THE ADVENT AND THE PRAYER BOOK

The Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Advent is in something of a quandary right now. Should the parish keep former dean Andrew Pearson's "Our Liturgy" for Morning Prayer and Holy Communion or should it go back solely to The Book of Common Prayer? Pearson himself is gone, but the controversial changes he made linger on at the Advent and apparently are now being promoted chiefly by another clergyman on staff, the Rev. Canon Zac Hicks, Canon for Liturgy and Worship. He came from a Presbyterian background, and as far as I know does not hold Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church. Putting a non-Episcopal clergyperson in charge of worship at an Episcopal cathedral church... well that is another issue.

A few days after Pearson's departure (May 16 was his last day), Hicks distributed a 26-minute video, via computer file, to the vestry, clergy, and a few others at the Advent. He must have sent it to a couple of dozen people altogether. It was directed at the vestry, and apparently meant for them alone. But, of course, being sent to so many people it has leaked to the public. I obtained a copy of it. I have watched the video. I must say that as a longtime student of the nightmarish schism in South Carolina nothing much about the church shocks me any more, but I have to confess, I am shocked.

What is shocking? Hicks says that Rite I in the BCP  is "anti-Christ," "anti-Gospel," and "opposite the Gospel." He asserts, "It's in the structure of the liturgy." The problem, for Hicks, is centered in the moment between the institution and the reception of the Communion. He holds that at this critical point, Rite I focuses in on human beings while the Gospel would focus on Christ.

In denouncing Rite I, by extension, he is denouncing the BCP, and by extension of this, the Episcopal Church. Every Episcopalians knows that "the prayer book" is the essential core of this denomination, only slightly below the Bible in importance. It defines every element of the faith and practice of the Episcopal Church. It is the collective wisdom of four and a half centuries of Anglican and Episcopal religion. For an Episcopal church to discard the BCP and substitute something it deems superior is not only arrogant, but anti-historical. In my opinion, it is intolerable.

As I see it, Hicks is criticizing the whole notion of sacramental worship. In his warm-up to his final denunciation of Rite I as anti-Christ, he charged that the pre-Our Liturgy communion at the Advent was "element centered" and made people "fixate on the elements" rather than on the Gospel. "Roman Catholic theology" he proclaimed is not Gospel centered theology. As a result, he asserted, the Advent had developed a "culture of anxiety" in which fear swept communicants. Returning to Rite I would return to this culture of fear, he assured the listener. (I suppose the Chancel lamp would never be relit.)

It seems to me, Hicks would have the Advent do away with sacraments altogether. If all we need is to "receive the Gospel" for salvation, who needs anything else? Why bother with all the rigamarole of liturgies? Just go straight to the Bible and have nothing else in church but Bible reading and Sin/Salvation sermons (and maybe hootenanny bands). Taking this logic farther, why have the prayer book? What good is it? According to him, even the most conservative and vertical part of the BCP, Rite I, is still too harmful to keep.

So, as I see it, the Advent leadership must decide whether it wants to be an Episcopal Church in the tradition and form of the historic expression of American Anglicanism, or to be an independent self-defined religion only nominally attached to the Episcopal Church. It seems to me that Hicks has thrown down the gauntlet. He has challenged the parish to accept or reject Rite I (and by extension the BCP). If it chooses the BCP, it moves back toward the mainstream of the Episcopal Church. If it opts to keep Our Liturgy, it continues on its path of differentiation from the mainstream of the Episcopal Church.

Hicks has made his case clear in his video. Agree with him or not, one must admire his frankness, stunning though it may be. He has given the Advent an offer it cannot ignore. I do not know how the vestry, and the other recipients, reacted to Hick's presentation. We will find out in due course.