
If you’ve ever been to a church wedding (’cause
Most people assume this book is a bible. When I was a kid it’s what I assumed too. So I went poking around my bible for the wedding ceremony… and discovered it’s not in there. ’Cause there are no wedding ceremonies in the bible.
I know; some of you are gonna say, “But there was a Jewish wedding ceremony; I saw a video.” Yes you did, and yes that’s a Jewish wedding ceremony. It dates from medeival times, not bible times. It’s got some customs which are uniquely Jewish, but medieval Jews simply copied the Christian wedding ceremony and Judaized it—just like when Christians swipe Jewish rituals and Christianize them. If you notice any parallels between the medieval Jewish ceremony and
But I digress. The western marriage ceremony ultimately originates with western pagans, not Jews. We Christianized it a bunch. So of course it’s not in the bible. So where do clergy members get the order and words of the wedding ceremony?—what’s this little black book then? Usually a prayer book.
Back in college I picked up a Book of Common Prayer at a bookstore; that’d be the Episcopal Church’s prayer book, which is an American version of the Church of England’s prayer book. Most of
The less formal a church, the less likely they’re gonna tap the prayer books. I grew up in churches where we didn’t even read the call-and-response prayers in our hymnals. So I’ve met many a Christian who’s totally unfamiliar with these books, and eye them with a little bit of suspicion: “What’re you trying to slip past me?” I wish they’d likewise apply some of that suspicion to the stuff their churches show ’em on the PowerPoint slides, but that’s another discussion.
For those of you who are familiar with them, or who wanna take a look at them, I’m gonna hook you up with a few. You don’t have to be clergy to read them. They’ll provide you some useful ideas which you can add to your prayer life.
The Book of Common Prayer.
The prayer book most Americans are familiar with (whether they realize it or not) is the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer.
They’re all based on the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, which actually hasn’t been updated since 1662. Not that they haven’t tried to update it repeatedly, but Parliament doesn’t wanna. As a result, English churches tend to use Common Worship, a prayer book in more up-to-date English.
Anglican-affiliated churches all over the world have their local versions of the Book of Common Prayer, and if you’re more familiar with them, here y’go.
- The Canadian (1985) edition, Book of Alternative Services.
- The Irish (2004) edition.
- The Church of South India’s (2004) edition, Book of Common Worship. [
PDF ] - The Scottish (1929) edition. [
PDF ] - The Welsh (1935) edition, Churchpeople’s Prayer Book. [
PDF ]
Orthodox prayer books.
Each Orthodox church is free to choose their own prayer books, or come up with one on their own. So they do.
- The Eastern Orthodox Prayer Book, [
PDF ] by Bishop Fan Stylian Noli of the Albanian Orthodox Church, 1949. - The Jordanville Prayer Book, produced by Fr. Lazarus Moore, Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, N.Y., 1986.
- A prayer book by the attendants of Fr. Spyridon of New Skete, Mt. Athos, Greece, 2003.
- Orthodox Prayerbook, [
PDF ] produced by St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church, Langley, B.C., 2010. - Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, [Google Books] by Isabel Florence Hapgood, 1922.
Other churches.
Lest you think the only folks cranking out prayer books are Anglicans and Orthodox.
- Presbyterian Church USA: The Book of Common Worship, [
PDF ] 1993. - Roman Catholics: The Roman Missal, [
PDF ] 2010. If you’re nostalgic I also have links to the 1970 and 1962 editions. - Paul Todd: Netzarene Israel Shabbat Siddur, [
PDF ] 2008. The sort of prayers you’ll find in synagogue—only Christian, and they’ll sayYahweh instead of ha-Shem or Adonái, which’ll freak out the traditionalists. - United Methodist Church: Book of Worship, 1992.
If you find any other prayer books online, let me know and I’ll add ’em to the list.
