Eucharistic Prayers

Eucharist. From the greek eucharistia, meaning, "thanksgiving".

Even though what you may hear on any given Sunday in church, when it comes time for the formal Eucharistic Prayer, sounds the same to you each week, there are actually seven forms of the Eucharistic Prayer in our 1979 prayer book.

The first two in the prayer book, beginning on pages 333 and 340 respectively, are the two Rite I prayers. They are written in Elizabethan English and probably sound an awful lot like Shakespeare to you. If you're an English nerd like me, that is exciting to you, but if not, you probably would rather not talk about it. But, just briefly, the first form in Rite I is the oldest prayer of the Anglican church, composed by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (1533-1556), who also wrote the majority of the first prayer book (1549). The second Rite I form is a revised version of the first prayer, with some updated language.

The last prayer, what some call a Rite III prayer (p.400), allows the priest to pray off the top of his head and not follow a written down prayer so much. (Fr. Ed is fond of doing this from time to time.)

At youth tonight, we are going to take a special look at four of them in particular - the four that make up the body of Rite II prayers. Here's a tidbit about each one:

Prayer A (p. 361): Contemporary adaptation of Form I, from Rite I.

Prayer B (p.367): Based loosely on a form of prayer found in an ancient book (3rd century) called the Apostolic Tradition, suppossedly written by someone named Hippolytus.

Prayer C (p. 369): An original, contemporary prayer drafted by Howard E. Galley sepcifically for the 1979 prayer book. Many lovingly call it the "Star Wars" prayer, because of it's reference to "galaxies, suns, and the planets in their courses."

Prayer D (p. 372): A contemporary, ecumenical (across denominational lines) prayer based closely on the 4th century form of Eucharistic worship called the Anaphora of St. Basil.


-Fr. Ryan

The Prayers of Compline

"Compline" is a translation of the latin word completorium and means "completion". As early as the 4th century monks would say this portion of Daily Prayer (Daily Office) in their rooms immediately before going to sleep. The 1979 (current) Book of Common Prayer is the first official prayer book to include a form for Compline, and other prayer books around the world have followed suit, such as the form for "Night Prayer" in A New Zealand Prayer Book.

Tonight well be looking at a couple of prayers from Compline, namely the selection of Psalms chosen for the service (Psalms 4, 31, 91, 134), and the concluding prayers.

Our form for discussion will be to ask the questions:

• What does this prayer say about God?
• What does this prayer say about us?
• What does this prayer say about how we relate to God and God to us?

If you wanna get a head start, Compline can be found on page 127 of the Book of Common Prayer or online, by clicking here for a text version or here for an online version that will lead you through the service.

-Fr. Ryan

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

When we got together at the very end of the summer and made a list of the topics y'all wanted to cover in Youth, one of those topics was the subject of prayer, and how we as Episcopalians and Anglicans pray. The latin phrase that titles this post is, in essence, the short answer to that question.

Lex orandi, lex credendi.

Literally translated it means, "the law of praying, the law of believing". Author Fr. Jeff Lee writes it several ways, "the law of prayer establishes the law of belief," or, "the way we pray shapes what we believe."

I think that last one gives the clearest idea of the notion. For the next couple of months, we will be taking a look at the words of our various prayers in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979 and talking about what they mean to us, what they say about God, about us, about our relationship with Jesus Christ, where they came from, and why it is important that they are written down in a book.

-Fr. Ryan

Campfire Tonight!

And my goodness, bring your woolies! It's cold out there today (by FL standards)!

Monday is the National Holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so we'll be talking a bit about him and what he did for our country regarding equality.

Some food for thought before you arrive:

1. What do you think racism looked like in Dr. King's day?
2. What does racism look like today?
3. Where do you see evidence of racism in your lives? School? Church? Home? Other places?

Finally, will you pray with me this prayer from Marie Fowler?

Holy Father, on this day when we honor the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his courage and vision, grant us the grace to dream of a society, a world, where our differences will not divide us, but rather enable us. Grant us the humility to learn from each other, to try new ways, explore new paths, that we can turn and see that children everywhere are children regardless of color or language, religion or custom. Perhaps it is too late for us, who remember the hurt of exclusion and prejudice, who encounter it still. But, working together, we can dream of a better world where all our children will be "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

-Fr.R

Eucharist Question: Hosanna

My beloved, please mark down the day and time, because when Jewlz asked the Eucharist Question on Wednesday night, I gave a partially incorrect answer. That's right, public admission of an error by your youth pastor!

Jewlz asked, "Why do we say "Hosanna" so much?"

I responded that it was a cry of praise and cited that it was of Latin origin. It is indeed a cry of praise, but is actually of Hebrew origin. My Hebrew professor is metaphorically kicking me right now, I'm sure.

Wikipedia has this to say:

"Hosanna, ('Ωσαννα) is the cry of praise or adoration shouted in recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:9, 5; Mark 11:9 sq.; John 12:13), and since used in the Christian Church.

It is also a Jewish liturgical term, applied specifically to the Hoshana Service, a cycle of prayers from which a selection is sung each morning during the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. The complete cycle is sung on the seventh day of the festival, which is called Hoshanah Rabbah (הושענא רבא, "Great Hosanna") (ArtScroll Siddur, p. 726) (so also in Syrian usage; cf. Palm Sunday)."

I apologize for misleading you as to which language it came from. My bad.

-Fr.R

2 Things to Find Out Before We Meet on January 10

Do you remember what they are???

Ok, ok, just in case you don't:

• Summer Trip POSSIBLE Dates: July 30-Aug. 4 -OR- May 28-June 2.

Those are the two cheapest times to go, but if those dates don't work, we can look at the slightly more expensive times in June and July. Check out where we're going by following this link to Eagle Adventures' Flight School 2007!




• What topic most interests you to study in Youth next? Possible topics from our list are: What the Bible says about how we treat our bodies (i.e. Exercise, Drugs, Drinking, Sex, etc.), Death and Dying, "First Fruits" (theology of Resurrection), or "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi" (the law of praying is the law of believing, or what we pray is what we believe).

-Fr.R

First Friday Movie Night, January 5, 7pm

This Friday is First Fridays Movie Night. Meet at 7pm at the youth house and bring friends!