Rev Cardy on breaking the language barrier

The Rev Glynn Cardy of Auckland’s progressive Anglican church, St Matthew-in-the-City, recommends an overhaul of traditional liturgy in an opinion piece for the Guardian. Cardy believes that the gendered language and sometimes archaic metaphors used in the Book of Common Prayer and the more contemporary Common Worship risk alienating new worshippers, and are in drastic need of an update. He uses the NZ Prayer Book, produced in the 1980s, as an example of positive change: “Despite initial fears that it would stifle creativity, this has not proved to be the case. Rather the book has inspired people to become more liturgically imaginative … The motivation behind such liturgical change is primarily to communicate truths about God in a form that people who are regular attendees, strangers, or who have been estranged from the Christian faith can recognise and respond to.”