An
Instructed
Eucharist
Compiled
and written
By
The
Rev. Virginia L. Bennett, D.Min.
Edwardsville,
Illinois 62025-1730
(618)
656-1929
FAX
(618) 656-7982
andrews@peaknet.net
www.standrews-edwardsville.com
Anima
Christi
Soul
of Christ, sanctify me.
Body
of Christ, save me;
Blood
of Christ, inebriate me;
Water
from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion
of Christ, strengthen me;
O
good Jesu, hear me;
within
thy wounds hide me;
Suffer
me not to be separated from thee;
From
the malicious enemy defend me;
In
the hour of my death call me,
And
bid me come to thee.
That
with thy Saints I may praise thee
For
ever and ever.
AMEN
Eucharist
“Eucharist” is a Greek word meaning
“thanksgiving”. It is one of the oldest
names for the celebration of the Holy Communion. Other names for this service are: The Lord’s Supper, The Holy
Communion, and The Mass. The Holy
Eucharist is not a performance to be watched. The word liturgy means “the work of the people”. It is intended to be an event, a drama in
which we are the participants or players.
If we enter into the words, the music, the sharing of Christ’s Body and
Blood, we will be drawn into the center of life itself and we will be touched
and will go back into the world different than when we came.
The
Eucharist is like Thanksgiving dinner with the family gathered around. The family of Jesus gathers at his table to
celebrate their connectedness; to tell the family stories, to spend time
together, to break bread and eat, to share their present life, the joys and
sorrows, and to look forward to the future.
The
first half of the Eucharist is called the Liturgy of the Word.
The
service begins with the Entrance of procession into the church. The procession is accompanied by an opening
hymn. Sometimes the Choir sings an
“Introit”, from the Latin word intro, meaning “to enter”. It is usually a portion of a psalm and
includes the “Gloria Patri” (Glory to the Father….). The cross leads the procession into the church as a sign and
symbol that the cross always precedes everything we do in life. Candles often accompany the cross as a sign
that Christ is the light of the world.
Incense may precede the cross as a sign of our prayers rising to God and
a sign of purification; it’s use being as ancient as the first Temple in
Jerusalem. The Celebrant (the priest
who will ‘celebrate’ the Eucharist) always comes last as a sign that the church
has chosen them to be a servant of the servants of God and for this special
privilege and responsibility.
Worship
begins with the “Acclamation” (“Blessed be God”). It changes during Lent and Easter or on special occasions such as
baptism, marriage, burial of the dead and Holy Week. Notice that worship does not begin with anything like “Good
morning”. It identifies “Who” has
gathered us together and identifies that we are gathered together to worship
God who has revealed God’s Self to us as “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”.
Next
comes the “Collect for Purity” (Almighty God to you all hearts are
open”). It is based on Psalm 51 and
sums up “collects” the elements of true worship. It states that the Sovereign God knows our hearts and it
identifies the fact that we stand in need of cleansing before we can hope to
worship God fully.
The
Entrance Rite is primarily praise of God.
Its purpose is to help us focus our attention on God and away from
ourselves.
The
Gloria in Excelsis. This ancient hymn has been
used for most of Christian history. Its
words remind us of the song of the angels at the birth of Jesus. This is why it is removed during Advent, so
that when it appears again on the great Feast of Christ’s Birth it will have
been missed and be new again. It is
removed during Lent because it rejoices in the Godhead. It recognizes the unity of the Trinity and
acknowledges the triumph of Christ over death and the grave. In Lent we concentrate upon repentance and
upon Jesus’ Passion before the resurrection revealed the truth we sing of in
the Gloria.
The Kyrie (Lord have mercy) is very ancient and comparable to the Hebrew shout of “Hosanna”, meaning “save us, help us”. It is not intended as an act of begging, but an affirmation that God is merciful. It is used sometimes with the Gloria or by itself in Lent.
The
Trisagion
comes into our liturgy from the ancient liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox
churches. Archbishop Cranmer used it in
the burial office in the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549 and it has been
retained in every Book of Common Prayer since, although the 1979 Prayer Book is
the first one to place it as an option to the “Kyrie” in the Eucharist.
The
first half of the service is patterned after the early synagogue worship; with
readings from scripture, psalms, and reflection (sermon or homily) on the
readings.
The
Lessons or “Propers” of the day are those readings from scripture and
the Collect specifically assigned for a given Sunday or Holy Day. The Church has a three-year cycle for Sunday
celebrations of the Holy Eucharist. For
example during Year A (beginning on the First Sunday of Advent) the Gospel
focus is upon the Gospel according to Matthew.
