Eucharistic Prayer D: The PETA Prayer

Every now and then something gets stuck in my craw, and I just can't seem to get it down. This Easter, we started using "Eucharistic Prayer D" from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. To those unfamiliar with the history of the revolutionary changes inside the 1979 BCP, I direct you to the pages of the Prayer Book Society, or the late Peter Toon's little book, "Episcopal Innovations 1960-2004."

We usually refer to "Eucharistic Prayer C" as the "Star Trek Eucharist" because of the following line,

"At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.

By your will they were created and have their being."

Eucharistic Prayer D, on the other hand, does not have a moniker as far as I know, at least not until now! I have a couple of ideas, but first let's look at the problematic area which starts after the Sanctus {p. 374},

"Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

We acclaim you, holy Lord, glorious in power. Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love. You formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our care, so that, in obedience to you, our Creator, we might rule and serve all your creatures. When our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death. In your mercy you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you. Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation.

Father, you loved the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior. Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, he lived as one of us, yet without sin. To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation; to prisoners, freedom; to the sorrowful, joy. To fulfill your purpose he gave himself up to death; and, rising from the grave, destroyed death, and made the whole creation new.

And, that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for him who died and rose for us, he sent the Holy Spirit, his own first gift for those who believe, to complete his work in the world, and to bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all."

Did anybody catch the first sticking point? It was that bit about ruling and serving all your creatures. Yes, I know, I would have capitalized "Your" too, but serving God's creatures does tend to diminish a certain command out of Genesis 1 that was the bane of eco-pastors of the 60's.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:27-28 KJV)

In my house it is true that I serve God's animals.



I allow them to rule my schedule, my dog food budget, and I clean up every time the cat thinks outside the box.



So far, I have two votes for the moniker "The PETA Prayer."

But don't forget that man was first given permission to "serve" animals in Genesis 9,

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." (Genesis 9:1-3)

The cat had better run and hide, my Lenten fast is over.


Genesis 9 has us serving animals all right, for lunch! Maybe that's what Eucharistic Prayer D means to say, but I doubt it. I think the intent is to diminish the dominion of man, and to shield us from those words from Genesis that caused so many priests of the day so much grief back during the beginning of the environmental awareness revolution that followed the popularization of Rachel Carson's 1962 book, "Silent Spring."

I did a web search for commentary on Prayer D, but came up a little short. I did find the following from Grace Church Charleston,

"Eucharistic Prayer D (page 372) is adapted from the Liturgy of Saint Basil (d. 379) and is the most widely authorized Eucharistic prayer among Christians. It is included in the Coptic, Greek and Slavic Orthodox Churches, in the Roman Catholic Church, the United Methodist Church, and other parts of the Anglican Communion. It incorporates the theology of the other three prayers, and is suited for Maundy Thursday, and some Sundays in Eastertide. Kirtley+ 10/7/2007" (The Rev'd Dr. Kirtley Yearwood Vicar)

I could not for the life of me imagine St. Basil writing anything like this, so another web search turned up his liturgy and what he had to say about the animals, (p.27)

"...for it is you who have given us the authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy."

That is way too violent for Episcopalians to hear on a Sunday.

I have some other problems with Eucharistic Prayer D. Compare the above words from the 1979 BCP with the words of the 1928 BCP that follow the Sanctus,

"All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again:"

I think that is a pretty good summation of the theology of the Eucharist. Compare that with the last paragraph of the 1979 prayer D that I quoted above,

"And, that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for him who died and rose for us, he sent the Holy Spirit, his own first gift for those who believe, to complete his work in the world, and to bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all."

I find the "to complete his work in the world" part troublesome. I am afraid that this can lead to a diminution of the redemption we receive from Jesus, and contains a hint of "works righteousness," a hint of a mankind that has been made right (history proves otherwise) and needs only a little help from the Holy Spirit for man to establish God's Kingdom, and a hint of the progressive notion of the the continuous improvement of humanity.

Revisionists love the new Eucharistic prayers because these prayers free them from the perceived fetters of scripture and remove a lot of that old talk about sin that is supposed to turn people off. Because they are sanctioned by the church, the prayers are assumed to be theologically correct. I think the late Peter Toon+ would agree with me when I ask, "What is wrong with the old version?"

"BUT chiefly are we bound to praise thee for the
glorious Resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our
Lord: for he is the very Paschal Lamb, which was offered
for us, and hath taken away the sin of the world;
who by his death hath destroyed death, and by his rising
to life again hath restored to us everlasting life." (Upon Easter Day, and seven days after. BCP 1928)