The Blessing In the blessing the priest stands in for the Lord as a messenger. The Priest first declares the peace of God to His people. In the upper room as the disciples were huddled in fear for their lives, the Lord Jesus appeared. He came to them after his crucifiction and resurrection. He came to them after they had all abandoned Him. He came to them even when they had forgotten his words and teaching. He came to them when they refused to go out and proclaim the truth of His resurrection. The first words Jesus had for his disciples was, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) Jesus pronounces peace to his disciples. He speaks this same peace over us. It is a peace that helps us to overcome fear and doubt. It is a peace that takes us out of the upper room so that we can boldly proclaim God’s kingdom. We might run into troubles as we work to accomplish God’s mission but the peace that He gives passes all understanding and so it is unshakable. The blessing is a high mark of praise or affirmation from our God. We first see this in the creation account as God calls his creation “very good.” (Genesis 1:31) When we bless we reoffer this praise from our God. It is through Jesus that all things are made new. It is through the work of Christ that the whole creation can once again hear the words of God. It is very good! The Dismissal In the dismissal we are sent out into the world. We have gathered and heard from the Lord through his word. We have been fed by the Lord in His Holy Sacrament. Now we go into the world to share these truths. Our worship has ended but our service begins!
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 The post communion prayer captures much of the reverence and transcendence that we experience in Holy Communion. What God does in and through this sacrament is a Holy Mystery. It is unlike anything that we know in creation yet it is a part of creation. It is a place where the divine and the created meet. How that works is a Holy Mystery. What we know is that this sacrament assures us of God’s goodness and favor. That favor and goodness look like the mystical body of Christ.
When we each eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus, we become Him and He becomes us. We become members of this large body. The Sacrament is an instrument of unity between us and God. It is a powerful thing to look at our neighbors as they receive communion and think of them as brother or sister because of this sacrament. The favor and goodness of the Lord is also seen in how He makes us heirs of an everlasting kingdom. This is a kingdom that is without the problems of scarcity. It is everlasting! The world deals with shortages all the time. Some have enough and others do not. Our abundance comes at the expense of another’s lack. This is not so in God’s kingdom. We are fed with spiritual food from a source that is unending. The source being Jesus. Another great mystery in receiving this food, this body and blood, is that we then become the body of Christ. We go into the world and offer ourselves as healing salve. The world consumes us through our service, our time and our resources. But the more we give of ourselves the more Jesus adds to us. When we come back to the sacrament we are replenished as the Body of Christ ready to go back out into the world.  The Prayer of Humble Access was beautifully written by the Anglican reformer Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer had in mind many biblical themes when he wrote this prayer. First we see that of the Centurion’s faith in Matthew 8:5-13. The Centurion came to Jesus and asked him to heal his servant lying at home paralyzed. Jesus says he will go and heal him. The Centurion strangely enough refuses Jesus saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” This Gentile Centurion understood his proper standing before God as one who is unworthy. He was not a part of God’s people. Yet he also understood Jesus’ merciful character and the authority that Jesus holds over life. From this exchange the servant was healed and Jesus calls this Centurion a faithful member of His Kingdom. The Centurion becomes a model for us for approaching God at his table. Second is the story of The Faith of the Canaanite Woman in Matthew 15:21-28. She also is a Gentile looking for Jesus to remove demonic forces from her daughter. Jesus will not help her because she is not a Jew, saying “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Jesus takes seriously the fact that He was only sent to help His people! What he does in these two stories is redefine who His people are. His people are those who come to Him with humble hearts, understanding their need for a savior and believing that Jesus has the power and character to save them. Cranmer takes the story of this woman gathering up the crumbs and re-purposes them in understanding the Eucharist. What crumbs do we gather at the Lord’s table? It is Jesus himself and his most worthy sacrifice. This leads us into the third biblical theme. A third theme speaks of the Eucharist more directly. In John 6:53-56 Jesus tells his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Jesus teaches us that we must feed on Him for life. He says that He is the true food and drink. Everything else that you might eat in your life will not lead to real and eternal life. Jesus then gives us a great mystery. In feeding on our Lord in the Eucharist He abides in us and we abide in Him. The abiding of God with man is the true source of eternal life. Jesus dies and yet he lives! If we abide in Him we share in His life. This is the meaning of Cranmer's final line in our prayer for humble access. “that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.” Prayer of Humble Access
We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table; but you are the same Lord whose character is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.  Following the Lord’s prayer is the fraction. This is the moment that the consecrated host is broken and the prayer book dictates that a moment of silence is kept. It is easy to move through this silence without taking in what the silence is for. It is in this moment that we are still and quiet before God and His sacrificial love. There is nothing to say only a tender moment of being in God’s presence.
