The following is the script I used for the “Instructed Eucharist” we observed April 28, 2024.
The Meaning of the Liturgy
Traditionally made of beeswax, the candles had practical value as the light source, but are also rich with symbolism. A lay reader lights the candles on the right side, called the Epistle Side, and then the Left, called the Gospel side. The six candles on the retable behind the Lord’s Table evoke the first menorah of Exodus 6, with Christ in the middle as the seventh, the true Light of the World. The Gospel candle is lit last among those candles and extinguished first, under the guideline of the phrase, “The Gospel candle never stands alone.” Drawing from imagery from Pentecost and the Book of Revelation, the fire of the candle represents the Holy Spirit which we have access to because of Christ’s work on the cross and which we will participate in throughout the service. The Gospel Candle never stands alone because the Gospel depends upon us as Christians to speak the Gospel in the Great Commission. During Easter season we also light the Paschal candle, as Christ is our Paschal Lamb, and by coming into the World and dying and rising from the Dead He became the light of the world who is the Light of Men. We begin service this morning with the ringing of the bell, calling all who hear it to an attitude of worship, rung seven times to represent the seven fires of the Holy Spirit. Those of us serving follow the Cross, typically carried by the Crucifer, who is a lay person authorized by the minister to do so, showing that all of us must follow the cross. The deacon and priest follow after the lay reader and crucifer, showing that we are all equal before God at the foot of the cross and that we must be led in all things by Christ.
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Thus it is fitting to begin and end our service with hymns.
[Processional Hymn, Announcements]
The word Liturgy means “the work of the people.” When we do The liturgy, we are doing the work of worship together as the Body of Christ. The liturgy is in two parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Sacrament. During The liturgy of the Word, which begins with the Processional Hymn and goes to the Offering our minds are fed with God’s truth through the Law, the reading of the Epistle and Gospel, the recitation of the Creed, and the Sermon. During the Liturgy of the Sacrament, which begins at the Offering, we are fed in body and in soul by the real spiritual presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. The two liturgies need each other. By taking in the Word through our faithful minds, our bodies and souls are prepared to take in the Lord’s Supper with proper hope and love.
The first prayer of HC is the collect. This focuses our mind to the truth that we are sinners and need to rely on God’s grace. Hebrews 10:22 reads, “Let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” In keeping with this principle, the Collect begins the preparation for the reception of the two parts of the liturgy. The word collect indicates that the prayer helps us to focus, collecting our attention to the core purpose of worship. When the Minister begins to pray the collect, we are called to put out of our mind our lesser thoughts and give our souls completely over to the things of God.
[The Deacon reads the Collect]
After the Collect, in the Liturgy of the Word we are reminded of God’s perfect and Holy Standards. Whether we read the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20 with the Summary of the Law, found in Mark 12, Matthew 22, and other places, or whether we read the Summary of the Law by itself, either way we are reminded that all of us have fallen short of the glory of God, and that the only way to make our shortcomings right is to dwell in the grace of Christ. Typically in Anglican churches, the Decalogue is read at least once a month, but the summary is read every Sunday, as it is the core truth upon which, as Christ tells us, depend the truths found in all the Law and the Prophets. It is fitting, with such a central truth, that we follow it up with a melodic, penitent prayer for mercy in the Kyrie elesion, as we know we do not live up to God’s holy standards, and the minister then prays for us to be strengthened by grace to be brought into conformity with God’s will.
[The Deacon reads the Summary of the Law and the prayer]
After that Prayer, the minister then leads us into the collect for the liturgical season. Just as the initial collect focuses our minds on the whole purpose of God’s plan for biblical worship, this second collect again calls us to attention in two ways: first, it reminds us of the meaning of the liturgical season which we are in. To keep worship from becoming monotonous and to help us to focus on different aspects of biblical truth, the liturgical season allows us to emphasize in each act of worship a truth which might otherwise get overshadowed but which is necessary. So of course in this Easter season we emphasize the power of the Resurrection. Secondly, the seasonal collect prepares our minds to receive the Word. Two things should always be involved in the reading of Scripture: prayer, and an openness to correction. Having received correction and penance in the Summary of the Law and having our hearts sharpened by the Spirit in Prayer, we are then ready to listen to the Word.
