Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1912-12-18
CHANGES AT ST. ANNE'S
BRIEF CHURCH SERVICE
What the Rector Of St. Anne's
Says of it.
TO AFFECT II O'CLOCK SERVICE.
The Traditional Long Service to be
AppreciabIY ShOrtened-The
Rector Alone Responsible.

Following the preface to the Book
of Common Prayer is an instruction
for the congregation, headed ''Con-
cerning the Service of the Church, =
which reads:
/" fhe order for Morning Prayer.
the Litany, and the order for the ad-
ministration of the Lords Supper or
Holy Communion, are distinct SER
vices, and may be used separately or
together: Provided, that no one of
these services be habitually disused.
This instruction was not publish
ed in the prayer book until the time
of its revision in 1919. To any one
skilled in liturgics it would have ap-
peared unnecessary, but it was neces-
sary because of a custom dating
from early in the eighteenth century,
originating in the dioce Sc of York,
England) of making, of these three
services, the traditional Sunday
morning service. Many be lieved the
custom to be of the rubrical and
canon laws of the church.
At ST. Anne's Church. Annapolis,
this traditional long Sunday morning
service, at IL O'Clock, is still in
vogue. The present Rector has
sometimes shortened it by reading
the Litany at 10 80. during the sum-
mer and whenever, at other times,
there is second or late celebration
of the Holy Communion. That the
IL o'clock service may be shortened
to meet the requirements Of all upon
Sundays and other days, when there
is a celebration of the Holy Commu-
MON at this hour, the service in fu-
turs will consist of the Litany and
the order for the Holy Communion,
except upon the great feasts, like
Christmas, Easter and Whitsunday,
when it will be the Holy Communion.
Ours is not an age in which men
are helped, but ather hindered by
long sermons or long services. 1t is
an age when men require short, in
tense services and brief, spiritual
sermons. This long, traditional Sun
day morning service lacks tradition
(of more than two centuries), it is
contrary to the best traditions of the
church and is chiefly valued for asso-
citation. For those who desire to at
tend, Morning Prayer will be read at
10 80 O'Clock. as the Litany is now,
upon the other Sundays. The chief
lose, when Morning Prayer is omit
ted, is of the two Bible lessons, the
psalms and the Re Deum. The les
sons are not a great loss, for there
are two lessons, the Epistle and Cos
pei, in the Communion service. The
psaIter is a loss, particularly the
proper psalms upon special days, but
compensation may be found in the in
tensified interest of the shorter SER
vice. The TIE Deum is hymn and
service in itself, which may be rend-
cred, "solemnly," at any service
during the day or separately.
The Rector takes this means of iE-
forming the parishioners for there
are many others who, periodically,
attend upon the services and should
know of the change. 1t may appear
to be break with the past, for
which the Rector is aloae responsible,
as he has also been responsible for
the maintenance OF the traditional
longer service. 1t is not break
with what is best, and as the respon-
sibility, either way, rests upon him
and upon him alone, he must choose
to be responible for what he believes
to be true and useful.
The service upon Christmas Day
will be the Holy Communion; upon
January s, the first Sunday in Janu-
airy, Litany and Holy Communion.