Every time I break this bread I am reminded of Jesus walking with the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. Jesus finds these disciples walking away from Jerusalem and giving up on whatever they thought Jesus was doing. Jesus takes the time to walk with them and encourage and teach them but for whatever reason they do not recognize Jesus. When the day gets late these discouraged disciples invite Jesus to eat with them. Jesus breaks bread with them and in that moment the disciple’s eyes are opened to his identity and presence. The revelation of Christ’s presence prompts these disciples to return to Jerusalem and continue God’s work in faith. I speak these words quietly every time I break bread at the Eucharist. “Be known to us Lord in the breaking of this bread”. The fraction and the silence that follows is our road to Emmaus moment. It is a moment to perceive with the eyes and ears of faith that God is with us. Following the silence, the priest says, [Alleluia.] Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. And the people respond, therefore let us keep the feast. [Alleluia.] This is a joyful response to God’s presence and work. God is inviting us into His feast. The sacrifice of Christ has been made joyful because of the redemption that it brings. We are now invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb! (Revelation 19:9). We are guests of honor personally invited by our Lord. This is why we can enthusiastically say, Alleluia! Praise the Lord!  “And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray…”
In Luke Chapter 11 the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. They want to be like Jesus. They want to think like him, love like him, act like him. They want to be discipled by him. So they ask him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” To pray “Our Father” is to be open to learning the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus takes boldness. Jesus asks his disciples to say this prayer. To speak it out loud. It is a prayer that marks us as Jesus’ disciples. The ancient church has a saying, Lex orandi, lex credendi. This latin phrase means that what we pray is what we believe. In other words, prayer has a way of transforming us. It changes how we think and feel but also how others see and hear us. The Lord’s prayer points our thoughts towards God’s thoughts. It helps us to see the world the way that He does. Once that happens we are never the same. Praying “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” takes boldness and courage. We are asking God to be himself. We are giving Him permission to take all the authority and power over our lives and use it however He would like. We relinquish all the vision, hopes and dreams that we have for ourselves and begin to align them with God’s vision for His kingdom. This prayer is like letting a lion of its cage to unleash its power on your life. It can be unpredictable, scary and difficult but it is always worth it. It also takes boldness to pray with an understanding of just how small and powerless we are compared to God. He is the living root of all life. Without God’s active support and care we have nothing and are nothing. We ask Him to give us sustenance, to forgive us, to lead us not into paths that take us from him, and to deliver us from the evil of sin and death! We can do nothing without God. It is only because we can call God “Our Father” that we can speak these words with any confidence or boldness.  The Prayer of Consecration Part 3
we your humble servants celebrate and make here before your divine Majesty, with these holy gifts, the memorial your Son commanded us to make; remembering his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and his promise to come again. BCP p117 Our liturgy continues with a reminder that we have something to celebrate. We celebrate the whole and complete work of Jesus.The Holy Gifts that our liturgy refers to point to more than just the death of Christ. The liturgy states that in this memorial we remember “His blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension,and his promise to come again.” If Christ had only died for our sins but did not rise to new life we would not have much to celebrate. Death would still have it’s sting as St. Paul states. If Christ had not ascended to the Father we would not have an advocate with God and would not have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It Jesus does not come again we would not have the hope that he will make all things new. The work of salvation finds a focal point at the cross but it is dependent all the whole of Christ’s life and work. When we consider all that Jesus has done and will do our service becomes a celebration! And we earnestly desire your fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving….. And here we offer and present to you, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice. BCP p.117 Every member of the church becomes a priest to our God in this saying. The priests