Holy Communion
Through his Gospel, God calls us into a relation with himself as the Triune Lord in which he is the bountiful giver of all that is good for us for time and eternity. In Baptism, by birth from above, we enter this covenant of grace; in Confirmation we are strengthened by the Spirit, and we promise to be faithful as members of the Church of God and as the humble covenant partners of the Lord; and in the Daily Offices we recognize what this membership and partnership means through confessing our sins, praising the Lord our God, hearing his Word, and offering our petitions and intercessions to him.
Holy Communion is the weekly, sacramental meal of the new covenant; it is the unique, spiritual food provided from heaven by the Lord our God for his covenant people on each Lord’s Day as well as on special holy days (and indeed whenever they gather in his name and for his glory to celebrate the Eucharist). Yet it is a feast for which the covenant people of God must prepare so that they are truly ready to receive such supernatural and heavenly food. It is not intended to be “fast food” but “nourishment” which is taken after careful preparation.
The Catechism taught that in this Sacrament “the inward part, or thing signified, is the Body and Blood of Christ, which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful.” Further we learn that “the benefits whereof we are partakers in the Lord’s Supper are the strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ as our bodies are strengthened and refreshed by the Bread and Wine.”
As put together by Archbishop Cranmer in 1549 & 1552, the Lord’s Supper has the same basic structure, the same logic of faith as the Daily Office. In the first part, called the Ante-communion (based on the “Liturgy of the Catechumens” in the early Church), there is an introductory sequence of this logic of faith. The worshippers move from the recognition before God of their sinfulness through hearing God’s holy law and asking for mercy in two stages. First, they move to the hearing of the revelation and grace of God in the two readings (Epistle and Gospel) from the New Testament and the proclamation of good news in the sermon. Then secondly, they move to the expression and responsiveness of faith in the Creed and the Prayer for the “whole state of Christ’s Church.” And after this Prayer, at least on the First Sunday in Advent, the First Sunday in Lent and on Trinity Sunday, the congregation begins its preparation to receive the Sacrament by hearing the Exhortation, beginning, “Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye who mind to come to the Holy Communion …”
In the second part, once called the “Liturgy of the Faithful,” there is the same sequence but in a different and deeper way. “Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins …” are invited to draw near with faith, confess their sins to God, and take the holy Sacrament so as to receive divine support and spiritual sustenance. Then follows Absolution and hearing of the comforting promises and assurances of God’s grace to penitent sinners. This is followed by thanksgiving for salvation, faith responding to divine grace and celebrating that heavenly mercy. In the Sursum Corda, therefore, the forgiven, praising, covenant people of God lift up their hearts and give thanks as they are joined in the Holy Spirit to the heavenly choir who magnify and glorify the Name of the Lord our God. The thrice “holy” cry is offered to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God.
Faith is now expectant, and Christian souls are ready to be fed by heavenly manna from the Table of the Lord. Receiving the sacramental body and blood of Christ is thus the summit of responsive faith. Such faith unites believers in the Spirit of the Lord of glory so that what he is and possesses now in heaven is shared with his faithful people. Having been nourished and having been allowed to enter into intimate knowing/communion with their Lord at his heavenly table, the covenant people of God then go forth into daily life to “continue in that holy fellowship and do all such good works as God has prepared for them to walk in.” Thus Liturgy is for life: knowing God in common prayer and corporate worship becomes the basis of the daily vocation of serving God in the world.
The basic biblical logic of personal confession of sin, the announcement to penitents of forgiveness and grace, and the response of faith to what God graciously offers in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit is still much in evidence in all editions of The Book of Common Prayer up to the Canadian Book of 1962. The Collects, Epistles and Gospels guide us, step by step, into an ever deeper appreciation of Christian truth and the essentials of Christian life. From Advent to Trinity Sunday, we study the life of Christ. From Trinity Sunday to Advent, we study the events and truths of Christ’s life to draw practical conclusions to guide our life.
Three Gospels (Matt. 26:26; Mark
14:22; Luke 22:14) and one Epistle (1 Cor. 11:23) tell us of the institution of
the Lord’s Supper. From them we learn
that the new covenant, that is the new everlasting relation of fellowship and
communion between God and man in Christ Jesus, was inaugurated by the bloody
sacrifice of atonement which Jesus offered in his death upon the Cross of
Calvary. Thus the primary reference of
the Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper must be the sacrificial, atoning death of
Christ Jesus at
Yet this spiritual and heavenly banquet is open only to repentant, believing souls. There are dire warning both given by Paul (1 Cor 11:27) and in three Exhortations in the BCP concerning coming to the Table of the Lord without having first made suitable spiritual and moral preparation. The Eucharistic Feast is not a kind of religious fast food to be devoured when one feels like it, or as custom dictates.
We have an early service without music or sermon at Trinity. It is a fellowship through speech, silence, symbol, and sacrament. Our late service includes both music and sermon. The music can be new or old, but it must actually serve the purpose of worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. Holy Communion is the only service for which a sermon is required. It is a means of grace to bring people deeper in understanding and feeling to their Lord. It is not the place for social commentary outside of a message from God. The Peace was not designed to be a secular encounter. The purpose is to help us see Christ in others and as encouragement to insure reconciliation with each other.
There is a need for a spirit of awe and reverence at and in this holy service. There is abundant joy but it is “holy joy”; not a secular personal expression. Worshippers should consider their dress and their conduct when coming to the Supper of the Lord. The discipline of fasting is disappearing from the religious landscape and there are legitimate reasons such as age and health to avoid it. However, outside those exceptions, there is value in upholding the primacy of our meal with Christ. Making it the first meal of the day places communion with the Lord at the top of our priorities.
Bishop Samuel Seabury described Holy Communion thus:
“It is the highest act of Christian worship: a direct acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty and dominion over us and over all his creatures. It is the memorial of the passion and death of our dear Redeemer, made before the Almighty Father, to render him propitious to us, by pleading with him the meritorious sufferings of his beloved Son, when he made his soul an offering for sin. It is a sensible pledge of God’s love to us, who, as he hath given his Son to die for us, so hath he given his precious body and blood, in the holy Eucharist, to be our spiritual food and sustenance, and as the bread of this world frequently taken is necessary to keep the body in health and vigour; so is this bread of God, frequently received, necessary to preserve the soul in spiritual health and keep the divine life of faith and holiness from becoming extinct in us.”
For more details, read “Worship without Dumbing-down” by
The Rev. Dr. Peter Toon, M.A., D.Phil.
(Preservation Press of the Prayer Book Society of the USA 2004