It’s been an honor to serve the diocese of Kansas and the Wider Church these first hectic days in Austin. For this 79th General Convention, I have been appointed to the cumbersomely titled “Committee to Receive the Report on Resolution A169,” a name full of jargon and yet much more specific than most committees. The Resolution A169 referred to here was a resolution passed in 2015 asking the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to bring a plan for comprehensive Prayer Book Revision to Austin. The SCLM ended up sending two main resolutions on revision: a “get started now with three years of research and listening” version and a “wait and see, let’s learn more about the current Prayer Book” version.
In the first days of Convention, my committee heard testimony and deliberated how to bring these resolutions to the floor of Convention for debate. Ultimately, we settled on bringing the “get started now with three years of research and listening” plan first. Initially offered to the House of Deputies for debate yesterday, a combination of great energy from deputies and parliamentary maneuvering led to the last part of the debate being pushed to this morning. (Just as an insight into the energy around this Prayer Book conversation, consider that the usual resolution has a few people speak to it. This morning when we opened debate back up, 48 people were queued from the first day!)
After a half-hour of proposed amendments, the resolution passed on a “vote by orders,” in which clergy and laity vote separately and the measure has to pass in both orders. Your Kansas deputation voted, over all, to begin the process in both orders with one clergy deputy voting against.
But watch out for the headlines… this General Convention has NOT (yet?) voted to begin the process of Prayer Book revision! The resolution must pass both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies with the same wording… with such a sensitive issue, we can fully expect the bishops to make changes.
If this measure does end up passing both houses, the process of revision will begin, but keep in mind that it is a long process. The 12-year plan for revision would begin with three years of listening and research. The SCLM will seek to understand how congregations and individuals use the Prayer Book and would only begin to consider what might be good in a new book. Drafting of actual new Prayer Book liturgies wouldn’t happen until after the 2021 General Convention, should that Convention support ongoing work. A proposed draft could be authorized for trial use in 2024 and then a final version would need to be approved with the exact same wording in 2027 and 2030.
If all those General Conventions keep the ball rolling, the new prayer book would be the Book of Common Prayer 2030. For some interesting trivia, the current prayer book is the BCP 1979, which replaced the BCP 1928… 51 years would separate each of the last three versions.
Any way you look at it, a lot has to happen before a new Prayer Book appears in pews, and it all hangs on the House of Bishops approving the plan for revision in the coming days.
Whatever happens, join me in giving glory to God for the movement of the Spirit through the bodies of our church. It is a joy to represent Kansas among the wider church.
In the first days of Convention, my committee heard testimony and deliberated how to bring these resolutions to the floor of Convention for debate. Ultimately, we settled on bringing the “get started now with three years of research and listening” plan first. Initially offered to the House of Deputies for debate yesterday, a combination of great energy from deputies and parliamentary maneuvering led to the last part of the debate being pushed to this morning. (Just as an insight into the energy around this Prayer Book conversation, consider that the usual resolution has a few people speak to it. This morning when we opened debate back up, 48 people were queued from the first day!)
After a half-hour of proposed amendments, the resolution passed on a “vote by orders,” in which clergy and laity vote separately and the measure has to pass in both orders. Your Kansas deputation voted, over all, to begin the process in both orders with one clergy deputy voting against.
But watch out for the headlines… this General Convention has NOT (yet?) voted to begin the process of Prayer Book revision! The resolution must pass both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies with the same wording… with such a sensitive issue, we can fully expect the bishops to make changes.
If this measure does end up passing both houses, the process of revision will begin, but keep in mind that it is a long process. The 12-year plan for revision would begin with three years of listening and research. The SCLM will seek to understand how congregations and individuals use the Prayer Book and would only begin to consider what might be good in a new book. Drafting of actual new Prayer Book liturgies wouldn’t happen until after the 2021 General Convention, should that Convention support ongoing work. A proposed draft could be authorized for trial use in 2024 and then a final version would need to be approved with the exact same wording in 2027 and 2030.
If all those General Conventions keep the ball rolling, the new prayer book would be the Book of Common Prayer 2030. For some interesting trivia, the current prayer book is the BCP 1979, which replaced the BCP 1928… 51 years would separate each of the last three versions.
Any way you look at it, a lot has to happen before a new Prayer Book appears in pews, and it all hangs on the House of Bishops approving the plan for revision in the coming days.
Whatever happens, join me in giving glory to God for the movement of the Spirit through the bodies of our church. It is a joy to represent Kansas among the wider church.