In the edition of May 2005 our editor kindly reported on my attempts to put together both words and music of something I called an Open Liturgy, – a celebration, that is, for all people of good will, but specially for those who hold no firm religious conviction. I am greatly indebted to all who got in touch with me since for their comments and queries and for telling me of the use they made of various bits and pieces of the material I sent them. Most of all I owe a debt of deep gratitude to Don and Margaret Feist of Dunedin, New Zealand for the invaluable feedback they provided from their try-out of the complete text. From this and from the numerous reactions communicated to me from elsewhere, I feel I must attempt to remedy what I now see as three chief flaws: 1.The original centred on Jesus of Nazareth. This gave the impression that what was being offered was merely a sanitised version of Christianity – definitely not what was on offer. 2. Similarly, the use of Bread and Wine gave the wrong impression. Completely different elements would be needed if the assumptions – or perhaps their comparative absence – within such a ritual were to be properly represented. 3. The style of speech was in places lengthy, verbose and complex. It seemed also in places over-obsessed with definition. Something more curt and arresting would better serve, something more suggestive than precise. Above all space should be allowed for actions and music – to speak louder than words.
As to (1), I think I probably ought now to attempt a basic Liturgy having no particular theme over and above those embodied in the three main parts – Preparing, Offering, Receiving – and centring on the need for Openness of Mind, Hand and Heart. Should particular people fall to be celebrated, these should be simply such as can be plainly perceived to have fostered the growth of Compassion and Understanding. Of those there are many, both men and women, from all ages, cultures and walks of life. Let us say I merely began with a 1st century Jewish man, a gifted preacher and healer, who was tortured and killed for his pains. I have already prepared the material for the celebration of other clearly different individuals, who, I would claim, offer no inferior contribution to our betterment. (I am here of course separating Jesus of Nazareth from the archetypical figure which others have erected on his bare biography.) To be more precise, let me say who those are for whom celebrations are already produced, as well as others who, I feel, may prove worthy of similar attention.
First, as in some ways a complete contrast, comes a lady of the present day, by education a Buddhist of the Theravada persuasion, a political activist, writing and campaigning for the human rights of the oppressed and exploited people of Myanmar (Burma). This is Aung San Suu Kyi. Deeply spiritual, a fearless advocate of compromise and compassion, she has risked death for her cause. Now over 60, she is for the third time under close house arrest.
Second comes another lady, a 19th century Englishwoman. Confirmed in the Established Church of her day in the Midlands countryside, she became in her teens a stout Evangelical, then in her twenties a thoroughgoing Unbeliever and translator of two key works of Biblical Criticism: Strauss’s Life of Jesus and Feuerbach’s Essence of Christianity. In her thirties she was contributing editor of an important free-thinking monthly, and in her forties and fifties a best-selling novelist. Through her novels, works ruthless in critical perception and rich in human understanding, she gradually perfected the means to express profound ethical intuitions in language which owed nothing to religious presupposition. For many years she cohabited with a married man, being labelled in her day ‘heathen and outlaw’. This was Marian Evans (alias George Eliot).
Next comes a gentleman of the 5th century BCE. He was a physician on the tiny Aegean island of Cos, which he was to make for all times famous as a centre for both the scientific study of Medicine and the establishment of Medical Ethics. To him and his School of Medicine we owe the high standards of expertise and patient care which we now demand of our own Health Service. This was Hippocrates. Those entering medical professions the world over still subscribe to a form of undertaking first sworn to on the island of Cos two-and-a-half millennia since and styled after him the Hippocratic Oath. In his legacy we find combined both Care and Understanding – that Understanding of the scientific variety, which we neglect at our peril.
Actively pursued as likely candidates for celebration are, first a 20th century writer on matters Open Liturgy 2 George Eliot William Imray (Brown) reports on further developments to his Open Liturgy.
Using the apple as an element I aimed quite openly to turn Genesis III on its head. psychological, a sane and readable exponent of the latest insights which are available to us in our quest for selfunderstanding. This is Anthony Storr. Then there is a less heardof lady, a painter from 17th century Rome, whose mouldbreaking depiction of women as they are, neither moral ideal nor man-destroyer, but victims of patriarchal dominance, laid certain of the foundations for liberating reform. This was the artist Orazio Gentileschi’s daughter and pupil, Artemisia. Meanwhile kept in mind are the Sikh Guru Arjan, the Sufi Prophetess Rabi’a and the Stoic Philosopher Zeno, all three in their time and clime proponents of the entire Brotherhood of Man.
As to (2) – elements replacing Bread and Wine – in a celebration meeting agnostic needs, I now feel that two attitudes must be above all catered for. The first is the acceptance whole and entire of our mortal condition. This entails full acknowledgement of death and sexuality – something which requires to be heavily stressed in cultures dominated by those brands of Christianity which passionately reject the one and pathetically resist the other. In an effort to meet this particular need I devised a Sacrament of Fruits, using the apple as element. In this way I aimed quite openly to turn Genesis III on its head.
The second feature of our mortal condition which must, I feel, be stressed is our partial nature as individuals – the extent, that is, to which we must patiently await the intervention of influences beyond our conscious control if we are to make any headway whatsoever in the direction in which an ethical dedication points us. It was already a feature of the original Liturgy; but now I think I would tend to make the point through a parallel Sacrament, which I would call the Sacrament of Oils. This incorporates features, of course, from Christian practice, oils being mingled for use in unction. But anointing has a longer and richer history. In each one of its known occurrences however it symbolises a benefit which recipients are in no position to confer upon themselves; and in many instances it is administered at points in their lives where a particular dedication is called for.
Texts of both Sacraments are available, which I must allow to speak for themselves.Anthems are also suggested, for which music is available. as well as a through-composed version of the complete ritual, with parts of the Anthems employed to accompany each phase of the performance.
Those interested should contact:William Imray (Brown), The Coach House, Huntly Place,ABOYNE AB34 5HD, Aberdeenshire Tel : 013398 87100 Email: biro33@aol.com Skype available (please phone first) Aung San Suu Kyi Eurydice ‘How have they got us at last?
Texts of both Sacraments are available. Anthems are also suggested, for which music is available.