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Showing posts from April, 2013

A Pattern for Christian Worship

Just recently, I've again come across the writings of Dr J. I. Packer, now in his 80s, who has been a pastor and academic.  He was once a great hero of mine when I was an orthodox Calvinist d e cades ago. He was an Anglican but recently left the Canadian church because of its well-publicised slide into li beralism . Interestingly, although he classed himself as an evangelical he had a great l ove for The Book of Common Prayer ( BCP: 1662). (B eing an evangelical Anglican and having a love for the BCP seems rare to day. ) Packer was brought up on the BCP and I can understand his strong affection for its r h ythms and its implicit piety. (I was not nurture d in it but first e ncountered Anglicanism through An Australian Prayer Book (AAPA: 1978) .) Packer has made a study of the 1662 BCP and found that a sin-grace-faith pattern exists throughout its services.  To check this out f urther, I would like to go back to the second Prayer Book (1552) of Edward VI's reign ...