During
the majority of the Church Year a lesson is read from the Old Testament, an
Epistle (or letter to the young churches) and a Gospel reading from one of the
four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.
After
the Kyrie (or “Lord have mercy”), Gloria, or Trisagion the priest says the salutation
“The Lord be with you”. This is an
ancient Jewish greeting. The priest
then prays the Collect for the day.
The Collect is a prayer that does just that – it collects. It sets the theme from all three readings.
The
Psalm is also chosen specifically to ‘go with’ the readings. There are 150 psalms and during the
celebration of the Holy Eucharist usually just a portion of one of the psalms
is read or sung together. The psalms,
many of which were written by King
David, were composed as hymns; to be sung.
It is therefore most appropriate that they are sung.
Lay
persons from the congregation usually read the first two lessons, but at a
celebration of the Holy Eucharist, a deacon or a priest, reads the Holy
Gospel. Gospel means “good news”;
specifically the “good news of Jesus”.
The
Gospel may be read from the pulpit, the chancel area (often where the choir
sits) or there may be a Gospel procession. This procession is a symbolic gesture that the Gospel is to be
taken into the world and proclaimed there.
We stand for the Gospel reading out of respect for what God has done for
us in bringing the “Good News” to us; through the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is followed
immediately by the sermon. The Prayer
Book makes it clear that there should be no interruption between the reading of
the Gospel and the sermon. The sermon
is not an option. It is an essential
part of the proclamation. It should
help to illuminate the scriptural readings and relate them to our daily living
as Christians.
The
Nicene Creed
On
Sundays and other Major Feast days all stand to say the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is a summary of what we
believe to be true of God. Each of the
three paragraphs is dedicated to one person of the Trinity. The creed is placed here as a response to
the sermon.
Creed comes from the Latin word “credo” meaning, “I believe.” The Nicene Creed was formulated in Nicea in 325A.D. by the bishops and people of the entirety of the church from many lands. It is the most universally accepted Christian creed. The Creed is an ACT of faith. It is a ‘confession’ of faith – of intention to participate in. It involves decision and action. It is about the willingness to share the Gospel; not ‘cerebral gymnastics’.
We stand for
the Nicene Creed just as we stand for the reading of the Gospel; because it is
part of our participation in the Gospel; part of our willingness to spread the
Good News.
The
Prayers of the People
We
have heard God’s Word in the lessons and the sermon. Now we direct our prayer to God for the needs of the church, the
nation and the world. We pray for other
Christian people; for those who are sick or suffering. We pray for those who have died. We thank God for the good things we have
been given and for the people who have helped us and loved us. We pray for ourselves.
We
pray for all these things to avoid the possibility that our prayer be too
narrow or self-centered or just forgetful.
We are reminded in all of worship and especially at this time, that we
are part of a larger fellowship, the church, the Body of Christ on whose heart
lie all the cares and concerns of the world.
The
Book of Common Prayer provides six forms of “Prayers for the People”. Members of the congregation may add their
own prayer concerns silently or aloud.
The Prayers of the people are said by a representative of the church at
large; either a deacon or another person.
The celebrant adds a ‘summing up’ prayer (or collect) at the end.
The Confession
of Sin:
Before we
approach the Lord’s Table, we remember that although God has always loved us,
we have not always loved God and we have not loved other people. The Confession does not negate the
opportunity the church provides to confess privately in the Rite of the
Reconciliation of a Penitent in the Prayer Book on page 447.
The General
Confession is an act that sets before God our own individual sins as well as
corporate sins. We remember this and
how it all is woven into what brought about the Lord’s Passion and Death. Remembering God’s great love for us in this unique
event, we boldly approach God’s mercy and forgiveness in the Confession.
There are times when it is
permissible and even appropriate to leave out the Confession. The key time when this is done is during the
Great Fifty days of Eastertide. This is
not to say that we are without sin in Eastertide, but it is to place our focus upon
our redemption and how God has redeemed us in spite of our sin.
The Absolution is only
pronounced by a bishop or a priest. The
sign of the cross is made over the congregation during the Absolution as a
reminder that it is by the cross that we are forgiven and saved.
The Peace
The
Peace is a very ancient part of the liturgy.
It provides a natural flow from the Confession to the Offertory. It symbolizes our intent to forgive as we
are forgiven. It is NOT ‘intermission’
or the time to say, “Hi, how are you?” It is the time to offer to one another
the great “Shalom” (harmony, the peace of Christ) to one another before we
gather to partake of Christ’s Body and Blood together. It declares our intention to live in harmony
with all God’s children and God’s creation.
