The environment in Eucharistic worship in the authorised Anglican liturgies in Southern Africa from 1850

Abstract

Eucharistic worship is at the core of the Christian faith. It is a tradition that the Christian faith observes and is done in remembrance of Christ, as Christ instructed during the last supper. This is a tradition that is observed within the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), just as in many other denominations. The liturgical movement within ACSA can be traced back to 1848 with the arrival of the first Bishop, of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (CPSA), with the utilization of the 1662 Anglican Prayer Book (APB), a liturgy which resembled that in the United Kingdom. Worth noting though is that even then, in the liturgy and in Eucharistic worship, the prayers of offertory place the congregants in a humble position and viewed as part of creation and nowhere above any other created being. This showed some environmental soundness within the Eucharistic service. The anchor liturgy for the CPSA, was the Book of Common prayer which was revised in 1928, and in 1969 the first experimental liturgy for the CPSA was published, and followed by another publication in 1979. The 1969 APB, contained a number of special prayers for the environment, such as prayers in times of famine and prayers for good harvest and good weather. These adaptations show that the ACSA was long environmentally aware. The 1979 APB, posited some regression in terms of environmental soundness as it only contained a prayer for the stewardship of creation. And the 1989 APB which is the book that is currently being used in ACSA, contained a number of environmentally aware prayers but a stark improvement was in that it contained a special prayer for the environment. In 2008 ACSA published the Seasons of Creation and Ryan the Rhino, series which sought to bring issues of the environment into the core of worship and thereby addressing the deficiencies in the APB. These provided a separate liturgy, which emphasizes the role of the church and congregants as stewards of creation. ACSA also became a member of the movement of Eco Bishops. We conclude that though the Eucharistic service has remained constant over time, the liturgy around the service has evolved to one that is environmentally sound. And the teachings are such that congregants are propelled into a more environmentally sound people.