[The Deacon reads the Collect]
A lay reader reads the Epistle from the Epistle side to emphasize the fact that all Christians, not just priests and deacons, have a duty to know, to learn, and to inwardly digest the truths of Holy Scripture and be prepared to share them with the world. The congregation sits in the posture of students, hearing the Epistle as a lesson.
[The lay reader reads the Epistle]
Then, traditionally, if there is a deacon present, the deacon will read the Gospel to the congregation in their midst, and the congregation stands at attention in recognition that the words of Christ the Word will be proclaimed. In Acts 6:1-15, the first seven deacons were appointed, and one of their roles was going out and serving the tables. The cross processes before the deacon and the lay reader to remind us that all of the Gospel is read to the congregation and the deacon serves you the Word in the highest point of the Liturgy of the Word. As the deacon proclaims the reading for the day, congregants will often make the sign of the cross on their forehead, lips, and heart, reciting quietly to let the word be on their mind, lips, and heart.
[The Gospel is read]
Now it is fitting, as we have been reminded of our duties as Christians in the law and have heard instruction from the Epistle and been fed by the words of Christ, for us to respond with our faith. The Nicene Creed is a 1600 year old statement of the faith which summarizes the basic truths of the New Testament, and it was written to affirm the Trinity and the nature of Christ’s Church.. Barbara Klein has a wonderful statement, that when we recite the Apostle’s, Nicene, or Athanasian Creed, we are taking up the shield of faith. In Matthew 16, when Peter made a confession of faith, saying of Christ, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church.” When we say the Apostle’s Creed, we join Peter in testifying to our Messiah and witnessing ourselves as building blocks in the Church of Christ. At the end of the creed, as we say, “I acknowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins,” we make the Sign of the Cross, remembering that through the work on the Cross the words of the Nicene Creed have their truth and power as they tell the story of how we are reconciled with the Trinity through Christ. The sermon that follows should exhort hearers to the faith, drawn most often from the Epistle or Gospel of the day, though it can also be taken from the Psalm or Old Testament lesson if desired.
[The Nicene Creed, followed by Sermon Hymn]
Liturgical worship such as that practiced by Anglicans saturates our senses with thoughts of God and the truth of his Word. As the Anglican liturgist Charles Walker wrote, “Because He is the God of truth, He is glorified by that which is the representative and guardian of truth. Because He is the Lord and Creator of all, He is fitly honoured by that which employs not merely the intellect, but the senses, not merely the soul, but the body of His children; and by which the inanimate creation is pressed into the service of the sanctuary. Because He is the God of Order, He is glorified by that which ensures care.” As you drove to the church this morning, the first thing you may have seen was the church steeple. In the Middle Ages, the church was the tallest building, the steeple rising high above any other building to show that what matters to God rises above the small things we get occupied with in this Earth. You walked into Church through the traditional Church Porch, a symbol of how the church is a means of grace by which God protects and covers us from the world. You walked through the red door, which reminds us that we are received into the Church by means of the power of Christ’s blood shed for our sins. You walked over a floor which had a cross pattern in it, reminding us that Christ’s work on the cross is the foundation of our hope. As you walk into this sanctuary, you see a room shaped like the upside down prow of a ship, reminding us that the Church is the spiritual Noah’s Ark in which we take refuge from the storm of ungodly thoughts. Even the pews, with a vertical center aisle and a horizontal path separating the altar area from the rest of the sanctuary creates a cruciform shape. We walk past the baptismal font, a reminder of our entry into the Kingdom, and see before us the Crucifix by which our citizenship in that Kingdom was made possible. This space is a Christian fulfillment of the Old Testament temple and tabernacle. Before Christ, the Tabernacle was split into two parts, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. When Old Testament priests walked behind the curtain which separated this area, they had bells on their garments because if they entered the Holy of Holies with unrepented sin, the Holy Spirit would strike that priest dead. But when Christ died, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy ripped in two, so now you can see into the Temple, to see where Christ has taken up his place as God in the flesh, the leader and perfecter of our worship. When you approach this altar rail, you are reminded of the sober nature of the Holy of Holies, but are welcomed to the Lord’s Table because by Christ’s redeeming blood you no longer need fear the deadly effects of sin. That is why we ring bells at the institution of the Lord’s Supper: we are preparing to enter the Holy of Holies through the communion feast, also called the Eucharist, which means the Thanksgiving. That is because the Lord’s Supper is chiefly about grace. The table reminds us of the time when the Lord, on Maundy Thursday, instituted the Lord’s Supper, though it also evokes the place where temple sacrifice once happened but which is no longer needed because of Christ. The altar linens remind us of Christ’s burial shroud and are the color of the liturgical season.
