Posts
Friday, June 26, 2009
Arch Bishop Williams reduced to Workshop Speaker
According to the Epsicopal News Service :
Apparently the recognized leader of the Anglican Communion, has not been asked to preach or lead a Eucharist at GenCon. This of course would be the first time in many years (30+?), that the Archbishop has not been allowed to address the convention floor in a manner worthy of his title and all respect which is due.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, preached at a General Convention Eucharist in 1997. Robert Runcie also preached at a General Convention Eucharist in 1985. And Donald Coggan also preached at a General Convention Eucharist in 1976.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will make a presentation addressing the world's economic crisis during a panel discussion webcast live July 8 from the Episcopal Church's 76th General Convention, scheduled to take place July 8-17 in Anaheim, California.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson will host the event, to be called "Christian Faithfulness in the Global Economic Crisis" at the Anaheim Hilton from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. PDT (10:30 p.m. EDT).
Apparently the recognized leader of the Anglican Communion, has not been asked to preach or lead a Eucharist at GenCon. This of course would be the first time in many years (30+?), that the Archbishop has not been allowed to address the convention floor in a manner worthy of his title and all respect which is due.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, preached at a General Convention Eucharist in 1997. Robert Runcie also preached at a General Convention Eucharist in 1985. And Donald Coggan also preached at a General Convention Eucharist in 1976.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Orthodox Church renounces ecunemical ties with TEC in Favor of ACNA
The Living Church is Reporting
His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA made the announcement June 24 at a plenary session of the ACNA’s founding convocation at St Vincent’s Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.
An autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, the OCA was established by eight Russian monks in 1794 on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Known as the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, it was granted autocephaly, or autonomy, by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970. The OCA has 700 congregations, monasteries and communities spread across the United States and Canada.
Metropolitan Jonah, 49, was reared in The Episcopal Church, but joined the OCA while a student at the University of California, San Diego, in 1978. He was elected metropolitan last year as a reform candidate, 11 days after he was consecrated Bishop of Fort Worth.
Asked what the OCA’s stance toward ecumenism might be under his tenure, Metropolitan Jonah said, “If the matter concerns The Episcopal Church USA, then this dialogue has stopped.
“We engage in dialogue with Episcopalian traditionalists, many of whom embrace the Orthodox faith,” Jonah told a Moscow-based weblog. “And I personally, and our entire synod, give great attention to bringing these people into the fold of the Orthodox Church in America.”
Pastor Rick Warren Addresses ACNA Assembly
From the ACNA websitePastor Rick Warren addressed over 800 delegates and attendees at the Anglican Church in North America’s inaugural assembly today. Urging the audience to focus on the mission of the Church and “winning one more for Jesus,” the influential pastor encouraged and prayed for the new church and its representatives.
Welcomed by Archbishop-designate Bob Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America and Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America, Pastor Warren stepped on to the stage at St. Vincent’s Cathedral Bedford, Texas, to a standing ovation. Warren spoke for the next 45 minutes, giving practical advice to the gathered clergy and church leaders on such matters as nurturing Christian maturity, sharing the faith and building healthy, growing churches.
Reminding the audience to stay focused on God and His love for people, Warren said, “Jesus didn’t die to save America, he died to save Americans.” The work of the church, he said, was to preach the Gospel and make disciples. “Don’t ask God to bless what you are doing. Do what God is blessing.”
Along that theme and in the context of the current lawsuits brought against many in the ACNA, Pastor Warren said, “The church has never been made up of buildings, it’s made up of people,” and “Christ did not die for property… You may lose the steeple, but you will not lose the people.”
After the speech, which was punctuated by lengthy applause, Pastor Warren took questions from the audience.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
New Anglican Church poses dilemna
From the Washington Times ...
By Julia Duin
The Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
June 17, 2009
The Anglican Church in North America will be formally founded next week, challenging the legitimacy of the U.S. Episcopal Church and posing a dilemma for the worldwide Anglican Communion over who represents Anglicanism in the United States and Canada.
