Bishop Peter Robinson: “Some thoughts about Morning Prayer”

Well, Bishop Peter Robinson of the UECNA has written another good post on his The Old High Churchman blog, titled Some thoughts about Morning Prayer.  As you can tell from reading this blog, I myself place a great emphasis on the importance of sound preaching (preferably expository preaching) in our churches, and to be candid I fear for churches where clergy are expected to hold the length of their sermon to under ten minutes (occasionally I have even heard parishioners advocate for five-minute sermons.)  That being the case, I do understand the predicament clergy might find themselves in if they try to preach sermons twenty minutes or longer during a Holy Communion service which will wind up being well over an hour in length if that is done.

Perhaps Bishop Robinson points the way out of this impasse when he writes:

…I have come to the conclusion that parishes need to provide both Eucharistic and non-Eucharistic worship in order to prosper. Please note, I am not suggesting that we neglect the Eucharist, but rather suggesting that we do not put all our eggs in one basket and reach out to those who are not yet ready for Communion.

The first concern that I have about the “Slow Mass/Parish Communion” as the only service is that it creates something of a closed congregation. Part of the reason for this is that, except for a few very Anglo-catholic parishes, Anglicans have an engrained aversion to non-communicating attendance at Holy Communion. Semi-churched Anglicans are at a distinct disadvantage in parishes where the Holy Communion is the main or only service simply because they feel they ought not to be there. In short, they are accidentally excluded and this creates a much sharper distinction between the churched and the unchurched, which is a mixed blessing in a missionary situation.

Secondly, Morning Prayer is a very Evangelical service. For a start, it has a very heavy Scriptural componant. Even with the rather limp-wristed lectionary of 1943, it includes one medium length or two short psalms, and two fairly substantial lessons, one from each Testament. In addition to this there is quite a bit of Scripture in the liturgy itself. It also gives room for a more substantial, expository sermon than can usually be preached at Holy Communion. I generally find that twelve minutes is about your whack at “Slow Mass” if you want to retain any hope of finishing within an hour and a quarter or an hour and an half, but it is perfectly possible to go 20-25 minutes without going much over the hour at Morning Prayer.

This might well be the way for a parish to provide adequate nourishment for the soul in expository preaching as well as the Eucharist, and perhaps more churches should consider this.  If I have a major question about this it would primarily be: when would a parish schedule their Bible Study class for adults in this framework?  Or if a parish was large enough, could a possible schedule be: Morning Prayer – 8:30 am, Bible Study 9:30 am, and Holy Communion 10:30 am?  I’m just pondering this, and I would strongly urge all to read Bishop Robinson’s post.