"We omitt verses..."

I attended morning prayer at Durham Cathedral on Thursday which was supposed to be according to Common Worship, but the Dean and Chapter had decided (apparently after much discussion and despite differences of opinion) that as the Psalms were being prayed as part of the liturgy and not merely read, those verses which call down God’s curse would be omitted, contrary to the BCP lectionary which was used and the Common Worship books with which we had been provided.

If I remember rightly the Psalms appointed for Thursday in the BCP were 139 – 141 and verses had to be missed out from each one, sometimes bleeding great chunks. My father-in-law (a Baptist Bishop) pointed out that in some cases this badly affected the sense not only of the whole but also of what was actually read. One of the verses we did read began with a “but” that referred back to the omitted lines.

It is also quite tricky if you’re reading a long Psalm alternately to remember that you (or the leader) have to miss out vv3-7, 10 and 21-30.

One of the Cathedral clergy claimed that these omissions were a jolly good thing and had a long and noble Anglican history. Apparently the 1928 Prayer Book and the ASB (both of which are illegal) but the offening verses in brackets or something or other.

They seemed to be concerned that if they read the Bible out people might go out of Mattins and dash babies heads against rocks. This seemed extremely unlikely to me as everyone there was a clergyman (or woman) or the verger or a sensitive looking young man, but I suppose you never know. If they are that worried, maybe a brief sermon is called for? Anything can be misunderstood and if we start trimming out cloth in that way we will soon be starkers.

I know its not up to him but I wonder what the Good Bishop makes of all this?

It seems to me pretty shocking to doctor the Word of God because you do not believe that we should pray as the Psalmist, the people of God, the Lord Jesus Christ and Christians (including Anglicans) for a millennium and more have done.

I resisted calling down a curse on the Dean and Chapter but I do pray that they would change their minds.

A sorry business.