Covenant
Confirmation
The people standing, the Bishop says
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
People The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
The Bishop then continues
There is one Body and one Spirit;
People There is one hope in God's call to us;
Bishop One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism;
People One God and Father of all.
The Baptismal Covenant
Bishop Do you believe in God the Father?
People I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
Bishop Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
People I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Bishop Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
People I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Bishop Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and
fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
People I will, with God's help.
Bishop Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever
you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People I will, with God's help.
Bishop Will you proclaim by word and example the Good
News of God in Christ?
People I will, with God's help.
Bishop Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving
your neighbor as yourself?
People I will, with God's help.
Bishop Will you strive for justice and peace among all
people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People I will, with God's help.
Good morning, friends and neighbors,
and welcome to this our third session of Confirmation Lite 2021. As agreed last time, let's look at some characteristics of Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church that are tucked subtly away in our American version of The Book of Common Prayer.
Specifically, some interesting rubrics that most folks don't notice, and some features of our Anglican eucharistic prayers that are there but not obvious, hidden as they are in beautifully flowing language. Language that flowed most flawlessly, lyrically, beautifully poetic from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who gave us our first BCP in 1549 (which is still available online), and which our liturgists over the years have worked to maintain.
You will not need a Bible in class today. You will need a Prayerbook, and a copy of our little red supplemental booklet Enriching Our Worship 1, both of which are class handouts today. You will need a pen or pencil, because we are going to be circling things in the books; remembering that (1) these handout books belong to me, and (2) as I say from time to time, I have no use for a book that cannot be marked in. So, we are going to browse through both books, stopping to mark things that are worth knowing for a reasonably informed Episcopalian.
First the rubrics ("rubric" is literally "red ink" because in the Altar Missal the directions for the officiant or Celebrant are in red ink to stand out and so we don't read them aloud as part of the liturgy). Liturgical words themselves are in black ink, rubrics, as I say, are red ink. They are also italicized to stand out separately as directions where all the ink is black, as in your BCP.
We will also read and circle a few bits of information that are not italicized as rubrics.
And in one or more Eucharistic Prayers we'll take note of (and circle in our books), certain features that are common to our Eucharistic Prayers.
BCP Page
13 Principal act of worship on the Lord's day
15 Seven Principal Feasts
158 The Proper
159 Collects: Traditional
211 Collects: Contemporary
299 Holy Baptism
304 The Baptismal Covenant Do you believe & Will you
323 Rite One traditional language The Word of God
"may say" vs "says"
325/6 one or two Lessons, Gospel (stand), Sermon, Creed
328 The Prayers of the People
330 on occasion the confession may be omitted
332 Absolution is declaring God's forgiveness, Peace
333 Rite One The Holy Communion, opening dialogue
340 Rite One Eucharistic Prayer II
344 Proper Prefaces
355 Rite Two contemporary language Word of God
359 The Prayers of the People 6 rubrics,
383 6 rubrics (any form) or Six optional forms
361 Rite Two Holy Communion Eucharistic Prayer A
dialogue, God's gracious acts, Sanctus, Words of institution, Oblation (offering) Anamnesis (we do not forget), Epiclesis (invocation of the Holy Spirit)
367 Eucharistic Prayer B
369 Eucharistic Prayer C
372 Eucharistic Prayer D
406 Additional Directions
409 Disciplinary Rubrics
413 Confirmation