Care with the Blue: Standing Committee on Liturgy & Music (Intro & CC Changes)

Well, after working through the (relatively) tame reports and resolutions related to Executive Council and the Councils of Advice for our Presiding Officers, it's time to tackle one of the biggest (and likely most controversial) reports in the Blue Book: the Standing Committee on Liturgy & Music. I'm going to engage these largely by sub-committee (as the entire section is 227 pages long). I'll start with the introduction and the full committee's canonical and constitutional changes.

Summary of the Report
Introduction
The introduction to the report rather beautifully sets out what this Commission seeks to be about, "Our prayer shapes us. The work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) in the past triennium has been for the sake of the Church’s formation in the mind of Christ as we make our prayer to God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our work has always had this in mind: people who pray together shape the community of Christ."

Though they believed preparing a plan for possible BCP revision would be their most important work in the past triennium, they also revised the Book of Occasional Services (BOS) and the church's calendar through a new Lesser Feasts and Fasts (LFF). They created liturgical resources for racial reconciliation, explored questions related to our worship and hymnody... and still did create possible paths for the question of prayer book revision.

The importance of the beloved Christian community means that their strongest recommendation is for a new "sense for sense" (instead of "word for word") translation of the BCP in the various languages used in our church.

They also noted that since the MANY projects that were sent to them were largely unfunded, it made it difficult to do the work with which they were tasked. They persuasively argued, "When projects are not appropriately funded by the General Convention two things are sacrificed: our relationships and the inclusion of marginalized people within the Church in the work of the Church." Being limited to online meetings makes it immensely difficult to develop liturgical texts that truly could be called "common prayer" and the struggle limited resources created when it came to questions of inclusion runs counter to our church's stated goals of racial reconciliation and beloved community.

Canonical Changes
Resolution A062 Amend Canon II.3 .6-9 – The previous canons actually didn't have an avenue for liturgies to be authorized outside of a "trial-status." That is, outside of their authorization for possible future inclusion in the BCP. This resolution, created in collaboration with the Standing Commission on Governance, Structure, Constitution, and Canons, sought to create a clearer canonical status for supplemental worship materials in the life of our church.

Resolution A063 Amend Article X of the Constitution of the Episcopal Church (First Reading) — This resolution does the first reading of the change to our constitution needed to support the change in the prior resolution when it comes to supplemental materials. As the SCLM notes in their report, "This use is not intended to preempt or stop Prayer Book revision; instead, it is to give Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music the Church more flexibility in their approach to worship, and the General Convention a more transparent criterion for authorizing such worship.

Reactions to the Report
I have to say, the SCLM gets a pretty bad rap in our church from a lot of different quarters. Admittedly, my own quarter of young, theologically orthodox, socially progressive, and liturgically conservative clergy (believe it or not, we are a real thing!) tends to be particularly down on the SCLM. Indeed, I believe that what will hold up any real revision to the BCP is primarily the lack of trust people like me (and people in several other ares of our church) have when it comes to the SCLM.

However, I want to on record saying that I think the SCLM has an impossible task and, particularly in this triennium, is seeking to do it with tremendous faithfulness. Their report was the first one I read that was quite simply immersed in theological language and thought. It gave me tremendous hope and pride in our church. In particular, their embrace of the diversity of views in our church—meaning you have to actually LISTEN to this with whom you disagree—is precisely what our church needs more of in this day and age. Well done.

Furthermore, the sheer number of projects they completed is remarkably impressive. I am sure when I get to the sub-committees I will find things to critique, areas where I might want to see something different done, but I do believe the SCLM has produced an excellent product. Now is the time for General Convention prayerfully to receive and act upon it. My own prayer is that General Convention will keep the focus SCLM sought to have, that we truly can be a "people who pray together shape the community of Christ."

Their recommendation for new translations of the BCP is an urgently needed reality in our church. In my own ministry context, with a Spanish-language Eucharist each Sunday, I have seen the problems with the current Spanish BCP. I hope that once a translation is completed, it will also be made available in the same number of beautiful formats as the English-language BCP (currently, you can only get it in an unattractive blue hard cover).

I also agree with them that if General Convention is to give them a significant project that will require more work than can be accomplished in their regular committee meetings, that project must be funded. In particular, that funding must pay attention to the actual costs of native translators, editors, and liturgical theologians who produce texts for our church's worship.

Finally, their recommended canonical and constitutional changes to create a clear space for supplemental liturgies is a long overlooked area of our church's worship life and I hope it will be passed expeditiously at General Convention this summer.

Note: You can click here for a list of all Blue Book Reports & Resolutions that have thus far been reviewed.