Let Your Voice Be Heard at Lambeth
Every ten years, bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion gather for the Lambeth Conference in England. This year the conference will be July 20 - August 4. Speaking recently about this summer's Lambeth Conference, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said: . . . . "We want to see this year's conference as an occasion when Bishops learn how to be better Bishops; and because of what we believe about the Church overall, we believe that Bishops learn to be better Bishops when they are learning from one another - learning from people working in very different contexts with very different ideas and challenges. . . ."
One of the ideas to which the Archbishop refers might well be the continuing use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in the Episcopal Church.
Episcopalians for Traditional Faith (ETF) believes that bishops indeed can become better bishops by practicing true inclusiveness in being pastoral to those of us who wish to retain the standard for worship in the Episcopal Church, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. The traditional liturgy in our classic BCP has withstood the test of time against ever-changing "trial," "new," and "relevant" liturgies that have been used in the Church since the 1960s.
Starting with the "Trial Liturgies" and the 1979 Prayer Book and growing ever more radical, some of these rites have departed further and further, in increments, from the our core beliefs. Amidst this change and turmoil, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer has been an unchanging beacon to the faithful for 80 years. It is part of the continuum of Common Prayer that has guided our church since Thomas Cranmer produced the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549.
ETF will send the following Petition to the bishops attending the Lambeth Conference this summer. Please read it, and if you agree with this statement, send an email to editor@etf1928.org, listing your name, parish, and diocese.
If you are vestry, clergy, or chairman of a church committee, please bring this up at your next meeting and invite others to participate. Circulate it among your friends and acquaintances who are Episcopalians
To Archbishop Rowan Williams and All Bishops:
I join other Episcopalians of faith in our request that the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States acknowledge that use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer is recognized and approved by TEC, according to TEC's Denver Resolution of 1979, and reaffirmed at TEC's General Convention in 2000. I petition all in attendance at the 2008 Lambeth Conference to urge TEC bishops and clergy to be truly inclusive by using the traditional Anglican liturgy in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
Based on holy scripture
A work of inspiration and order in a disordered world
The longtime standard of worship in the Episcopal Church
Widely recognized within and without the church as a work
of beauty and great literary, as well as spiritual, merit
We ask that all TEC bishops use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in their dioceses and encourage clergy to do likewise.
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