of the Old Testament temple were those who offer God a sacrifice. Our sacrifice is our praise and thanksgiving and our souls and bodies. It is a living sacrifice! This is a sacrifice that extends beyond the moment and into a life lived. It is more than Sunday at the altar in church. We give God our daily lives. The liturgy states that we are unworthy both to give any sacrifice and we are unworthy to be the sacrifice yet God accepts us because of our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. Our faith in “His blood”. We invoke God’s Fatherly goodness to accept our meager offerings. We are like the child who asks his father for $20 to buy him another necktie for father’s day. Our sacrifice makes God smile because of His fatherly goodness not because of its worth or benefit to God. We give to God not out of obligation but out of love and gratitude for His Fatherly care. We humbly pray that all who partake of this Holy Communion may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of your Son Jesus Christ, be filled with your grace and heavenly benediction, and be made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him. BCP p.117 Participation in the Eucharist makes us one with God and with each other. This is Jesus’ prayer for his people. That we may be one as He is One with the Father. Our Christian unity is symbolized in the one cup that we all drink from. This does not diminish our diversity but enhances it. St. Paul uses this metaphor of the body of Christ to teach that we all are called to particular functions within the body. Some are eyes some are feet and some are hands but all are necessary. Our diversity and unity are held in perfect balance when we see ourselves as all sharing in the one Body of Christ. The prayer of consecration ends with what tradition calls the great AMEN. The 1979 BCP capitalized all these letters to emphasize the boldness to which people are to respond. It is a reminder that the consecration prayer is not a prayer of the priest alone but the work of all the people. The great Amen is an affirmation by the people of all that has been prayed. It is also a sign of the triumph that comes through this celebration. We have boldness to speak these words before God because of the mighty work of Jesus. I encourage you next Sunday to enthusiastically respond to this prayer with a verbally bold and all caps AMEN.  As we move along in the consecration prayer the act of remembering becomes a prominent theme. We hear the words of Jesus telling us to do this “in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11; Luke 22:19) The Greek work that is used for remembering is anamnesis. If you wake up one morning and have forgotten who you are you may have amnesia. Anamnesis is the opposite of amnesia. It is an un-forgetting of who you are. Humanity was created to be a companion to the Lord. We were created to be in His presence. What makes us truly human is so linked with God that we are said to be made in His image. How can we understand who we are unless we are in the presence of God? The sacrifice of Jesus opens our dark eyes to God’s presence and Fatherly love.
The remembrance that Christ talks about is not recalling of fond memories. It is making the timeless Jesus and His sacrifice present in that very moment. Our sin has caused us to forget that God is present and loves us. The grace that is given to us in the Body and Blood of Christ is a remembering of this reality. This remembering has a real effect on our souls. It makes us more human. One of my seminary professors spoke of anamnesis as the recovery of a person with a serious head injury who is forced to learn to walk all over again. They could do it once but no longer can. They forgot how. Through physical therapy and repeating the motions over and over again they relearn to use their legs. They can remember how to walk. God wants us to remember! He wants us to remember that we are His people. We are His creation and the objects of His affection. Just like therapy this is a process with slow and steady results that takes consistent effort. The presence of Christ in the Bread and Wine is unique. Christ is always present but His presence in the Eucharist is for a particular purpose. He is meant to be consumed. Jesus says, “Take, eat.” and “Drink this.” It is an act of faith that allows us to take Christ’s Body and Blood. Without this act of faith the elements of bread and wine have no power to give us God’s grace. It is through faithful reception that the Eucharist has any benefit. This is why the Anglican church proclaims that “The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them.” (BCP p.782)  The service now moves into the prayer of consecration. In this opening sentence we explain why the Lord is given all the glory and praise. It’s because of the Father’s gift of Jesus and His mighty work. The work of Christ is talked about as an oblation. This word means “offering”. Jesus willingly offers his own body to God “for our redemption.”
