CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
I. ACTS OF ADORATION
Services 1-3
II. ACTS OF RECOLLECTION AND SELF-EXAMINATION
4. The Will of God
5. A Recollection of Jesus
6: A Litany for the Spirit of Jesus
7. The Ordering of Our Personal Life
III. SHORT SERVICES FOR THE CHURCH YEAR
ADVENT
8. Thanksgiving for the Kingdom
9. Thanksgiving for the Work of God's Spirit
(See also "Concerning the Kingdom," under Table of Special Uses.)
CHRISTMAS
10. Litany of the Incarnation
EPIPHANY
11. Thanksgiving and Litany for the Missionary Work of the Church
(See also Service 14B and "Concerning the Kingdom," under Table of Special Uses.)
LENT
12. The Sufferings of Christ and of Men
(See also Services 4, 5, 6, 7, 10B, 2oB.)
EASTER
13. An Offering of Adoration and Praise to the Risen
and Ascended Christ. (See also Service 3.)
WHITSUNTIDE
14. Litany of the Church
15. A Litany of Fellowship. (See also Service 9.)
SAINTS' DAYS
16. Thanksgiving for the Saints
17. Litany of Commemoration
IV. LITANIES OF' INTERCESSION
18. Litany of the Divine Will
19· Litany of Daily Bread
20. Litany of Labor
21. Litany for Peace
22. Litany for Our Country
23. A General Intercession. (See also Service 12.)
V. ACTS OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING
24· A General Thanksgiving
25· Concerning the Children
26. An Act of Praise
27. An Expression of Joy and Humility
(See also Services I, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10A, 11, 13, 15D.)
VI. PRAYERS
For Special Gifts and Graces
For Use on Special Occasions
Intercessions
Commendations and Benedictions
TABLE OF SPECIAL USES
Missions—11, 14B
National Days—8, 9, 18, 21, 22, 23
Concerning the Kingdom—8, 9, 10C, 11, 13B, 13C, 13D, 15A, 15C, 18, 21, 22
For Spiritual Gifts—6, 10C, 20B
When copies of this book cannot be put into the hands of the congregation, it will be found that many of the litanies can be used as prayers with the responses omitted, or with the response previously announced, said silently or led by the lay-reader.
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The Grey Book had its origins in the Church of England, as one of three proposals for the ill-fated 1928 Book of Common Prayer. It had three parts, of which this, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, was the third.
Once the Church of England's National Assembly had adopted a proposed Prayer Book revision in 1922, three alternatives were introduced to influence its final form. These were The Green Book (not to be confused with another Green Book, which was the Church's initial proposal put to Parliament), promoted by Anglo-Catholics; the Orange Book, promoted by the more moderate Anglo-Catholics of the Alcuin Club; and the Grey Book, promoted by more liberal voices, including William Temple, later Archbishop of Canterbury, and Percy Dearmer, one of the foremost liturgists of the day. The more liberal theology of this book can be readily seen in many of the services and prayers, which, with some modernization of language, could easily be used today.
The book was adapted for use in the U. S. Episcopal Church, as noted in the Preface below, and was commended by the 1934 General Convention. While it never gained further official approval, it was apparently fairly popular, as it went through at least eight printings over the next thirty years.
The services are all in a "prayer and response" format, much like the Litany. In a sense, this book is a predecessor to the current Book of Occasional Services.
We present the entire book here formatted as HTML, plus an Adobe Acrobat (PDF graphics) version linked to below. This book is not listed in David Griffiths' Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer. |
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PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory is the third volume of The Grey Book, one of the several proposed revisions of the English Book of Common Prayer, none of which was adopted by Parliament. Therefore, the two volumes containing the regular offices are no longer printed, having no official sanction. But this collection of special services is gaining in popularity, both in England and America. It was endorsed by William Temple, now Archbishop of York, and seems to be the least colored by partisan churchmanship. Several of our own bishops have recommended its use, not only at special services, but also as supplementary to Morning and Evening Prayer; and it has been widely quoted in recent books of devotion.
We believe, with the original compilers, that only through a widespread use of new and modern materials for public worship will church people learn to express the fullness of life in their adoration of God. We believe that through these brief services the tide of the common life runs strong and exultant, and we trust that the adaptations and rearrangements of the English edition may help to give the book the general use it so well deserves.
The principal changes have been the addition of the "Litany for Our Country," from "The Way of Light," by Howard Chandler Robbins, used with the permission of Edwin S. Gorham, and of the "Litany for Peace," the omission of material in the American Book of Common Prayer, and slight changes in the arrangement, numbering, and phraseology of the services.
The revisers are deeply indebted to .the English publishers and compilers for the privilege of introducing to American congregations, in this new form, a book which has already so generally commended itself to all who know and use it. |
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