Prayer for the Whole State of Christ's Church (1928 BCP)

Prayer for the Whole State of Christ's Church (1928 BCP) is an AnglicanWiki article on the intercession appointed in the Order for Holy Communion in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. In the 1928 rite it follows the Offertory, the presentation of alms and oblations, and the optional secret intercessions of the congregation. It gathers the Church's eucharistic prayer for the universal Church, civil rulers, bishops and ministers, the congregation, the afflicted, and the faithful departed before the communicants are invited to confession, absolution, the Comfortable Words, consecration, and Communion.

Prayer Book Text

The immediate rubric shows that this prayer is not a general devotional appendix. It is placed after the people's offerings and after the priest may gather particular intercessions from the congregation.

Here the Priest may ask the secret intercessions of the Congregation for any who have desired the prayers of the Church.

Then shall the Priest say,

Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church.

The 1928 text then prays in a wide order: first for the Universal Church, then for rulers, ministry, the people present, those in adversity, and those departed in faith and fear. The bracketed words "[alms and]" belong to the Prayer Book's text and connect the prayer with the preceding offertory action.

Almighty and everliving God, who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make prayers, and supplications, and to give thanks for all men; We humbly beseech thee most mercifully to accept our [alms and] oblations, and to receive these our prayers, which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty; beseeching thee to inspire continually the Universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant that all those who do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity and godly love.

We beseech thee also, so to direct and dispose the hearts of all Christian Rulers, that they may truly and impartially administer justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of thy true religion, and virtue.

Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all Bishops and other Ministers, that they may, both by their life and doctrine, set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments.

And to all thy People give thy heavenly grace; and especially to this congregation here present; that, with meek heart and due reverence, they may hear, and receive thy holy Word; truly serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.

And we most humbly beseech thee, of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succour all those who, in this transitory life, are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity.

And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service, and to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom. Grant this, O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

Scriptural Shape

The opening clause explicitly alludes to the apostolic command in 1 Timothy. The Prayer Book does not merely cite that text; it turns it into ordered intercession at the eucharistic altar.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

The prayer's clauses follow that biblical order. It prays for the Church's truth, unity, and love; for rulers to administer justice; for bishops and ministers to teach and administer the sacraments faithfully; for the congregation to hear and receive the Word; for the afflicted; and for the faithful departed. The result is not a free-standing catalogue of concerns, but a eucharistic intercession in which the whole Church is brought before God through Christ the "only Mediator and Advocate."

Relation to the Offertory

The prayer is inseparable from the 1928 offertory rubrics. The alms and offerings of the people, and then the bread and wine, are placed upon the Holy Table before the intercession begins. The phrase "accept our [alms and] oblations" therefore belongs to the visible order of the service.

The Deacons, Church-wardens, or other fit persons appointed for that purpose, shall receive the Alms for the Poor, and other Offerings of the People, in a decent Basin to be provided by the Parish; and reverently bring it to the Priest, who shall humbly present and place it upon the Holy Table. And the Priest shall then offer, and shall place upon the Holy Table, the Bread and the Wine.

This placement gives the prayer a double character. It is intercession, because it asks for the Church, rulers, clergy, congregation, suffering persons, and the departed. It is also offertory prayer, because the Church's alms, oblations, bread, wine, and petitions are brought together before the consecration.

Historical Development

The 1549 English Prayer Book already used the invitation "Let us pray for the whole state of Christes churche." It placed the prayer inside the larger eucharistic action before the consecratory material that later Prayer Books divided.

Let us praie for the whole state of Christes churche. Then the Priest, turnyng hym to the Altar, shall saye or syng, playnly and distinctly, this prayer folowyng:

The 1549 form also shows why the 1928 title and departed-language matter. The older prayer named the Church, the civil ruler, ministers, the congregation, the afflicted, saints, and departed servants of God within one eucharistic prayer.

And here we do geve unto thee moste high praise, and heartie thankes, for the wonderfull grace and vertue, declared in all thy sainctes, from the begynning of the worlde: And chiefly in the glorious and moste blessed virgin Mary, mother of thy sonne Jesu Christe our Lorde and God, and in the holy Patriarches, Prophetes, Apostles and Martyrs, whose examples (O Lorde) and stedfastnes in thy fayth, and kepyng thy holy commaundementes, graunt us to folowe. We commend unto thy mercye (O Lorde) all other thy servauntes, which are departed hence from us, with the signe of faith, and nowe do reste in the slepe of peace.