When I think of this word oblation I am reminded of Jesus’ words at the last supper. He says that the cup He offers is his Blood of the New Covenant and it is being poured out for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:27). This vivid image is a reminder that Jesus pours himself out as an oblation to God on behalf of us. We come to the altar of the Lord most High and have nothing of worth to offer. Jesus steps in as our full and perfect oblation and pours himself out. The oblation of Jesus is also described as being a sufficient sacrifice, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. These words are not intended to point to any one particular theory of Christ’s Atonement but to “safeguard the doctrine that He alone is the ‘propitiation for our sins’ (1 John 2.1-2)” The sacrifice of Jesus is the only thing that can heal broken and sinful humanity. Jesus’s sacrifice satisfies the problem of sin. The offering of Jesus happens once on that cross and is not necessary to be repeated or capable of being reproduced. It is “full”, “perfect” and “once offered” (See Articles XV and XXXI). The word “instituted” reveals that the bread and wine that we receive are a Sacrament. A Sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. There are two Sacraments commanded or “instituted” by Christ in the Bible. Jesus commands his disciples to 1) go and baptize, and 2) remember Him in the Eucharist. Both baptism and Holy Communion have elements that you can see and touch and feel. This is an essential part of what it means to be a sacrament. The water and the body and blood are the outward and visible signs of these Sacraments. It is through these elements that God departs His grace upon us. They are effectual signs. This means that they are not simply symbols but actually have an effect on our souls.  The Sanctus is a Latin term that means Holy. The Sanctus is prefaced with a short introduction “Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who for ever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name:” This reminds us that our prayer of thanksgiving are joined with all of creation throughout time and space. The mystery of our worship is that it transcends our little church building. We join with Angels and Archangels every Sunday in worship of our Lord. This same worship has been going on since the beginning of all things and will continue on through eternity. On Sundays we add our voices to the bigger choirs that sing the praises of our God.
The song of the Angels, Holy, Holy, Holy, comes straight from scripture. The prophet Isaiah describes God’s throne as surrounded by seraphim (Angels) who cry out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1-3). St. John also describes the throne of God as being surrounded by “living creatures” who never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8) By adding the Sanctus to our worship we are recognizing that we have come before the throne of God to worship. God is present with us. When we say these words we bow our heads and enter into God’s throne room. To be holy is to be set apart and distinct from common things. When we talk about holy objects or holy people we are talking about being set apart for divine use and purpose. The Angels’ repetition of “holy” holds some important significance. The number three is a sign of wholeness or completeness. The Angels’ repetition of “Holy” speaks of a God that is completely set apart from creation. A God that is fearfully transcendent and unlike any other. The final part of the Sanctus is called the “Benedictus qui venti” or Blessed is He who comes. This also originates from scripture. Psalm 118:26 says, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.” More memorable perhaps is the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. The crowds say this Psalm as Jesus the King comes to the Capital City of his people. (Think Palm Sunday). Jesus also quotes this passage when he laments over Jerusalem and their rejection of God’s plan of Salvation. We remember that Jesus comes in the name of the Lord. His coming meant a death on the cross. Our response to hearing the “Benedictus qui venti” is to make the sign of the cross. This sign comes from a desire to be people who share in the cross of Christ. It is a reminder that the cross that Jesus bore has power to transform us into people who also “come in the name of the Lord”.  For those who are new to the Anglican tradition the Proper Preface can be confusing. The preface is not listed in line with the other prayers but is found 37 pages ahead. There are 34 prefaces which can add to the confusion. The Proper Preface follows the Church calendar including special days of remembrance. These prayers orient us to the seasons of the church and to themes that are emphasized throughout these seasons. They make our prayers whole and well-rounded.
Every preface starts with this phrase “It is right, our duty and our joy, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” The seasonally changing Proper Prefaces give us new reasons to “give thanks” to the Lord. In Advent, the Proper Preface says that we are thankful that Jesus has come and will come again. At Christmas, we are thankful for the incarnation. In Epiphany, we are thankful that Jesus reveals the Glory of God. In Lent, we are thankful for our renewal. At Easter, we are thankful for the resurrection. At Pentecost, we are thankful for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the season after Pentecost, we are thankful for the Day of the Lord, that is our weekly Sunday worship. Every saint that we recognize on our calendar has a special Proper Preface assigned to them based on their Christian vocation. There are Proper Prefaces for Martyr’s, Missionaries, Pastors, Teachers, and Monastics. Every occasion of the church has a preface that points us back to a reason to “give thanks” to our Father Almighty. |
2019 BCP
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