When 232 delegates to the ACNA convention at St. Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford, Texas, approve the organization's constitution and canons on Monday, Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan will become archbishop for this "emerging" 39th province of the communion, consisting of several groupings that have left the Episcopal Church over issues related to sexuality and biblical authority.
A ceremony celebrating Bishop Duncan's installation is set for June 24 at Christ Church in the Dallas suburb of Plano, the ACNA's largest parish, with more than 2,000 members. Also among the ACNA's members are 11 Northern Virginia parishes, including the historic The Falls Church and Truro parishes, which left the Episcopal Church to found the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
At a news conference in December, Bishop Duncan said God is "displacing" the Episcopal Church in favor of the ACNA. The Texas gathering is the conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church's triennial convention next month in Anaheim, Calif.
There is no precedent in the communion for a country to have more than one recognized province, and Episcopalians who back the move have maintained that the U.S. and Canadian churches no longer preach and believe historic Anglicanism.
The formalities cap a six-year progression out of the 2-million-member Episcopal Church by Episcopalians over the U.S. church's increasing doctrinal liberalism, which has prompted many to leave to other denominations, though others have hung on in the hope a conservative alternative would arise.
ACNA spokesman Peter Frank said the gathering will be inspirational instead of legislative. "This is really about mobilizing people to do mission at the local parish level," he said.
Speakers will include such non-Episcopalians as Rick Warren, the pastor of California's Saddleback evangelical megachurch, and Metropolitan Jonah, head of the Orthodox Church in America. Also attending will be the Rev. Todd Hunter, a church planter for the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA), one of the 28 groups represented at ACNA.
Episcopal Church spokeswoman Neva Rae Fox said the denomination was "aware" of the gathering and officials were concerned that one of its active bishops, Peter Beckwith of the Springfield, Ill., diocese, may be participating.
A message left at Bishop Beckwith's office was not returned Tuesday.
More than 70 of the Episcopal Church's 110 dioceses are in serious financial straits, and its membership is dropping precipitously, with an average Sunday attendance of 727,822.
The ACNA, with an average attendance of 100,000, is quickly adding congregations and forming new dioceses. Its numbers go beyond the adherents of 13 of the 38 provinces that belong to the Anglican Communion.
The new group has several hurdles, not the least of which is that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of the Anglican Communion, has yet to recognize the ACNA as a legitimate Anglican alternative to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
However, when Bishop Duncan met last Oct. 15 with Archbishop Williams, the archbishop instructed the Pittsburgh bishop to submit an application for the new province.
Independently, seven overseas Anglican archbishops have recognized the ACNA, with most also cutting ties with the U.S. Episcopal Church. This could aggravate existing conflicts in the worldwide communion by adding the issue of who recognizes what North American church.
Of the four dioceses that have left the Episcopal Church and joined the ACNA en masse, each one is fighting the Episcopal Church for rights to millions of dollars in property the dioceses have taken with them.
In three of those dioceses - San Joaquin in Sacramento, Calif.; Quincy in Peoria, Ill., and Fort Worth, Texas - Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts Schori has appointed alternate bishops to replace those who have departed. In Pittsburgh, she has appointed a standing committee.
By Julia Duin
The Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
June 17, 2009
The Anglican Church in North America will be formally founded next week, challenging the legitimacy of the U.S. Episcopal Church and posing a dilemma for the worldwide Anglican Communion over who represents Anglicanism in the United States and Canada.
When 232 delegates to the ACNA convention at St. Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford, Texas, approve the organization's constitution and canons on Monday, Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan will become archbishop for this "emerging" 39th province of the communion, consisting of several groupings that have left the Episcopal Church over issues related to sexuality and biblical authority.
