THE P RTAL
February 2014
UK Page 4
A Decent Burial Anglican
News
for the new
Baptism Rite?
from The Revd Paul Benfield
I
n 2011
the L:iverpool Diocesan Synod brought to General Synod a motion requesting the Liturgical
Commission to prepare material to supplement the Common Worship Baptism provision, comprising
additional forms of parts of the service expressed in culturally appropriate and accessible language.
General Synod approved the motion
and so the Liturgical Commission set
about its work. In December 2013 the
House of Bishops approved the texts
for experimental use, for a trial period
running from January to Easter 2014,
in the 400 parishes designated for trial
use of experimental liturgies.
misleading in
a number of respects
The Mail on Sunday on 5th January,
2014 carried an article highly
critical of the proposals, leading to a
statement by a spokesperson for the
Church of England that the article was
‘misleading in a number of respects’.
It was only on 6th January that the
Church of England website carried a
link to the experimental rite and that
was the first that most General Synod members had
seen of the proposals.
The media took up the story with great gusto with
articles appearing in most newspapers in the following
week as well as radio and television pieces. The Rt
Revd Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester,
publicly criticised the rite and the social media went
wild. Bishop Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden,
said on his blog ‘This is crass. It’s baptism lite. It will
not do.’
God? Do you renounce the deceit and
corruption of evil? Do you repent of
the sins that separate us from God
and neighbour?’
In the experimental rite they are
asked ‘Do you reject evil? And all
its many forms? And all its empty
promises.’ So they no longer have to
recognise that we are rebels against
God or that we need to repent of our
sin. They no longer have to renounce
evil but simply reject it.
Christ as Saviour
In the authorised rite the priest asks
‘Do you turn to Christ as Saviour? Do
you submit to Christ as Lord? Do you
come to Christ the way, the truth and
the life?’
This is replaced with ‘Do you turn to Christ? And
put your trust in him? And promise to follow him
for ever?’ So reference to the need to have Christ as
Saviour or submitting to him as a disciple is lost. At
the signing of the cross in the authorised rite the priest
says ‘Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ
crucified’ to which all respond ‘Fight valiantly against
sin, the world and the devil to the end of your life.’
But now we have ‘Do not be ashamed of Christ. You
are his for ever’ to which all respond ‘Stand bravely
liturgy in accessible language
with him. Oppose the power of evil and remain his
So why all the fuss? The problem with the faithful disciple to the end of your life’ which is not the
experimental rite is that in trying to produce a liturgy same thing at all.
in accessible language it removes key elements of the
a decent burial
Christian understanding of baptism.
I hope that if and when General Synod is asked to
In the authorised rite parents and godparents are approve this baptism rite it gives it a decent burial –
asked ‘Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against according to an authorised funeral service.