Thought for the Week

The Book of Common Prayer

—The Anglican Way (4)

The New Testament, frequently refers to the Christian life as “running the race”.  Paul often suggests that if we are truly to follow Christ then we have to “keep in trim”. The Greek word the New Testament uses for this is “askesis” which gives us the word “ascetic”. Today it smacks of extreme discomfort, starvation diet, and a generally gloomy outlook condemning everyone else, so its rather gone out of fashion. Even so, Christian askesis is at least as relevant and important to daily living (perhaps more so) as faddy diets or training for half marathons. It is worth noting, I think, that many hundreds of people are prepared to spend much time, sweat and money keeping physically fit , and often using a “personal trainer” but relatively few bother to keep spiritually fit. Actually the two are related! The Book of Common Prayer suggests that we observe a pretty disciplined regime of “feasts and fasts”. It is at least arguable that if more people observed a fast (that is only one main meal and that pretty simple without meat) on all Fridays and in Lent then maybe there would be less obesity. Equally well if our society observed the basics of Christian life style there would be much greater truth, justice and fairness to others.

Christian askesis is about the whole Christian Way. As well as “ascetic” askesis gives us the word “ascent”. An English spiritual director (personal trainer?) of the fourteenth century, Walter Hilton, wrote a beautiful book called “The Ladder of Perfection” . He gives simple, sane advice about how to “grow up” (ascend) into God through a gently disciplined life of worship, contemplative prayer, intercession,  service of others, fasting and life-style.

In the English Prayer Book the gentle, but demanding askesis of Walter Hilton and others like him (based on  English Benedictine and Augustinian traditions) was made available for all -lay and ordained- as a Way to follow Christ.

The English spiritual  tradition encapsulated in the Prayer Book assumes two things: first that we are really serious about following Jesus and growing in faith, prayer and service and second that most of us are not monks or nuns, most of us have children or other dependents, most of us have demanding diaries. So how hold these together? Well, the Prayer Book seems a pretty good attempt to hold both in creative tension—as I am attempting to demonstrate.

Let me stress  that the Anglican Prayer Book Way assumes that we are  serious in our Christian discipleship, that we really want to “ascend to God”, that we are prepared to live an “ascetic” life. It is frighteningly easy to be a “bad” complacent, nominal Anglican! The Prayer Book Way makes few demands on us (basically only Easter Day Holy Communion!) —though many suggestions and advices. The Prayer Book does not, on the whole, do “guilt”!  But does ask us to grow up into Christ  - and that is Gospel.  Philip