Function of Prayer Book

      "This is how the Book of Common Prayer functions for Anglicans: we interpret and understand the Bible and the doctrinal and moral tradition of the church through the way we worship and pray together as a community of the baptized. So, when we say, 'If you want to know what we Episcopalians believe, come and worship with us,' we are saying that our way of worshiping expresses our way of believing." [Griffiss, The Anglican Vision (1997), p. 109] Dr. Griffiss also acknowledges that our worship provides a degree of latitude and some ambiguity in matters of belief, but nonetheless a credible context for the Anglican community to discern the Christian experience, past and present.