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I have learned in the Christian life to be prepared for surprises. One of those for me was discovering that the 1662 Prayer Book language can be both inspiring, deeply moving and have a depth of spirituality that when taught liturgy in my training college and curacy never revealed. I accept it will never be everyone’s cup of tea and more importantly often needs to be explained or translated for our modern ears and audiences.
Cranmer wrote it to provide liturgy in the language of the people and to make worship available and accessible to all, not just a few well-educated people who understood Latin! He certainly would not expect us to be using those words in the same way just over 350 years later! Worship needs to reflect the time and context of the people of our own time and we have many creative liturgists in our own day who seek to make our worship accessible and awe-inspiring.
However, one prayer that was written originally in sixteenth-century English is still particularly helpful. It was shared with me by a colleague who died last year and who sent me this prayer on my ordination as a priest. I found his letter recently when I was looking for something else and once again I was reminded of its power. It isn’t actually from the Book of Common Prayer and it is attributed to Sir Francis Drake although there is doubt that he wrote the whole thing. It is likely to be based on something he wrote in a letter, whatever its true pedigree it struck me as both encouraging and deeply faith-filled.
Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things, we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wider seas Where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars. We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future In strength, courage, hope, and love. Amen
In our present COVID dominated and shaped world, it is a timely reminder if we needed it that as Christians we have hope beyond present circumstances. It also challenges us to put our trust in Jesus and to seek to be bold in our faith despite our apparent circumstances or to quote St Paul.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
AD Derek |
