Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T21:23:41.972Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - The Liturgy of the Church

from Part III - Doctrine, Liturgy, Rites and Other Faith Communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2020

Norman Doe
Affiliation:
Cardiff University
Get access

Summary

The liturgical history of the Church in Wales since 1920 has been characterised by a movement from uniformity towards diversity in worship. In 1920 the church continued to use the inherited 1662 Book of Common Prayer. After World War Two, liturgical revision was largely conservative - to maintain a single usage. 1984 saw the introduction of a new but again single-use Book of Common Prayer. Today, however, variety is positively encouraged, and technology enables each worshipping community to have its own tailor-made liturgy. As a result, the Prayer Book of the Church in Wales offers at least two different liturgies – a traditional and a contemporary - for each of the major acts of worship of the church; and those acts are supplemented by a multiplicity of further optional texts and ceremonies. This caters for those in both the catholic and evangelical traditions. This can lead to a pick-and-mix approach to liturgy - but this reflects the times, where context is privileged, and worshippers’ needs prioritised. Variety represents a growing realisation that worship does not consist in the words of the text, but in the vibrant interplay of text and action. The congregation is increasingly invited to take part in liturgy, which reflects a shift from passivity to participation in liturgy, as well as from formality to informality in worship.

Type
Chapter
Information
A New History of the Church in Wales
Governance and Ministry, Theology and Society
, pp. 179 - 197
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×