These wonderful words, known as “The Prayer of Humble Access,” were written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer at the time of the English Reformation in 1548, and they have been a key part of the scriptural tradition of worship in every subsequent edition of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (BCP), such as the 1662 BCP that became the standard of Anglican worship for most centuries, down to our own 2019 Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church in North America.
However, the words of the Prayer of Humble Access might seem more weird than wonderful; they can sound strange, uncomfortable, and even off-putting to many people today for several reasons, but at least three stand out.
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