The Book of Occasional Services 1994

By Church Hymnal Corporation

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898692504
• ISBN13: 9780898692501
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Church Pub Inc
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Every now and then...

It is an oft-quoted joke that if you ask an Anglican to pray, the Anglican will first reach for a book. Reality is, as it often is, twice as true and half as funny, but for a particular reason. The Anglican liturgical style is very rooted in tradition, and while innovation is acceptable, it must be done in full recognition and appreciation of the past. The primary book used during worship services is the Book of Common Prayer, a book that has remained the centre of Anglican worship in various formats since the 1600s. Each national church has the option of modifying the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) for itself; some nations opt to leave services that are less common, Occasional Services if you will, to a separate book.This book, the Book of Occasional Services (BOS), is that book for Episcopalians, the American branch of the official Anglican communion. Many Episcopalians can go through most of their church lives never realising this book exists -- many of the services here are performed so infrequently that the typical Sunday attender who doesn't go to much more than Sundays will likely never encounter them. However, this puts forth the real richness of Anglican worship possibilities. In this book one finds some more 'catholic' services -- Maundy Thursday, Stations of the Cross, Tenebrae, as well as other services.The book is divided into three broad sections: The Church Year, Pastoral Services, and Episcopal Services. The Church Year deals with those services that come round once a year outside of typical Sunday or major holiday observances (those are contained in the BCP proper). This includes small liturgies that can be used even for home and family use, such as blessings of food at Easter time. Most Episcopalians don't practice the tradition of inviting the parish priest to their homes during the fifty days of Easter for a house blessing, but if they should, the pattern for worship is presented here. The Pastoral Services include services of welcome and departure for congregation members, a vigil for the evening before baptism, regular house blessings, marriage anniversary celebrations, dedication of church properties, furnishings and ornaments, as well as restoring a church or consecrated property to secular use.The final section on Episcopal Services includes consecration of chrism, reaffirmation of ordination vows, the ending of pastoral relationship, and the more ancient services of installing and seating a bishop. It also includes a service I feel should be used far more often, that is the Setting Apart for a Special Vocation. This tends to be used in monastic settings and the like, but I believe it could be used for so many more parish-based ministries, and could help reinforce the sense of the priesthood of all believers by showing the church is liturgically serious about lay ministers just as it is about the ordained clergy.This book should be more widely known -- it is a history lesson in liturgy in many ways, and shows t

Worship in every season

As a confirmand of the Episcopal Church of America coming from a decidedly non-liturgical tradition (Baptist), I was confronted with a profusion of liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer. These liturgies related to Sunday sorship and to the Lenten Season and Holy Week. Did the liturgy touch the other seasons of life with the same beautiful gravity as the Maundy Thursday Rite? If so, where were the liturgies to sanctify these times through the rest of the year? In the Book of Occasional Services I found the answer. Here is where liturgy touches every season of life in the Church and among the people. Beautifully (and always) appropriate for whatever season of life, this book should form a part of the library of every Church seeking simple, touching services to fill the Church calendar.