The Ordinal

I've picked up at a charity shop for the princely sum of £1.50 a copy of “The Ordinal” inscribed to ‘Glyn, Lord Bishop of Swansea and Brecon’.

A bit of digging has identified the owner of the book as William Glyn Hughes Simon (1903-1972) who after being Bishop of Swansea and Brecon became Bishop of Llandaff and then the Archbishop of Wales for 3 years before his retirement in 1971 and death in 1972.

Perhaps this should not impress me, but owning a book that was once owned by the Archbishop of Wales seems to me to be something very special indeed. Within Judaism the prohibition against destroying the name of God means that a page containing God’s name can not simply be thrown away, it must be treated with respect and so when requiring disposal it will be buried. We talk about some churches as having an atmosphere about them, as places with walls that have been soaked in prayers. For me, without getting to mystical, books have much of the same characteristics. A prayer book, a book of liturgy, a Bible once owned by a devout person are, for me, incredible things.

With the introduction of a new prayer book in Reform Judaism, the question arose as to what to do with the old books? After much discussion it was agreed to use them as insulation for a school. The idea that, as they study, the children will be surrounded by the books, albeit in the walls, that a generation have used to call upon God, is, for me, a very special image. I find such thought and profound concern for respecting the things of God very humbling.

Back to the Ordinal; for those who don’t know, the ordinal is the liturgy, (the words used) when ordaining a Deacon, Priest, or Bishop. The standard Ordinal comes from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which was a revision of the 1552 text. Since then, new orders of service have been introduced, with the Alternative Service Book (1980) and then Common Worship. Despite these updates, the 1662 text is still “on the statute book” as it were. I hadn’t intended this to be a history lesson – especially not such a dull one, so back to my point, or rather getting to my point.

Reading the text from the Ordinal I am just astounded by the strength and weight of the liturgy, and it brought me back to the current disputes within the church:

“From all blindness of heart; from pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all inheritableness, Good Lord, Deliver us.

From fornication, and all other deadly sin; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord deliver us.

From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion; from all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word and Commandment, God Lord deliver us.”

As the church faces schism, separation, and in-fighting, I can only hope that these prayers will ring in the ears of all of us involved.

Yours as always,

The Broken Man