A ceremony celebrating Bishop Duncan's installation is set for June 24 at Christ Church in the Dallas suburb of Plano, the ACNA's largest parish, with more than 2,000 members. Also among the ACNA's members are 11 Northern Virginia parishes, including the historic The Falls Church and Truro parishes, which left the Episcopal Church to found the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
At a news conference in December, Bishop Duncan said God is "displacing" the Episcopal Church in favor of the ACNA. The Texas gathering is the conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church's triennial convention next month in Anaheim, Calif.
There is no precedent in the communion for a country to have more than one recognized province, and Episcopalians who back the move have maintained that the U.S. and Canadian churches no longer preach and believe historic Anglicanism.
The formalities cap a six-year progression out of the 2-million-member Episcopal Church by Episcopalians over the U.S. church's increasing doctrinal liberalism, which has prompted many to leave to other denominations, though others have hung on in the hope a conservative alternative would arise.
ACNA spokesman Peter Frank said the gathering will be inspirational instead of legislative. "This is really about mobilizing people to do mission at the local parish level," he said.
Speakers will include such non-Episcopalians as Rick Warren, the pastor of California's Saddleback evangelical megachurch, and Metropolitan Jonah, head of the Orthodox Church in America. Also attending will be the Rev. Todd Hunter, a church planter for the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA), one of the 28 groups represented at ACNA.
Episcopal Church spokeswoman Neva Rae Fox said the denomination was "aware" of the gathering and officials were concerned that one of its active bishops, Peter Beckwith of the Springfield, Ill., diocese, may be participating.
A message left at Bishop Beckwith's office was not returned Tuesday.
More than 70 of the Episcopal Church's 110 dioceses are in serious financial straits, and its membership is dropping precipitously, with an average Sunday attendance of 727,822.
The ACNA, with an average attendance of 100,000, is quickly adding congregations and forming new dioceses. Its numbers go beyond the adherents of 13 of the 38 provinces that belong to the Anglican Communion.
The new group has several hurdles, not the least of which is that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of the Anglican Communion, has yet to recognize the ACNA as a legitimate Anglican alternative to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
However, when Bishop Duncan met last Oct. 15 with Archbishop Williams, the archbishop instructed the Pittsburgh bishop to submit an application for the new province.
Independently, seven overseas Anglican archbishops have recognized the ACNA, with most also cutting ties with the U.S. Episcopal Church. This could aggravate existing conflicts in the worldwide communion by adding the issue of who recognizes what North American church.
Of the four dioceses that have left the Episcopal Church and joined the ACNA en masse, each one is fighting the Episcopal Church for rights to millions of dollars in property the dioceses have taken with them.
In three of those dioceses - San Joaquin in Sacramento, Calif.; Quincy in Peoria, Ill., and Fort Worth, Texas - Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts Schori has appointed alternate bishops to replace those who have departed. In Pittsburgh, she has appointed a standing committee.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Lesbian Integrity Leader vs. Bishop Henry Parsley
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
6/4/2009
The president of The Episcopal Church's unofficial pansexual advocacy organization, Integrity, is livid over secrecy surrounding a study group working on the theology of same-gender relationships.
The Rev. Susan Russell said in a June 2 statement that keeping the names of the theologians secret was "the height of absurdity and insult." She said that secrecy makes the project "suspect, disingenuous and dishonest."
Russell said that a secret study "sends a horrific message to gay and lesbian people -- both inside and outside the church" and is "utterly contrary to our baptismal promise to respect the dignity of every human being.
She cited Resolution A167 from the 2006 meeting of General Convention, which reiterated the church's 1997 apology to "its members who are gay or lesbian, and to lesbians and gay men outside the Church, for years of rejection and maltreatment by the Church."
Undaunted, Bishop Henry Parsley, (Alabama) chair of the House of Bishops Theology Committee, fired back saying, "We believe that for a season the work can best be accomplished by allowing the panel to work in confidence. This supports the full collegiality and academic freedom of the theologians and provides the space they need for the deep dialogue and reflection that is taking place among them."
He concluded by saying that it has always been the committee's intention to publish the names of the panel when the work reaches the appropriate stage.
