The Language of Worship

This is a paper read to the Dunkeld Fellowship in 1972. The unsuitability of language and concepts often encountered today has led to a poorer devotional life. The writer's earlier distinction made made between private and public prayer is now called in question. Renewal of the language of worship concerns much more than individual issues such as whether to use 'thee' or 'you'. Beauty of language can become an end in itself. If the language used today in worship often seems banal, is the language of The Book of Common Order found to be obscure by many? However, 'obscure' language may point to a fullness of faith and if we cannot aspire to this it guards against dilution of faith. This is not an age for definitive liturgy; we cannot live merely on the worship experience of past generations; new and old must be held together.