Prayer Book PawPaw

Today is the commemoration of Thomas Cranmer who is the great-grand-daddy of our Book of Common Prayer. There were, in fact, a group of Bishops who wrote the original Book of Common Prayer in 1549. The prayer book which was used at Jamestown was the 1662 version. The early revisions were often small, reflecting theological leanings and belief.

The Gospel today is Luke 18:9-14 ( Eucharistic Lectionary). Jesus tells those around him that those who boast and do things for show will find themselves passed over in favor of the humble. There may not, at first sight, appear to be much which links the two themes. The Book of Common Prayer was written at a period when there were a lot of questions about what the Church should be. It had become wealthy, powerful and full of pomp and show, whilst making unreasonable demands on the people.

The Book of Common Prayer was an attempt, in England, to level the playing field, just a bit. One book for the nation rather than the various versions of liturgy and readings which patch-worked the country, requiring multiple books, when they were rare and expensive and, thus, the preserve of the rich.

There are arguments both for, and against, liturgy. One argument in favor of it is that it forces us to really deal with what we are saying - we cannot simply change our tune every time the winds of fortune change. What we say as a church, we mean as a church and we repeat as a church in good times and in bad. Now is not the time to ignore our liturgy because we cannot be in the same building, now is the time to explore our liturgy so that we can pray together.

Balloon-less

I was pondering the idea of self-giving and generosity. One facet of it might be to think of two children with helium balloons. They are outside and the seemingly inevitable happens, one of them lets go. The balloon-less child begins wailing with grief and the other child runs over and says, "Here, have mine".

It is a simple, in the moment, action. As adults, we tend to rationalize away this sort of generosity with blame and anger at the person who has lost out. It allows us to keep our balloon. One aspect of these weeks in which we find ourselves, that we want to rationalize why, stay away, it might not mean us.

Spending this time well will involve generosity and not pursuit. They are different - pursuit will lead us into a combative angry stance where we end up saying "Whose fault is this anyway?" and throwing blame. Generosity will give us energy to live out of kindness for the other. This kindness might look different to the kindness we are accustomed to. It will involve sacrifice - especially in finding the discipline to stay away from others, to curtail activities we enjoy and to watch our churches, stores and schools stand empty. There is very little that feels good about this sort of generosity.

This is worth thinking about. These themes of generosity and sacrifice. Jesus tells us that whoever tends the sick, lame, hungry and poor cares for him. Right now, for most people, caring for the most vulnerable means staying out of their presence and remaining healthy so that you are not in the hospital bed that they need if they get sick.

Changes and chances

Some of you know we have a batch of chicks, I think I have already blogged about them earlier. There are 10 of them and they have gone from tiny little fluff balls to slightly more lanky partially feathered creatures. It only takes a chick about 6 weeks to lose its fluff and get its feathers. I am finding that I have to go around their pen each day and call them by their names - they retain their chick markings but Pippa and Percy are hard to keep up with!

Those of you familiar with the Book of Common Prayer will recognize these words in the title from a prayer in the night service of Compline:

"Be present, O Merciful God, and protect us through the quiet hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world may rest upon thy eternal changelessness."

Change is the order of the season. It is Spring, there are a host of birds singing outside, even as I write. Crocuses and Lenten Roses have appeared. I have peas and lettuces growing in the garden (with plastic and glass nearby, just in case. These would be normal changes, and we are all faced with unprecedented change. We can easily forget to notice God, much as I would lose track of chick names if I did not constantly refer back to them.

God is changeless, but we can see God in many different ways over a lifetime and, even, day to day. God hides in unexpected places. We are called to recognize and name God in our lives every day, in all sorts of times and places. This is especially true now, when the changelessness of God might be truth, but we struggle to understand it.