Ritual has the advantage of leaving nothing to chance. Nor is anything left to what might be the personal whim, bad taste or bad judgment of the officiating minister. The rites prescribed include everything required for complete worship in an orderly, reverent and beautiful manner.

    The Book of Common Prayer is universally acclaimed for the dignity, reverence and classic beauty of its forms and language. It allows for few surprises. The worshipper knows what the service will be like in any traditional Anglican church. One might say that, in modern terms, this classic ritual provides the “inertial guidance system” for Christian worship! On the other hand, ritual does pose a danger for officiant and worshipper alike. That is the danger that familiarity and frequent use may turn ritual into rote – sheer mechanical, memorized, unthinking, automatic repetition. This can lead to boredom and inattention and even irreverence.

    With awareness of this danger, it can be avoided and turned into a dividend. The worshipper can

    Anglicans have a form of worship developed and prescribed by the experience of the Church, of Christian worshippers, through many centuries. Much of it goes back to the earliest Christian worship, and even to the Old Testament and pre-Christian Jewish worship. Very little of Anglican worship has less than four centuries of Christian use behind it.

    Anglican ritual, then, ensures that we worship in the same manner, often in the same words, as Christians throughout Church history. By its use of some elements of ancient Jewish worship, Anglican ritual also underlines the fact that we are the new Israel, sprung out of the Old Israel. Realization of these facts can make worship deeper, more significant, more reverent experience. It can make worship a thrilling experience as we feel ourselves indissolubly linked with the worship of the millions who have gone before us in adoration of Jehovah and the most blessed Trinity.