Percy has written here regarding the Liturgical year and the tendency to anticipation.
The Date of Christmas discusses the origins of the December 25 (and January 6) date of Christmas. A version of this essay, somewhat freely edited by the publisher of Bible Review where it appeared, attracts some annual interest on the Biblical Archaeology Review web-site.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Daily Prayer
The page will be updated as Percy adds material relevant to the forms of communal prayer variously known as the Daily Office, Liturgy of the Hours, or simply Morning and Evening Prayer.
Baptism
The page will be updated as Percy adds material relevant to baptism and related issues of Christian initiation.
Essays
This page will be updated with original material and with links to essays Percy commends to the reader concerning liturgy and its uses and abuses.
About Percy is an introduction to the New Parson's Handbook.
I Don't Believe in Worship (1) questions the contemporary use of the term 'worship' and asserts the necessity of certain core elements in Christian liturgy.
I Don't Believe in Worship (2) reflects on the biblical roots of Christian worship and suggests the centrality of Eucharist and Daily Prayer, as opposed to generic 'worship services'.
Changing the Oils traces the origins of the current form of Chrism Eucharist and suggests reform.
The Date of Christmas discusses the origins of the December 25 (and January 6) date of Christmas. A version of this essay, somewhat freely edited by the publisher of Bible Review where it appeared, attracts some annual interest on the Biblical Archaeology Review web-site.
About Percy is an introduction to the New Parson's Handbook.
I Don't Believe in Worship (1) questions the contemporary use of the term 'worship' and asserts the necessity of certain core elements in Christian liturgy.
I Don't Believe in Worship (2) reflects on the biblical roots of Christian worship and suggests the centrality of Eucharist and Daily Prayer, as opposed to generic 'worship services'.
Changing the Oils traces the origins of the current form of Chrism Eucharist and suggests reform.
The Date of Christmas discusses the origins of the December 25 (and January 6) date of Christmas. A version of this essay, somewhat freely edited by the publisher of Bible Review where it appeared, attracts some annual interest on the Biblical Archaeology Review web-site.
About Percy
The New Parson's Handbook (aka 'Percy') is inspired by Percy Dearmer's The Parson's Handbook (1899).
This manual reflects the side of Catholic Anglicanism which investigated and retrieved older English traditions, rather than imitating 19th century Roman and continental practice as a basis for Catholic renewal in the Church of England. Only partially correctly, it has been viewed as a manifesto of the "Sarum", as opposed to Roman, form of Anglo-Catholicism.
The Parson's Handbook is still worth reading - sometimes dated in detail, it remains relevant in spirit. It does not have all the detail of Fortescue's Ritual Notes, having deeper concerns than mere formality. It connects liturgy with values, including social justice - Dearmer is as critical of the unjust labour relations embedded in ugly Church furnishings as in their aesthetic failure.
More than a hundred years later, specifics have changed but Percy's passion remains relevant. Anglicanism has seen the Oxford Movement and the Liturgical Movement come, and in large part go, with mixed and incomplete results. Meanwhile the Church seems to face larger issues than liturgical nicety, and flails around seeking fresh (oops) solutions to its failures.
This site is not for reminiscences about apparelled amices or musings on the length or surplices, but an attempt to make connections between past and future, and between liturgy and life. I start with liturgy though - because one of the convictions informing the New Handbook is that liturgy has too often become a sort of neutral medium for communication of ideas, good and bad, where in fact it should be a source for the Church's mission.
Percy appears again here to encourage further and deeper thought about liturgy, with a Catholic flavour and historical interest but with generosity of spirit and concern for mission including justice. Frank opinions are offered in charity, with openness to learning and change. Those who are not against us are for us!
This manual reflects the side of Catholic Anglicanism which investigated and retrieved older English traditions, rather than imitating 19th century Roman and continental practice as a basis for Catholic renewal in the Church of England. Only partially correctly, it has been viewed as a manifesto of the "Sarum", as opposed to Roman, form of Anglo-Catholicism.
The Parson's Handbook is still worth reading - sometimes dated in detail, it remains relevant in spirit. It does not have all the detail of Fortescue's Ritual Notes, having deeper concerns than mere formality. It connects liturgy with values, including social justice - Dearmer is as critical of the unjust labour relations embedded in ugly Church furnishings as in their aesthetic failure.
More than a hundred years later, specifics have changed but Percy's passion remains relevant. Anglicanism has seen the Oxford Movement and the Liturgical Movement come, and in large part go, with mixed and incomplete results. Meanwhile the Church seems to face larger issues than liturgical nicety, and flails around seeking fresh (oops) solutions to its failures.
This site is not for reminiscences about apparelled amices or musings on the length or surplices, but an attempt to make connections between past and future, and between liturgy and life. I start with liturgy though - because one of the convictions informing the New Handbook is that liturgy has too often become a sort of neutral medium for communication of ideas, good and bad, where in fact it should be a source for the Church's mission.
Percy appears again here to encourage further and deeper thought about liturgy, with a Catholic flavour and historical interest but with generosity of spirit and concern for mission including justice. Frank opinions are offered in charity, with openness to learning and change. Those who are not against us are for us!
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