Dear brothers and sisters, I hope you had a merry and blessed Christmas season! Today we will continue our examination of the Pastoral Rites section of the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. We’ve been going through the section on Ministry to the Dying, and today we look at the core of that section, Commendation at the Time of Death.
Before the commendation, this section is about preparing the person dying and their family for that coming death, and everything after this is reflecting on that death. With the commendation we’re looking at ministry to someone at the moment of their death. |
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Here a Priest may anoint the dying person with oil.
The Priest says
Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world;
In the Name of God the Father Almighty who created you;
In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you;
In the Name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you.
May your rest be this day in peace, and your dwelling place in
the Paradise of God. |
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| This service begins by addressing the person dying and putting them and this situation in the proper context. They’re not dying as an individual just in and of themselves, they’re a person created, redeemed, and sanctified by God. It’s not that they’re becoming one with nature or anything like that, as it says they will be resting in the Paradise of God. |
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Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant
N. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own
fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.
Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of
everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in
light. Amen. |
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| Having begun by putting this service in the right context, we get to the main point of the service, the actual commendation. It’s important to look at the language being used here. One of the things the English Reformation pushed back against was the common understanding of prayers for the dead at the time. Many people thought that through their prayers they could save their loved ones from hell. That’s essentially saying that someone could be saved through the efforts of someone other than Jesus. Despite pushing back against that understanding of prayers for the dead, the first Anglican BCP in 1549 still had prayers for the dead, in the sense of a commendation. A commendation isn’t earning or meriting heaven for someone else, it’s acknowledging the hope we have in Jesus Christ as Christians and lifting up our loved ones to God in prayer with that hope and an understanding of God’s mercy. |
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Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, *
according to your word.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, *
which you have prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, *
and to be the glory of your people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Luke 2:29-32
The Officiant prays
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through
the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. |
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