Everything we do with our bodies in the space of liturgical worship teaches us something. When we sit, we are in the posture of students learning. When we stand, we are in the posture of celebrants worshiping and letting our spirits rise with our bodies in the joy of worshipping the Lord in the beauty of Holiness. When we kneel, we pray, remembering that God is the Lord of the Universe and should be supplicated with reverence. At times, such as when the Nicene Creed or the Gloria conclude or we say “as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,” we make the sign of the cross to participate in sign language with the truth we are saying. We bow at the cross, when crossing the altar, or when acknowledging God in the Gloria Patri, “Glory be to God the father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” to show our submission to the Triune God and Christ the Incarnate Deity. At occasions such as the Sanctus, “Holy Holy Holy,” during the Gloria, and during the Agnus Dei, we may lift our hands in what is called the orans position, which is an ancient posture of worship found across many cultures, both Christian and pagan, and Scripture itself speaks of the lifting up of Holy Hands as a practice which pleases God. 1 Timothy 2:8 says, “I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.” It shows that we give all to God, and that we receive all He would give us. It is a posture of acceptance, of surrender, and in lifting up our hands we manifest the lifting up of our hearts to our Savior.
Now I don’t have time to show you all of this this morning, but I can tell you that each of these practices can be found in Holy Scripture. The Old Testament shows liturgical worship, the worship in Heaven in the Book of Revelation has liturgical worship, and various passages in Acts also imply that orderly worship existed in the early Church. Certainly we see that prayer, hymns and songs, reading of Scripture, preaching, the Lord’s Supper, and other elements were familiar to the early church. It is true, if you read through the New Testament, you won’t see a chapter in the Bible which gives a how-to manual for establishing the specific elements of worship. However, what Scripture does have is clarity about specific elements that are part of such a liturgy, and patterns in the Old Testament and in Heaven which can be completed through the principles found there. So while the specific details of liturgy can have some differences, as can be seen between Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and others, we all generally come to fairly similar ideas about what biblical worship should look like. Thomas Cranmer, the first and most brilliant author of the Prayer Book, was steeped in Scripture and the history of the liturgy, and developed the Prayer Book liturgies from his knowledge of the Bible and of Christian liturgy dating back to the ancient church. When we participate in the Prayer Book, itself a five hundred year old tradition, we are really stepping into the Jeremiah 6:16 form of Christian worship, the ancient paths which teach us how to develop a personality and perspective on worshipping the one, true, and Holy God. It’s been estimated that the Prayer book is something like 95% direct quotation or adaptation from the Bible, adjusted to the needs of corporate worship, as in an original verse where it says “I” will be changed to “We” for the public setting. If you are curious about all of the Bible verses which are the sources for the Book of Common Prayer, you can go to the Scriptural BCP for more information. But know that nothing done in an Anglican Church should ever be thoughtless ritual – it is all meant to glorify God and to kindle the fires of faith more brightly in our hearts.
