Supplemental Liturgical Materials (SLM)

A booklet prepared by the Standing Liturgical Commission and published by Church Hymnal Corporation in 1991 to supplement the existing Rite 2 liturgies of the BCP. It includes materials for Morning and Evening Prayer, complete eucharistic prayers, and forms for the eucharistic prayer for use with the Order for Celebrating the Holy Eucharist (BCP, pp. 400-401). These texts reflect awareness of the power of words and images in worship to shape our understanding of and relationship with God. The Preface for SLM identifies three stages in the evolution in awareness and understanding of liturgical language. The first stage of this process called for the use of “non-sexist” terms, in which gender specific words such as “he” and “man” were replaced with terms such as “God” and “humanity.” This stage was documented in Liturgical Texts for Evaluation (1987). The second stage involved the use of balanced language, including both masculine and feminine words, images, and metaphors. This stage was reflected in Supplemental Liturgical Texts, Prayer Book Studies 30 (1989). The third stage was seeking to challenge the church “to hear and use familiar and new passages and prayers in a different way.” In this stage, the language of liturgy was to be opened to new interpretation and the hearer opened to deeper meaning.