It is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church.
In the early church, those
who were preparing for Baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter were ‘dismissed’ at
this time. They only participated in
the ’Liturgy of the Word’. Their dismissal at the Peace was called the
“Missa” and that word turned into the word
“Mass”, one of the common descriptions of the Celebration of the Holy
Eucharist.
Thus, having confessed our
sins and been assured of God’s pardon, having assured each other of our
intention to live together in God’s harmony or ‘Shalom’, we are prepared to
enter into the Liturgy of the Holy
Eucharist.
The Offertory
The
second portion of the liturgy that is properly called the Holy Communion or
Great Thanksgiving, begins with the Offertory.
It begins with the collection of money for the work of the church. This is an offering of ourselves to God, for
our money truly represents part of our lives.
Humanity has always given of the fruit of our labor to God. In the early church the ushers also
collected food for distribution to the poor at this place in the liturgy, and
the bread and wine were received from the congregation for use in the
Eucharist. All of these together are
referred to as “The Gifts”, for we are saying, “These things represent us”.
The bread and wine are called the ‘elements’,
‘things that are necessary’ to celebrate the Holy Eucharist. They are two things we make from the gifts
God has given us. God sends the sun and
the rain; the snow and ice, to make wheat and grapes grow in the earth. Bread and wine are made from the wheat and
grapes.
St.
Augustine said, “See that bread and wine?
That is you. You are there on
the Altar.” And just as in the
Eucharist bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, so we, in this
Eucharist, ordinary as we are, become Christ’s Body.
The priest may bless the water prior to mingling it with the wine, although many liturgists today consider this unnecessary.
Stemming from ancient
Jewish prayers the priest sometimes prays over the elements (prior to the
beginning of the Eucharist). “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation; through your goodness we
have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the Bread of
Heaven….Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation; through your goodness we
have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become for us the Cup of Salvation.” Those standing near the priest may say after
each prayer, “Blessed be God forever.”
Just as Jesus took the
bread in the night in which he was betrayed, so we take the bread and set it
upon the holy table to be consecrated and returned to us as the spiritual body
of Christ. Wine and water are poured
into the chalice as a symbol of the union of the divine and human nature of
Christ, and of our union with him. The wine and the water can never again be separated, just as Christ
will never separate himself from us. He is like the strong wine and we are like the weak water. The water and wine also remind us of the
water and blood which poured from Christ’s side when the soldier pierced him
with a spear at the crucifixion.
The priest washes his or
her hands in the Lavabo with a Lavabo towel. In the early church this was purely
utilitarian, but during the Middle Ages it became customary for the priest to
say a prayer while doing this such as, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me” or “I will wash my hands among the innocent,
Lord, and walk around your altar, that I may tell of your wondrous deeds.”
As we gather into this meal we are made one with Christians around the world. We experience here and now the hope of the world – a Kingdom, a place, where no one goes hungry, where all are accepted and forgiven and gathered at the banquet table. In short, we experience what life is for, what life could be, and what someday, by the grace of God, life will be.
The
Great Thanksgiving is the oldest kind of public prayer in the church. It consists of a long prayer called the
Eucharistic Prayer that begins with an introduction that focuses our attention
on what we are here for: to give thanks to God. It begins as a conversation between the Celebrant and the
people. Then the Celebrant alone
recalls in the Proper Preface what we are especially thankful for.
The Lord’s table now spread the Celebrant says, “The Lord be with you”. This is the Salutation. “Lift up your hearts”. This is called the “Sursum Corda”. We respond “We lift them to the Lord”. In the Episcopal Church a bishop or priest is not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist alone. He/she must have some representative of the laity present. In other words, private masses are not allowed. The people’s response is the permission to celebrate the Holy Eucharist as well as their desire to join in “making Eucharist” together. The Proper Preface is seasonal. Its focus is upon the season of the year or the particular feast day remembered at a particular Eucharist; Advent, Lent, All Saints’, etc. Eucharistic Prayers C and D in the Book of Common Prayer do not have a Proper Preface.
We
then sing the Old Testament hymn of praise, the Sanctus, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord”
as we begin the most solemn part of
the Eucharist. After the Sanctus the main body or “Canon” of the Mass/Eucharist follows. With arms extended (the position of prayer in the ancient church, called the “orans” position) the Celebrant uses Jesus’ own words to recall, or re-remember; to bring AGAIN into the present that which Jesus did at the last meal, he ate with his friends. This is called the “Anamnesis”, the Greek word meaning to “bring into the present again”. When you hear the words “Now Sanctify”, this is called the “Epiclesis”. It is the calling forth of the Holy Spirit to bless these gifts that this Eucharist might be filled with Christ’s blessed presence.