Parsley was forced to go public after two advocacy groups called for the theology committee to make the names public and to explain why more study of the issue was needed.
A committee of the House of Bishops Theology requested the study, which is described as "designed to reflect a full spectrum of views and to be a contribution to the Listening Process of the Anglican Communion, as well as to the discussion of this subject in our province." The report calls the study "a long-term, multi-step project" designed to be completed in 2011.
However, the names of those on the committee were not included calling forth outrage from Russell and Meyers, though Meyers did so in gentler tones.
Parsley was forced to put out a fuller statement saying that the panel of theologians "very intentionally represents a robust range of views on the subject and includes gay and lesbian persons."
He also said it is the committee's intention to publish the names of the panel when the work has reached the appropriate stage.
"This project is designed to articulate theologically a full range of views on the matter of same sex relationships in the church's life and to foster better understanding and respectful discernment among us. It will also be a contribution to the listening process of the larger Communion. It has several stages and is scheduled to be complete by early 2011. We are grateful to the distinguished theologians for their generous service to the church."
Parsley concluded saying that any member of the church who wishes to address the panel should send comments to the Theology Committee. "We will see that these are communicated to the theologians to enrich their reflection and dialogue."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems to be me she is screaming for the sake of merely screaming ..... The Theology committee is loaded with left-leaning representation, who afterall - set up this to discuss the
"robust range of views on the subject and includes gay and lesbian persons."
If a Theology committee needs to have a sub committee to understand Biblical Authority on this matter, she has nothing to worry about .....
www.virtueonline.org
6/4/2009
The president of The Episcopal Church's unofficial pansexual advocacy organization, Integrity, is livid over secrecy surrounding a study group working on the theology of same-gender relationships.The Rev. Susan Russell said in a June 2 statement that keeping the names of the theologians secret was "the height of absurdity and insult." She said that secrecy makes the project "suspect, disingenuous and dishonest."
Russell said that a secret study "sends a horrific message to gay and lesbian people -- both inside and outside the church" and is "utterly contrary to our baptismal promise to respect the dignity of every human being.
She cited Resolution A167 from the 2006 meeting of General Convention, which reiterated the church's 1997 apology to "its members who are gay or lesbian, and to lesbians and gay men outside the Church, for years of rejection and maltreatment by the Church."
Undaunted, Bishop Henry Parsley, (Alabama) chair of the House of Bishops Theology Committee, fired back saying, "We believe that for a season the work can best be accomplished by allowing the panel to work in confidence. This supports the full collegiality and academic freedom of the theologians and provides the space they need for the deep dialogue and reflection that is taking place among them."
He concluded by saying that it has always been the committee's intention to publish the names of the panel when the work reaches the appropriate stage.
Parsley was forced to go public after two advocacy groups called for the theology committee to make the names public and to explain why more study of the issue was needed.
A committee of the House of Bishops Theology requested the study, which is described as "designed to reflect a full spectrum of views and to be a contribution to the Listening Process of the Anglican Communion, as well as to the discussion of this subject in our province." The report calls the study "a long-term, multi-step project" designed to be completed in 2011.
However, the names of those on the committee were not included calling forth outrage from Russell and Meyers, though Meyers did so in gentler tones.
Parsley was forced to put out a fuller statement saying that the panel of theologians "very intentionally represents a robust range of views on the subject and includes gay and lesbian persons."
He also said it is the committee's intention to publish the names of the panel when the work has reached the appropriate stage.
"This project is designed to articulate theologically a full range of views on the matter of same sex relationships in the church's life and to foster better understanding and respectful discernment among us. It will also be a contribution to the listening process of the larger Communion. It has several stages and is scheduled to be complete by early 2011. We are grateful to the distinguished theologians for their generous service to the church."
Parsley concluded saying that any member of the church who wishes to address the panel should send comments to the Theology Committee. "We will see that these are communicated to the theologians to enrich their reflection and dialogue."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems to be me she is screaming for the sake of merely screaming ..... The Theology committee is loaded with left-leaning representation, who afterall - set up this to discuss the
"robust range of views on the subject and includes gay and lesbian persons."
