If you don’t have one, start a regular Saturday daytime service (Eucharistic or non). Regular doesn’t have to mean weekly, and we all know that occasionally service times will have to vary. Start to get these in your services register immediately. Progressive Church of England clergy are now in a situation where having an established Saturday daytime Eucharist or Service of the Word is likely to become an important element of offering faithful LGBTQIA+ couples God’s blessing as we passionately want to. (And as She passionately wants us to!)
Once your Saturday Eucharist (or Service of the Word) is established, on some Saturdays (11am might be a popular time, or perhaps 2pm), some of the individual Prayers of Love and Faith may sometimes be incorporated into the existing service. (This might happen more often on summer weekends, for instance.) As is usual in the Common Worship liturgical era, the parish priest may select and even adapt any authorised or commended material. (For a Holy Eucharist during which there just happen to be used some Prayers of Love and Faith, however, it would be wise to avoid exact replication of the example services published as drafts in January 2023 [pages 27–33] because no standalone forms are to be commended or authorised!) Once the House of Bishops has commended (they have agreed to but we’ve no start date yet), the final forms of the individual Prayers of Love and Faith should in theory* be as safe to use under your B5 discretion as all of the new material in the Common Worship library, which has been commended in the same way. * However, please seriously consider joining a union, such as Unite Faithworkers.
Here is my worked example — using, for now, the draft prayers — of a Holy Eucharist during which there just happen to be used some Prayers of Love and Faith. My tradition is progressive Anglo-Catholic, and these are typeset in my own ‘house style’ which has developed from Common Worship typesetting plus Clear Print for Churches principles (which hopefully makes printing double-sized copies unnecessary).
- Example full order of service (priest’s copy; DRAFT, A4 PDF)
- Example occasional insert for the priest’s usual Saturday order of service (DRAFT, A4 PDF)
- Example occasional insert for the usual people’s booklets (DRAFT, A5 PDF)
Something I’ve done to avoid replicating wholesale the January 2023 draft form is to invent an Acclamation using verses from Ruth. I’m open to suggestions for replacement or improvement! Using Bible verses or existing CofE liturgy (besides any found solely in marriage or blessing after civil marriage) would seem the safest route for this and any other substitutions.
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