Traditionally,
the Roman Catholic Church focused upon the words of Institution being the
‘time’ that this “happened”. In the
Eastern Orthodox Church it was specifically at the “Epiclesis” that this was
said to happen. The Anglican Communion
has never concentrated more on one particular part of the Canon of the Mass,
but has said that there is no specific moment per se, when Christ’s presence comes
within the Eucharist. The Anglican
Church has always said that in the midst of the Eucharist, as a whole, Christ’s
real presence comes. The Anglican
Church has never defined exactly how this happens. It is a mystery beyond explanations. Part of the mystery is that time, as we
experience it, ceases to exist, that indeed, “with Angels and Archangels, and
with all the company of heaven” we are joined in this “time outside of time”.
Several
truths are recalled in the main body or “Canon” of the Mass/Eucharist. We remember that God created us to enjoy him
forever. We remember that sin gets in
the way of the enjoyment of that relationship.
In Jesus, God makes provision for us to enter again into that perfect
relationship. The last great truth is
that we must receive/accept God’s promises in Christ. This is acted out when we come forward to receive communion.
At
the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer we join in saying the “AMEN”,
emphasizing that all participants bring their “yes” to the Great Thanksgiving
Prayer. This is the only place in the
Book of Common Prayer where the Amen is capitalized.
We then join together in saying the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is the only prayer we have that Jesus taught his disciples. In union with Jesus we claim God as our Father. “We are bold to say…” It is indeed, a bold thing to do, but it identifies God not as some remote deity who cares nothing for us, but as the merciful God who desires an intimate relationship with us.
At
the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer the Celebrant breaks the bread. This is called the Fraction. It reminds us that Jesus’ body was broken on the cross for
us. It also recalls the way the early
church broke whole loaves for sharing at the Eucharist. The imagery of the breaking of the bread is
a means of participation in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Remembering when Christ’s body was broken
upon the cross, a moment of silence follows the breaking of the bread.
The
Celebrant then holds up the blessed bread and wine and tells us that they are
gifts from God ready for us. Just as we
do not attend a dinner without an invitation, this is our invitation to come
and partake of this holy food.
The
time of preparation is now complete.
After the Celebrant says the words of invitation to the Holy Table we go
forward to receive the Bread and Wine. We
believe that Jesus is present, uniquely and sacramentally, in the elements of
bread and wine. We don’t know
exactly how God has done this; we only trust that it is done
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This
is the heavenly banquet spread for us.
This is the time to come to Christ’s table. This is the time to bring our wearied, over-stressed lives to be
fed upon Christ’s Body and Blood.
When
we receive Holy Communion we are indeed, participating in the entire Communion
of Saints. Earthly time is
suspended. When we make our communion
we are receiving the presence of the risen Christ within us.
The receiving of Holy Communion is done by holding one hand upon the other; making a throne for the blessed bread. One should never ‘snatch’ the bread from the priest’s hand. We receive this divine gift of God; we do not ‘take’ it. We should guide the chalice to our lips and after the words of administration are given, “The body of Christ/The blood of Christ…” we should say, “Amen”.
Intinction
is the act of slightly dipping the edge of the bread into the
chalice. If you wish the Chalice Bearer
to do this leave the bread on your hand and they will dip it for you and place
it on your tongue. If for some reason
you are unable to partake of both the bread and the wine, receiving either the
bread OR the wine is considered a “full” communion.
After
we return to our seat we should pray our own thanksgiving for this heavenly
food. It is a holy time. We have communed with Christ and with one
another. The remainder of the Eucharist
is brief. The Celebrant sometimes
cleanses the sacred vessels on the Altar or they may be taken to the Sacristy
for this to be done later. This is
called the “Ablutions”. Any
remaining bread or wine that has not been consumed must be placed in the Tabernacle
or Aumbry. This is the receptacle
for the blessed bread and wine that is held in reserve for the sick. You will notice that a perpetual candle
(symbol of the presence of Christ) is always lit in front of it. The only time it is extinguished is Holy
Thursday until the Great Vigil of Easter.
Once
the vessels have been cleansed or removed to the Sacristy and any remaining
blessed bread or wine has been placed in the Tabernacle, the Post-Communion
Prayer is said by all. A blessing is
often said and a dismissal is given. We
have been fed by Christ and we have been made one with Him and with one
another. We are now called to take what
we have received in the Eucharist through Word and Sacrament into the world.