I was tickled with Fr. Chris Tessone (Even the Devils Believe) blogged about the Scottish Episcopal Church resources I mentioned to him. There are others from northern Europe in English, some of which I’ve written about before.
These other liturgies come from the Lutheran churches — sometimes state churches — of Scandinavia and the Baltic states. I think they’re available in English because these Lutheran churches retain apostolic succession and have entered into a communion with the Anglican churches of the British Isles and Iberia. It isn’t clear how the English texts from the non-English-speaking countries are used. Study? A resource for expats? A resource for liturgy in English-speaking countries?
The liturgies will be very familiar to anyone in the Western liturgical tradition, including “prayer book” Unitarians and Universalists. But there are glittering turns of phrase that are clear, deep and modern that just don’t appear in native-English texts. Note especially the Swedish and Finnish churches. Is it selfish to wish the Icelandic state church had some of their texts in English?