If a Theology committee needs to have a sub committee to understand Biblical Authority on this matter, she has nothing to worry about .....
Monday, June 8, 2009
In memory of Ed Freeman. Medal of Honor winner.
You’re an 18 or 19 year old kid.
You’re critically wounded,
and dying in the jungle in the
Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965.
LZ Xray, Vietnam.
Your Infantry Unit is outnumbered 8 - 1,
and the enemy fire is so intense,
from 100 or 200 yards away,
that your own Infantry Commander
has ordered the Medi-Vac helicopters to stop coming in.
You’re lying there,
listening to the enemy machine guns,
and you know you’re not getting out.
Your family is 1/2 way around the world,
12,000 miles away,
and you’ll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out,
you know this is the day.
Then, over the machine gun noise,
you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter,
and you look up to see a Huey,
but it doesn’t seem real,
because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you.
He’s not Medi-Vac, so it’s not his job,
but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire,
after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.
He’s coming anyway.
And he drops it in,
and sits there in the machine gun fire,
as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire,
to the Doctors and Nurses.
And, he kept coming back…… 13 more times…..
and took about 30 of you and your buddies out,
who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died at the age of 80, in Boise, ID…May God rest his soul.
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Book of Common Prayer - 460th Birthday
Book of Common Prayer marks 460th birthday
By Ron Cassie
Frederick News-Post
rcassie@fredericknewspost.com
June 1, 2009
The English separation from the Holy Roman Catholic Church famously came during the reign of Henry VIII.
However, the Church of England continued to use the Latin liturgies throughout his rule, as it had for a milennium.
It wasn't until 1549, two years after Henry VIII's death, when Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, is believed to have written the Book of Common Prayer, the first complete liturgy for the English Church.
The historical work contains the calendar of daily morning and evening prayers as well as epistles and "gospelles" in the old English" style.
It includes the traditional Church of England instructions for the celebration of the "lordes Supper and Holy Communion through the yere, with proper Psalmes and Lessons, for diverse feastes and dayes."
"It is the basis of worship for Anglicans of all kinds throughout the world," said the Rev. Arthur Woolley of St. Michael the Archangel Anglican Church in Frederick .
In celebratation of the 460th birthday of the Book of Common Prayer, St. Michael the Archangel will use the 1549 edition of this volume, written in the beautiful language of Renaissance England, at its service this weekend.
First introduced on Whitsunday, also called Pentecost, during the reign of King Edward VI, the Book of Common Prayer formally brought together the forms of service for daily and Sunday worship.
Whitsunday falls on May 31 this year and the public is invited to attend the St. Michael the Archangel's service.
Five hundred years before Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s called for Catholic Mass to be said in the native language of its faithful, Woolley noted, Cranmer translated the Bible and holy Communion celebration so that the educated and uneducated alike could comprehend God's words.
The Archbishop explained why in the Common Book of Prayer's preface: "And moreover, whereas s. Paule (St. Paul) would have suche language spoken to the people in the churche, as they mighte understande and have profite by hearyng the same; the service in this Churche of England (these many yeares) hath been read in Latin to the people, whiche they understoode not; so that they have heard with theyr eares onely; and their hartes, spirite, and minde, have not been edified thereby."
The Book of Common Prayer became one of the most influential works ever written in English, preceeding the King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare by six decades.
"It has been so widely used, and for so long, that it has given the English language many of its common sayings and phrases, such as 'the apple of my eye,' 'out of the mouth of babes,' and 'little lower than the angels,'" said Judy Warner, a member of St. Michael the Archangel Anglican Church.
Much of the prayer book's marriage service, she added, is familiar. For example, "forsaking all others ... so long as you both shall live" ... "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health ... till death us do part"... "with this ring I thee wed."
"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is thought by some to be in the Bible, Warner said, "but although the idea is biblical, the words come from the burial service of the Book of Common Prayer."
