Prayers in the latest editions of 'A New Zealand Prayer Book', He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa came under scrutiny in Hastings this year, as General Synod considered them for a first round of approvals on the way to becoming authorised "formularies" of the Church.

Motion 13 called for approval of a 300-page schedule of sentences, collects (an ancient fivefold prayer that gathers the assembly's thoughts on a specific intention) and lists of biblical readings for saints and special days (such as Good Friday, Epiphany etc) and each Sunday of the year. 

Christchurch delegate Vicar of Rangiora Rev Toby Behan presented an analysis of the new collects and asked why 72 originals from 1988 were no longer in the new Prayer Book (although still authorised for use). He noted that in many cases the older prayers were stronger prayers than their replacements. 

Rev Ivica Gregurec from Holy Trinity Cathedral Auckland encouraged Synod to look closely at the fivefold form of a 'collect' prayer, an ancient prayer form received from the early church. 

"If I'm a poet and I wish to write a Haiku poem, the format will be very different than if I would like to write a sonnet, and a similar thing is going on if we are thinking about the collects."

Rev Ivica explained that a collect prayer (that 'collects' the thoughts of the people of God as they are gathered to pray) has five parts:

1. We call on God

(Almighty and everloving God,)

2. We acknowledge God's action in the world                            

(your son Jesus Christ shared his love in the life of an earthly home;)

3. We make a specific request (petition) to God

(help us to live with one another in compassion and peace,)

4. We express the hoped-for result of our request

(that we might grow in readiness for that eternal home for which you have prepared us.)

5. We address the prayer to God, through Christ in the Holy Spirit

(This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen)

Rev Ivica challenged the Synod to ask why our Church values the power of collects and provides them for every week, yet hasn't taken the time to follow the unique structure which gives them their character.

"My concern with this collection of collects is: How many of them are in fact collects? And how many of them are just nice prayers?"

Synod agreed to return the schedule of prayers and readings to the Common Life Liturgical Commission, with a request for greater consistency in the structure of the collects, including the question of their Trinitarian address. 

Te Hīnota also discussed a change in the lectionary for St Matthias, whose feast day has now been approved to shift to 14 May. Bishop of Christchurch Rt Rev Peter Carrell raised the problem of the new date for St Matthias taking priority over remembrance of Ngākuku, Missionary in Mataatua which falls on the same day. 

This led to a wider discussion on how dates for Māori saints' days had entered the church's year, with Rev Dr Hirini Kaa explaining that often the dates selected to commemorate Māori saints were not significant in Te Hāhi Mihinare, nor to present-day descendants of the saints.

Te Hīnota Whānui heard that Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa would like to review all the dates allocated to Māori saints in Te Maramataka - The Calendar, to assess how they might resonate better with the saints as remembered in both Te Hāhi Mihinare and iwi.

Other changes to the Prayer Book passed at Synod this year included an update to the prayer for the Queen to become 'Prayer for the Sovereign', thereby referring to a monarch without gender language, which would also enable it to refer to any sovereign across Aotearoa, New Zealand or the islands of Polynesia.

Another Prayer Book addition was two new prayers to follow a Psalm, giving glory to God in gender inclusive language:

'ā, haere ake nei. Āmine.'

and,

'Glory to God, Source of all being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever. Amen.' 

Auckland delegate Jessica Hughes brought a Bill to remove the word 'handicapped' from a seldom-used service for 'Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child', an issue she had raised with the Disability Ministry Portfolio Group. This year's change aligned with a 2010 revision that had already removed the unacceptable word from elsewhere in the Prayer Book.

The Common Life Liturgical Commission will report to the General Synod Standing Committee on progress as it returns to reconsider the updated schedule of sentences, collects and readings.