“For Sleep O heavenly Father, you give your children sleep for the refreshing of soul and body: Grant me this gift, I pray; keep me in that perfect peace which you have promised to those whose minds are fixed on you; and give me such a sense of your presence, that in the hours of silence I may enjoy the blessed assurance of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

The Book of Common Prayer is a liturgical book that was used by the Anglican Communion. It was first used in the Church of England and was radically revised in 1552. It had subsequent minor revisions in 1559, 1694, and 1662. The edition in 1662, with minor changes, was continued as the ordinary liturgy of a majority Anglican churches of the British Commonwealth. Outside of the commonwealth, most churches of the Anglican Communion possessed their very own modifications of the English prayer book. This book as also supplemented or influenced the liturgical language of many English-speaking Protestant churches.   

The original 1549 version of the Book of Common Prayer was finished under King Edward VI of England. King James I of England ordered another version in 1604 to parallel the King James Version of the Bible. In 1662, after the Civil War, the version recent version of the book was released and remain standard. It helps individuals and today’s churches that are diverse pray together across denominations and traditions. Using an advisory team of liturgy, and with an ear to the of various liturgical prayer, the authors have created an embroidery of prayer that rejoices the greatest of each tradition. Since 1789, the Episcopal Church in the United States has used its own prayer book. The book’s fourth revision (in both modern and traditional language) was published in 1979.  

The 1662 version remains the basis for all existing publications. The use of the Book of Common Prayer has extended past the Church of England to numerous other Anglican values and many liturgical churches through the world. It has been translated into many languages and churches such as the Presbyterian and Lutheran denominations have mainly based their English-language prayer and provision books on the Book of Common Prayer.

The Book of Common Prayer is a good resource for those we show an interest in liturgical worship and contains stunningly written prayers. The book can be used as an aid in worship, and we should not let it allow our worship of God to be limited to a liturgy. Our prayers should be our own but written by another person. Even though the Book of Common Prayer is basically 500 years old, Christians still worship in different ways that are unpretentious by the book. Except insofar as they share mutual roots in early Christian and Jewish worship. But the reach is far more extensive than one might believe because it has comparatively direct influences on Lutheran and Methodist worship. 

“In the Morning This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.”

There were some people in England who did not accept the publication of the Book of Common Prayer. The groups outside of the Church of England are called “Dissenters” or “Nonconformist” churches, had objected to the king’s persistence that all churches use the Book of Common Prayer in their amenities. Groups such as Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and Congregationalists faced church closure if the people did not agree to use the prayer book. A preacher in Bedford, England named John Bunyan declined to use the Book of Common Prayer in his own church. He was arrested on November 12, 1660 and had to spend his next 12 years in prison. Bunyan believed that it was the small price he had to pay for following his conscience and standing up for his right to pray in the Spirit and to be free from the strictures of ecclesiastical authority. However, while in prison. Bunyan wrote his classic allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan could have been freed if he promised not to preach but refused. He told magistrates that he would rather stay in jail until the moss grew on his each of his eyelids before he disobeyed what God wanted him to do. The imprisonment was not what anyone would have imagined. He was allowed visitors, spent nights at home, and even traveled to London once. The jailor even permitted him to on the contrary to preach “unlawful assemblies” in secret. Being in prison gave him the enticement and chance to write. He wrote at least nine books between 1660 and 1672.

With each book he wrote, he gained fame and continued to preach the Bedford church. He even sometimes preached in London and continued to write. The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680) was called to be the first English novel and followed sue with another allegory, The Holy War. He published numerous controversial and doctrinal works.

 When he turned 59, he had become one of England’s most famous writers. He was nicknamed “Bishop Bunyan” because he carried out his pastoring duties. In August 1688, he rode through the hefty rain to reconcile a father and son and soon became ill and died.

As Bunyan said from his jail cell, “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God” (A Discourse Touching Prayer, 1662)