These phrases, and other parts of the Book of Common Prayer, have been used for centuries and have been adopted by other Christian denominations.
"The English is even older than Elizabethean English, the language, especially the spelling, had not settled down as much," as when even Shakespeare began writing, Woolley said. "We'll be using a version with updated spelling for the service, otherwise I don't think we wouldn't be able to get through it."
However, he did point out that one young couple in the congregation has decided they want to use the original Common Book of Prayers vows for their wedding ceremony this summer.
Woolly read: "With his ring I thee wed; this gold and silver I thee give, with my body I thee worship and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Ghost. Amen."
"The spelling is often archaic," Woolley said, "but the writing is remarkable."
Tip to VOL
By Ron Cassie
Frederick News-Post
rcassie@fredericknewspost.com
June 1, 2009
The English separation from the Holy Roman Catholic Church famously came during the reign of Henry VIII.
However, the Church of England continued to use the Latin liturgies throughout his rule, as it had for a milennium.
It wasn't until 1549, two years after Henry VIII's death, when Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, is believed to have written the Book of Common Prayer, the first complete liturgy for the English Church.
The historical work contains the calendar of daily morning and evening prayers as well as epistles and "gospelles" in the old English" style.
It includes the traditional Church of England instructions for the celebration of the "lordes Supper and Holy Communion through the yere, with proper Psalmes and Lessons, for diverse feastes and dayes."
"It is the basis of worship for Anglicans of all kinds throughout the world," said the Rev. Arthur Woolley of St. Michael the Archangel Anglican Church in Frederick .
In celebratation of the 460th birthday of the Book of Common Prayer, St. Michael the Archangel will use the 1549 edition of this volume, written in the beautiful language of Renaissance England, at its service this weekend.
First introduced on Whitsunday, also called Pentecost, during the reign of King Edward VI, the Book of Common Prayer formally brought together the forms of service for daily and Sunday worship.
Whitsunday falls on May 31 this year and the public is invited to attend the St. Michael the Archangel's service.
Five hundred years before Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s called for Catholic Mass to be said in the native language of its faithful, Woolley noted, Cranmer translated the Bible and holy Communion celebration so that the educated and uneducated alike could comprehend God's words.
The Archbishop explained why in the Common Book of Prayer's preface: "And moreover, whereas s. Paule (St. Paul) would have suche language spoken to the people in the churche, as they mighte understande and have profite by hearyng the same; the service in this Churche of England (these many yeares) hath been read in Latin to the people, whiche they understoode not; so that they have heard with theyr eares onely; and their hartes, spirite, and minde, have not been edified thereby."
The Book of Common Prayer became one of the most influential works ever written in English, preceeding the King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare by six decades.
"It has been so widely used, and for so long, that it has given the English language many of its common sayings and phrases, such as 'the apple of my eye,' 'out of the mouth of babes,' and 'little lower than the angels,'" said Judy Warner, a member of St. Michael the Archangel Anglican Church.
Much of the prayer book's marriage service, she added, is familiar. For example, "forsaking all others ... so long as you both shall live" ... "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health ... till death us do part"... "with this ring I thee wed."
"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is thought by some to be in the Bible, Warner said, "but although the idea is biblical, the words come from the burial service of the Book of Common Prayer."
These phrases, and other parts of the Book of Common Prayer, have been used for centuries and have been adopted by other Christian denominations.
"The English is even older than Elizabethean English, the language, especially the spelling, had not settled down as much," as when even Shakespeare began writing, Woolley said. "We'll be using a version with updated spelling for the service, otherwise I don't think we wouldn't be able to get through it."
However, he did point out that one young couple in the congregation has decided they want to use the original Common Book of Prayers vows for their wedding ceremony this summer.
Woolly read: "With his ring I thee wed; this gold and silver I thee give, with my body I thee worship and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Ghost. Amen."
"The spelling is often archaic," Woolley said, "but the writing is remarkable."
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