anointing.

•Hence, it was baptism that was the main (if not the only) event of Christian initiation, not confirmation, since Confirmation did not exist in the first or second century C.E.

•This understanding of the primacy of baptism had a profound effect on theology and our understanding of liturgy.

Page 6: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Leonel L. Mitchell•Episcopal priest who earned the first Th.D. in liturgics at General Theological Seminary, taught by Dr. H. Boone Porter.

•Taught at Berkeley Divinity School, University of Notre Dame (directing their summer M.A. program in liturgy), and Seabury‐Western Theological Seminary.

•Was hired as a consultant to the Standing Liturgical Commission on Christian initiation.

•Drafted the “Thanksgiving over the Water” in the liturgy of Baptism in this BCP, pp. 306‐307.

Page 7: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Change in Emphasis•The 1928 BCP and its predecessors had the understanding of Baptism that it was primarily about the forgiveness of sin of the individual person being baptized.

•The emphasis was shifted to seeing Baptism primarily as an initiation rite.  The major thing that happens in Baptism is that the candidate is admitted to the Body of Christ.  Grace is conferred through receiving this sacrament.

•The reasoning is that one cannot be admitted to the Body of Christ halfway!

Page 8: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Holy Baptism•This BCP is very forthright and direct about the fact that “Holy Baptism if full initiation, by water and the Holy Spirit, into Christ’s body the Church” (p. 298).

•“Full initiation” means that a person who is initiated is a member of the Church and may receive the Holy Communion.

•Holy Baptism was also removed from the section of “Pastoral Offices,” meaning those services in which the entire congregation would not likely be present.

Page 9: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Holy Communion•The universal practice of the early church was that children who were baptized could receive Communion.

•Thus, the conventional order of Christian initiation was as follows: 1. Baptism2. Communion3. Confirmation

Page 10: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

There was a problem…•In the 13th century, when most bishops in England were not making visitations to their country parishes, most people were not confirmed.

•To counteract this abuse by bishops, Archbishop John Peckham mandated that people receiving Communion were required to be confirmed first.

•This changed the order of Christian initiation to the following:  Baptism, Confirmation, and Communion.

•This order of Christian initiation, stemming from the high Middle Ages, was followed by the Reformation churches.

Page 11: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Confirmation•Since in the West, children could not receive Communion until they were confirmed, this practice caused the church in the West to confirm children at a young age, such as 12 years old or 10 years old, or even earlier.

•This made Confirmation into something that had nothing to do with adulthood or maturity, but rather a rite de passage.

•In the East, children were chrismated by the local priest rather than the bishop.  All of the parts of Christian initiation were thus done by the priest.

Page 12: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

In 1970 . . .•In 1970 General Convention allowed children to receive Communion before Confirmation.  This was before the “Confirmation Rubric” in the 1928 BCP had been taken out.

•The 1979 BCP says that “Holy Baptism is full initiation . . . into Christ’s body the Church,” thus removing any and all canonical or rubrical restrictions on children’s receiving Communion.

•Other churches have done the same thing.

Page 13: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

The meaning of Confirmation“In the course of their Christian development, those baptized at an early age are expected, when they are ready and have been duly prepared, to make a mature public affirmation of their faith and commitment to the responsibilities of their Baptism and to receive the laying on of hands by the bishop.”

Book of Common Prayer, 412

Page 14: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

The Sacraments•The church teaches that sacraments are “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace” and that the sacraments are not only “signs” of grace but that God conveys God’s grace through the sacraments.

•Using the “outward and visible signs” presupposes that God works through the created order.  God created the world, and God chooses to reach out to us through parts of God’s creation.

Page 15: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

The “sacramental rites”1.Confirmation2.Reconciliation of a Penitent3.Marriage4.Anointing of the Sick5.Ordination

Page 16: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Confession and AbsolutionThe often‐cited Anglican guideline is this:“All may, some should, none must.”Auricular confession is offered as a help to people in their spiritual life.  See James 5:16.The priest who hears the confession of a penitent and declares that the penitent’s sins are forgiven does so in God’s name.  God does the forgiving.The goal is to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), meaning to grow in communion with God and with other members of the Body of Christ.

Page 17: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Marriage•Christian marriage is one instance where it probably makes a difference whether or not the five “sacramental rites” are actually sacraments.

•The sacraments confer divine grace.  Since God does not take back God’s gifts, the sacraments are considered irreversible instances of God’s grace.

•Under this theory, if Joseph has a valid sacrament of marriage with Suzie, Joseph cannot enter into another valid sacrament of marriage with Violet while Suzie is alive.

•This was the theory the Episcopal Church was working with until 1973.

Page 18: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Anointing of the SickAnointing of the sick by the “presbyters of the church” is ordered by the Epistle of James 5:14‐15:“If any among you is sick, let that person call for the presbyters of the church, and he shall pray for that person and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick person and the Lord shall raise that person up.  And if that person has committed sins, they shall be forgiven.”

Page 19: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Anointing of the sick•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision.

•Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons, may anoint the sick.

•The goal of the anointing of the sick is the recovery of health.

•When a priest anoints a person who is in extremis, that was referred to as “extreme unction.”

•We do not anoint the dead.

Page 20: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Ordination•Part of being a “church” is that a church has the right and responsibility to determine who is eligible for any and all ministries.

•This decision is fundamentally made by each diocese through its Bishop Diocesan and its Commission on Ministry.

•Each diocese also elects its Bishop Diocesan and Bishops Suffragan or Bishop Coadjutor.

Page 21: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Bishops“The Holy Scriptures and ancient Christian writers make it clear that from the apostles’ time, there have been different ministries in the Church..  In particular, since the time of the New Testament, three distinct orders of ordained ministers have been characteristic of Christ’s holy catholic Church.  First, there is the order of bishopswho carry on the apostolic work of leading, supervising, and uniting the Church.”

BCP 510

Page 22: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Priests“Secondly, associated with them [i.e., the bishops] are the presbyters, or ordained elders, in subsequent times generally known as priests.  Together with the bishops, they take part in the governance of the Church, in the carrying out of its missionary and pastoral work, and in the preaching of the Word of God and administering his holy Sacraments.”

BCP 510

Page 23: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Duties of Priests“Now you [i.e., priests] are called to work as a pastor, priest, and teacher, together with your bishop and fellow presbyters, and to take your share in the councils of the Church.”“You are to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor.  You are to preach, to declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners, to pronounce God’s blessing, to share in the administration of Holy Baptism and in the celebration of the mysteries of Christ’s Body and Blood, and to perform the other ministrations entrusted to you.”

BCP 531

Page 24: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

Deacons•“Thirdly, there are deaconswho assist bishops and priests in all this work.  It is also a special responsibility of deacons to minister in Christ’s name to the poor, the sick, the suffering, and the helpless.”  BCP 510.

•“You [i.e., the deacons] are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world.”

•“At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself”  BCP 543.

Page 25: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

And finally . . .“Q.  What is the duty of all Christians?

A.The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.”

BCP 856

Page 26: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,

On January 7, 2018•We will continue this series after Christmas with one more session on The Book of Common Prayer.

•This session will be devoted to how the Bible is used in the current Prayer Book.

•I will explain the Revised Common Lectionary to you!

•And I will tell you about the Apocrypha.

Page 27: The Book of Common - Trinity Parish•Anointing of the sick was restored to the Book of Common Prayer in its 1928 American revision. •Bishops and priests, or in their absence deacons,