Common Order: A Canadian Book of Services of Worship
Compiled and edited
by Ian S. Wishart
Presbyterian worship often oscillates between those seeking the liturgical precision of written prayers and prescribed texts, and those who like their worship free of set forms. This tension goes back at least to the 1633 fury of a Scot named Jenny Geddes, who threw a stool at the minister of St. Giles’ Church, Edinburgh, as he attempted to read from, and impose on the Church of Scotland, a prescribed liturgy inspired by the Church of England! Presbyterian prejudice against written prayers has had a long history; only late in the 19th century did Presbyterian clergy think it legitimate to use printed prayers written by others in public worship. The Presbyterian Church in Canada first published a Book of Common Order in 1922; a second followed in 1938, another in 1964, and the current Book of Common Worship in 1991. This collection by Rev. Ian S. Wishart of St. John’s, Nfld., stands in this liturgical tradition. But will his thoughtful new resource be used as widely as it ought?
Though our denomination encourages the use of prepared prayers and set worship forms, we adopted our various books of Common Order, not as prescribed canonical forms that must be used, but as helpful resources that can be used; Presbyterians enjoy significant liturgical freedom. This freedom leads, however, to a good deal of congregational worship that still oscillates between a stultifying use of printed resources on the one hand, and a makeshift liturgical incoherence on the other. Some worship leaders are convinced that the Holy Spirit inspires extemporaneous prayers, but is only distantly related to written prayers. Others have become such slaves to the verbatim reading of generic printed prayers that worship gets stuck in a dry liturgical rut. We need help to avoid the laziness apparent in both “we jis wanna” and “we beseech Thee, that Thou wouldst” prayers.
Wishart’s Common Order will help us. What he offers is the fruit of his liturgical labours and worship practice over a lifetime of ministry. It is a conservative book, both in the sense that he seeks to conserve prayers from the church catholic that might be otherwise lost, but also in the sense that he is a traditionalist rather than an innovator. As an example of the former,
I think of his inclusion of the wonderful 17th prayer of St. Dimitri of Rostov:
Come, my Light,
and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life,
and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician,
and heal my wounds,
Come, Flame of divine love,
and burn up the thorns of my sins,
kindling my heart
with the flame of your love.
Come, my King,
rule the throne of my heart,
For you alone are my King
and my Lord.
As to Wishart’s traditionalism, his language occasionally sounds dated to me: “We do not deserve your benefits, yet we beseech you to confirm your favour to us,” or, in the Order for the Confirmation of Baptized Persons, the candidates are welcomed as those who have been “trained and taught in the things pertaining to Christ and his Church.”
That said, we ought to note that his intention is not that his texts be slavishly read, but that they be used to stimulate further reflection on prayer. Mind you, many of the texts included are immediately useable. I think of many of his own regular Sunday prayers, or of the Advent prayers of Ruth Houtby, or a fine prayer adapted from the 17th-century bishop, Jeremy Taylor:
O God: your mercies are more
than we can number.
Make us, we pray, sensible of
the shortness and uncertainty
of human life; may your
Holy Spirit lead us in holiness
and righteousness all our days.
When we shall have served you
in our day and generation,
receive us in your kingdom,
with the testimony of
a good conscience,
in the communion of your church,
in the confidence of Christian faith,
in the comfort of your blessed hope,
in charity with our neighbours,
in favour with you our God.
Grant this, we pray,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Some specifics: I like how Wishart introduces the prayers of intercession: “O God: you have committed to your people the privilege of prayer on behalf of your people. Hear our prayers for your church and your world.” I like his Good Friday prayers. I like the fact that he has included the Communion Service from the PCC’s 1922 Book of Common Order. Shortened, it can still offer a most complete liturgy.
We need to be reminded that God is a God of weight, and that when we worship God, our worship must also have weight. Common Order reminds us of this fact, even as it encourages us to confidently worship such a God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