Procter and Frere interpret the 1549 arrangement as the ancestor of later separated prayers in the Communion office. Their account is important because it explains that the Church Militant prayer, the Consecration prayer, and the post-Communion oblation were once parts of a longer central prayer.

the long Canon or central prayer comprised all that subsequently was divided to form three prayers--the Church Militant prayer, the Consecration prayer, and the prayer of oblation

They also identify the 1662-type restoration of departed thanksgiving and offertory rubrics as a distinctive development in the English line that later influenced American revision. The 1928 American book stands in that stream, while altering the invitation and clauses in its own way.

In the Communion Service, the commemoration of the departed was added to the prayer for the Church Militant : the rubrics preceding this prayer were now altered on the lines of the Liturgy prepared for Scotland (1637), directing the presentation of the alms, and the placing of the bread and wine upon the Table, this latter being also taken from 1549.

The 1928 Revision

E. Clowes Chorley, writing soon after the 1928 American revision, notes two key changes: the deletion of "Militant" from the invitation and the insertion of a clause concerning departed servants of God. His interpretation is especially useful because he connects the change to the First Prayer Book of Edward VI and notes its contested reception.

New Offertory sentences are added. The word "Militant" has been deleted from the invitation, "Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church," thus reverting to its original form in the First Prayer Book of Edward VI in 1549. In this same prayer there has been inserted a clause definitely praying for the dead

Chorley then quotes the new 1928 departed clause and records that the clause was historically and theologically contentious in convention debate.

This also goes back to the English Book of 1549, but it is the first time in the history of the American Prayer Books that prayers for the departed have been recognized. Others appear in the new Burial Office where their use is permissive. In this prayer it is mandatory and as such was vigorously opposed in the General Convention by a group of Low Churchmen.

Procter and Frere also record a more modest textual change inherited in American Prayer Book revision: the older word "indifferently" in the civil-ruler clause was changed to "impartially." In the 1928 text, this appears in the petition that Christian rulers "truly and impartially administer justice."

A few words, used in an obsolete sense, were changed for words which would be better understood; thus, 'adorable' was substituted for 'honourable' in the Te Deum; 'prevent,' in the Collect of which it is the first word, was changed to 'direct,' and 'indifferently,' in the Prayer for the Church Militant, to 'impartially'

Theological Use

The 1928 prayer teaches intercession as an act of the whole eucharistic Church. Its first petition asks for truth, unity, and concord in the Universal Church, so unity is not treated as mere social peace but as agreement "in the truth of thy holy Word." Its civil petition asks for justice and true religion, not partisan success. Its ministerial petition joins "life and doctrine" with the faithful administration of Word and Sacraments. Its congregational petition expects worshipers to hear and receive the Word with meekness, reverence, and holy living.

The departed clause should be read carefully. It blesses God's Name for servants who departed "in thy faith and fear," asks that they may have "continual growth" in God's love and service, and asks that the living may follow their good examples. It does not invoke the saints, bypass Christ, or displace the article that Christ is the "only Mediator and Advocate"; instead the prayer ends by grounding every petition in Jesus Christ. That final phrase is the theological key to the whole intercession.

Pastoral and Liturgical Significance

In parish use, the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ's Church keeps the Communion office from narrowing into private devotion. Before communicants confess their sins and receive absolution, the Church has already prayed for its own unity, public justice, ordained ministry, faithful hearing, human suffering, and the faithful departed. The prayer therefore forms eucharistic worshipers to come to the Table as members of Christ's whole Church, bearing the needs of the world and the communion of saints before God.

The 1928 invitation is also catechetically important. By saying "whole state of Christ's Church" rather than only "Church Militant," the rite directs the imagination beyond the visible congregation without collapsing Anglican doctrine into later Roman definitions. The prayer is catholic in range, scriptural in its opening warrant, ecclesial in its petitions, and Christ-centered in its conclusion.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Offertory Sentences (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Consecration (1928 BCP)
• General Confession in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Resurrection Hope in the Burial Office (1928 BCP)
• 1928 BCP and the 1549 Book of Common Prayer

External Links

• 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Holy Communion
• 1549 Book of Common Prayer: Communion
• Procter and Frere: A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter VIII additional notes
• E. Clowes Chorley: The New Prayer Book: Revision