Update on Prayer Book Revision Process May 2016 The ACSA Liturgical Committee and its Sub-Committees on Lectionary and on Prayer Book Revision met from Friday 6 May to Saturday 14 May. Tables and Collects for Revised Common Lectionary The Tables and Collects for the entire three-year RCL cycle were carefully reviewed and edited. This means that we now have a completed Source Book for the Readings and Collects for all the Sundays and Feastdays in the three-year cycle. We will still need to produce an annual ACSA Lectionary, taking account of the date of Easter Day – in order to calculate the correct number of Sundays in the Season after the Epiphany and the Season after Pentecost. A printed edition of the full three-year cycle will be given to the Bishops when they meet in September. A ‘New’ Prayer Book Several members reported that there is a widespread expectation that a ‘new’ Prayer Book is being produced and will be available in the very near future. We are calling upon Diocesan Liturgical Committees, Diocesan Link Representatives and Link Persons to help correct this misunderstanding. We are involved in a process of revising APB 1989 – a process that will take many years. During those years we will be producing several supplemental liturgical resources authorised for experimental, trial use. These supplemental resources will be the result of a process of wide consultation among the people of ACSA and reflect the styles of worship common to our Church. Unfortunately, given the resources at our disposal, Celebrating Sunday will only appear in English at this time. As soon as the Translation Committees complete their work, it will become available in the languages of ACSA. Celebrating Sunday Celebrating Sunday, the first of these occasional publications, will be launched at Provincial Synod in September 2016. It will include seasonal resources for Celebrating Sunday: Under Southern Skies – In an African Voice during Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, Lent and Eastertide. Holy Eucharist on Sunday [Principal Service] Service of the Word on Sunday [as the Principal Service when Holy Communion is not offered] An Order of Worship for Sunday Evening [a seasonal alternative to APB Evening Prayer] Celebrating Sunday will provide the Shape and Structure of these services as well materials for each of their sections. Because Night Prayer [Compline] has become a regular feature of worship in ACSA, materials for praying this Office will also be included. Several Thought-pieces offering explanations and reflections will be included: Introductions to the Seasons, Commentaries and Additional Directions, etc. We hope to publish Celebrating Sunday with a CD that will provide in electronic form all the materials needed for public worship.
