The Book of Occasional Services, 1991: Conforming to General Convention 1991

by Church Publishing

This new edition includes the liturgies for Discernment for a New Church Mission; A Liturgy for Commissioning a Church Planter, Missioner or Mission Team; A Liturgy for the Opening of a New... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089869227X
• ISBN13: 9780898692273
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Church Hymnal Corporation
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An earlier edition, but still valuable...

This is a book put out by the Episcopal church (the American branch of the Anglican communion), and it gets revised frequently by the General Convention (which comes round once ever three years). The latest edition is 1994; however, the changes tend to be minor, and older editions such as this one still have the integrity and most of the material of the later ones, and thus are valuable books to have.It is an oft-quoted joke that if you ask an Anglican to pray, the Anglican will first reach for a book. Reality is, as it often is, twice as true and half as funny, but for a particular reason. The Anglican liturgical style is very rooted in tradition, and while innovation is acceptable, it must be done in full recognition and appreciation of the past. The primary book used during worship services is the Book of Common Prayer, a book that has remained the centre of Anglican worship in various formats since the 1600s. Each national church has the option of modifying the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) for itself; some nations opt to leave services that are less common, Occasional Services if you will, to a separate book.This book, the Book of Occasional Services (BOS), is that book for Episcopalians, the American branch of the official Anglican communion. Many Episcopalians can go through most of their church lives never realising this book exists -- many of the services here are performed so infrequently that the typical Sunday attender who doesn't go to much more than Sundays will likely never encounter them. However, this puts forth the real richness of Anglican worship possibilities. In this book one finds some more 'catholic' services -- Maundy Thursday, Stations of the Cross, Tenebrae, as well as other services.The book is divided into three broad sections: The Church Year, Pastoral Services, and Episcopal Services. The Church Year deals with those services that come round once a year outside of typical Sunday or major holiday observances (those are contained in the BCP proper). This includes small liturgies that can be used even for home and family use, such as blessings of food at Easter time. Most Episcopalians don't practice the tradition of inviting the parish priest to their homes during the fifty days of Easter for a house blessing, but if they should, the pattern for worship is presented here. The Pastoral Services include services of welcome and departure for congregation members, a vigil for the evening before baptism, regular house blessings, marriage anniversary celebrations, dedication of church properties, furnishings and ornaments, as well as restoring a church or consecrated property to secular use.The final section on Episcopal Services includes consecration of chrism, reaffirmation of ordination vows, the ending of pastoral relationship, and the more ancient services of installing and seating a bishop. It also includes a service I feel should be used far more often, that is the Setting Apart for a Special Vocation. T