Press Releases02 Jun 04

New prayer book promises variety in worship

NEW PRAYER BOOK PROMISES VARIETY IN WORSHIP

Church of Ireland parishes will begin using the new Book of Common Prayer 2004 for the first time next Sunday ? Trinity Sunday, 6 June 2004 ? when it officially becomes the authorised prayer book of the Church.

The Rt Revd Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore, chairman of the Church of Ireland Liturgical Committee and author of a recently published companion book to the new BCP 2004 entitled ?The Desire of our Soul? said: ?I trust congregations will find this ?users guide? helpful. It explains the meaning of the Services we experience, especially the more contemporary and ?new? Services. There are questions at the end of each chapter for discussion or reflection, and it may be a useful tool for parish groups who wish to get to know the Prayer Book better over the coming months.?

Canon Ricky Rountree, Liturgical Advisory Officer, said: ?Trinity Sunday this year is an historic day, marking only the third time a new edition of the Book of Common Prayer has been offered to the church since Disestablishment in 1871. In a quite new way this volume gathers together liturgical treasures old and new in a production that is handsome yet highly accessible.?

Canon Brian Mayne, editor of BCP 2004, said: ?This new authorised Prayer Book expresses the mind of the Church on how we worship and in what we believe. It should hold the diverse congregations of the Church together, although not with a straitjacket of absolute uniformity. It accommodates variety in worship forms in traditional and contemporary language. It also seeks to stimulate personal prayer and recover something of the way earlier generations were spiritually fed by using their prayer books. It is a book to enable personal daily encounter with the living God.?

?The Desire of our Soul? by Bishop Harold Miller is published by the Columba Press and is available from the Good Bookshop, Donegall Street, Belfast.