Questions?
The Book of Common Prayer itself has verses which demonstrate the biblical requirement for making an offering to the Lord, and the Offering signals the transition from the Liturgy of the Word to the Liturgy of the Sacrament. During the offertory hymn, the priest prepares the elements on the altar, assisted by a lay reader or acolyte who hands items from the credence table to prevent the altar table from becoming a cluttered work space and to ensure cleanliness. The meaning of this moment is summed up in the beautiful words from 1 Chronicles, “All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
[Offertory Hymn]
The prayer for the whole state of Christ’s Church has its basis in many Scriptures, but most explicitly in 1 Timothy, where Paul commands us, “1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” We are reminded of the literal meaning of the words Holy Communion – the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to feast in communion with all saints, those in Heaven and on Earth, and this prayer reminds us of that, along with the sanctus which we sing in communion with “angels, archangels,” and the whole company of Heaven. We are told in Scripture of the serious nature of Communion, that we should never partake of it in unrepentant sin, which is why the General Confession and the Prayer of Humble Access are so important. Then the priest has the authority to declare and pronounce the forgiveness of sins which the Holy Spirit alone washes away through Christ’s blood. We are reminded that if we wait until we are free from sin to take Holy Communion, we never will, and so the holy manner in which the Lord’s Supper is taken is one of total reliance upon the shedding of Christ’s blood. With our forgiveness in Christ assured, we enter into the celebratory mood of Holy Communion which should always follow the solemn recognition of sin, as Christ is victorious over sin and death.
[Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church to the Sanctus]
Now we come to the Holy of Holies moment in the Liturgy, with the words which Christ himself gave us when we celebrate Holy Communion, also reiterated in the Epistles. You could say this is the cornerstone of the liturgy, as the words and actions were instituted by Christ. Here we partake of Christ through the real, spiritual presence of Christ. Does God seem absent to us? Now we taste, see, smell, and hear the goodness of the Lord as He tends to our needs in a manner visible to our senses. The sacraments are an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace, and it is one of the chief comforts and consolations of our faith, that in it our salvation and sanctification is promised, signed, and sealed by the finished work of Christ in the cross working itself out in our thanksgiving as we commune in him in the Words of Institution. We follow this observation with the Lord’s Prayer, which is the purest pattern of prayer provided by Christ himself for the essence not only of Christian prayer but of the meaning of the liturgy itself, followed by the Words of Humble Access in keeping with 1 Corinthians 11: 28-29, where Paul warns us: “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” If there is sin in your life which you refuse to repent of, you should not partake of the Lord’s Supper. But if there is Sin in your life which you lament and wish for Christ to make clean, then upon listening to the Words of Institution and in praying for Christ’s redeeming blood to wash out the spots of sin, then you can come forward to the Lord’s Supper with a lively faith. Emphasizing the idea that the Lord’s Supper is a communal activity, we wait to leave the altar rail with our fellow communicants until the priest has said, “Go in peace.”
[Words of Institution, Lord’s Prayer, Words of Humble Access, Partaking of the Lord’s Supper]
In Old English, the construct “for that” means “because,” so the prayer of thanksgiving is saying, “Because Christ has promised to feed us spiritually,” we are thankful to God – remembering that that is the meaning of Eucharist – the holy gratitude which comes from participating in Christ’s victory over sin. Fittingly, after a prayer of thanks, we conclude this service with the joyful words of the Gloria, knowing that we have been made free in Christ, and in the words of benediction are sent forward, not only to feel better about ourselves, but that we have been equipped by this service to model Christ in the world and bring others to him. Sunday worship is the beginning of a week lived in service to Christ, which is why our lay readers, after the closing hymn, tell us to Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
[Service is completed with the Prayer of Thanksgiving, the Gloria, the Benediction, and the Recessional Hymn]