Instructed Eucharist

Trinity Sunday, 2010

Before the Procession

This morning we will be participating in an Instructed Eucharist. Throughout the service, I will be breaking in with comments providing explanation or reflection on various parts of the service. I expect you will find these interruptions distracting today, but I hope that one Sunday’s distractions will enrich your participation in the liturgy in the many days and years ahead.

The Episcopal Church is a liturgical church. This means that our community worship follows a prescribed, ordered liturgy. This is probably the most fundamental distinction in style of worship among different Christian denominations. Roman Catholic and Lutheran worship are also liturgical. Most other Protestant churches are not; their worship is highly variable. When we pray together as a community we follow a prescribed, ordered liturgy as presented in the Book of Common Prayer.

Two aspects of liturgical worship are important to consider. First, liturgical worship is shared worship. The way we pray is what we all have in common. We are united by common prayer. Diversity and individuality enrich our fellowship in many other ways, but in worship individuality is repressed in favor of commonality. For Episcopalians, we find unity and identity in the words of worship we hold in common.

Second, liturgical worship emphasizes the active role and participation of the laity. You have the words and directions for worship in your hands. You are not here to be edified by something a clergyperson, or even a committee, has whipped up today for your spiritual pleasure. Liturgy means work of the people. You are here to work. In liturgical worship, the assembly has a very active role. Your role is all there in the Book of Common Prayer.

Every service begins with a procession, whether simple or elaborate. Your part in that procession began when you left home to come here. We all come from somewhere to gather here as a community in worship. The act of gathering is essential. And we bring our individual joys and anxieties with us. This is not a place or a time of isolation or escape from the world. Bring your good news and your baggage with you. To be shared and transformed by corporate worship.

Procession

The opening words of the liturgy are a greeting. Now that we are all gathered, we greet one another. “Good to see you; how are you?” “Good, good to see you, too.” Our is a Christian greeting. But it is a greeting, shared with everyone here. To not say that greeting due to inattention or tardiness is rude to everyone else who is here. Part of the active work of liturgy is courtesy to one another.

The Opening Acclamation

The next prayer is known as the Collect for Purity. It has been used by faithful Christians since the 11th century as an expression of our desire to come before God in worship with pure thoughts and open hearts.

The Collect for Purity

Say amen. Say amen after the prayer. Any prayer said by a single worship leader on behalf of the assembly becomes yours when you say amen. Amen means, “so be it.” So be it for me. You claim the prayer, become an active participant in that prayer, when you say “amen.”

The Summary of the Law
The Gloria

Part of being a liturgical church is following a defined calendar of seasons and holy days. The calendar forces us to be mindful of the breadth of Christian faith and life. Every year we must approach the glorious redemption of Easter through the penitence of Lent. Every year we reflect in awe as God takes on flesh in the manger at Christmas time and we experience the departure of God in flesh incarnate at the Ascension. And we have to struggle with Trinity Sunday every year.

Liturgically, we experience the calendar through what are called the “Propers.” “Propers” refers to the particular collect and Scripture readings that are appointed for any given day in the calendar. We always follow the appointed propers. The following Collect is always prayed on Trinity Sunday.

Collect of the Day

The lectionary indicates which Scripture readings are “proper” for any given day in the calendar. Interestingly, although liturgical churches are sometimes criticized for underemphasizing the Bible, the lectionary prescribes a much, much broader reading of Scripture throughout the year than is usually heard in non-liturgical churches.

Your job is to hear the Scriptures, to hear the Word of God. One of your fellow Christians will read it to you, for you. Give the reader your attention. After hearing the Scriptures, without looking back at your leaflets, you should be able to summarize the readings. At coffee hour you should be able to discuss interesting points from the lessons (whether or not they were the topic of the sermon.) If you can’t do these things, you’re not listening well; you’re not doing the work of hearing God’s Word spoken to you. Personally, I hear better if I do NOT “follow along” reading the printed inserts. Whatever it takes for you, do the work to really hear and absorb the Scriptures into your consciousness, so that they may speak to you in your life.

First Lesson
Psalm
Second Lesson
Sequence Hymn (10:00 o'clock)
Gospel

Typically, of course, the Sermon follows the Gospel. I want to talk briefly this morning about sacraments. Once we get into the prayer of consecration, the Great Thanksgiving, there will be only minimal interruptions, so I want to take this opportunity to explain sacraments, specifically the sacrament of Holy Communion.

The Episcopal Church is a sacramental church. We teach and experience the sacraments as a part of our common life. A sacrament is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.” God’s transforming grace… given without any conditions or qualifications through the ministry of the church. The sacraments are “sure and certain means” by which we receive God’s grace. Sure and certain. It doesn’t depend upon you. It doesn’t depend upon me. It only depends upon the power of God functioning through the activity of the church.

In the sacrament of Holy Communion, the outward and visible signs are the bread and wine. They convey to us the Body and Blood of Christ. The bread and wine are sure and certain means by which we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. In the sacramental act, the bread and wine are changed, infused with God’s grace to become for us the real Body and Blood of Christ.

How exactly? The sacraments are all mysteries. Mysteries fueled by the power of God. But by God’s grace and power, the bread and wine are transformed into the Real Presence of Christ and when we participate in Communion, we are literally in Communion with the living Christ, and with one another through Christ.

The Nicene Creed was written by the church, gathered in council in the city of Nicea in 325. The Nicene Creed is not an individual affirmation of faith; it is the church’s creed. And no matter what other profound debates or uncertainty have swirled around through the centuries, the Nicene Creed has stood steadfast as the church’s expression of the Christian faith for over 1600 years. We say it as a response to the reading and proclamation of the Word of God. Whether you accept or understand every bit of it, say it. At the very least, as a member of the church, it is your job to share it and pass it on.

The Nicene Creed

Part of our work as Christians is to pray. To pray for others. I recently read that our Christian vocation is to become in “real life” the people we are in worship. When we process out of here at the end of worship, take these prayers, your prayers, the prayers of the people, with you. Take them in your heart, or literally take the printed prayer sheets, and be people who pray for others throughout your life.

The Prayers of the People
Confession and Absolution

Say amen after the absolution. For some reason, this amen is typically one of the most feeble. Your sins have just been absolved. By God’s grace, through the action of a priest of the church, you are reconciled to God. Now. Any sins for which you offered repentance this morning have been forgiven. So be it? If you wish for it to be so, if you wish to claim God’s absolution of your sins, say amen after the absolution.

The Comfortable Words (Rite 1; 8:00 o'clock)

The sharing of the peace is a wonderful celebration of Christian fellowship. But it is more than that. Your action, your work in the liturgy at this point is to give the Peace of Christ to others. I convey the Peace of Christ to you and you and you. Try saying the whole phrase to one another… “The peace of the Lord be with you.”

The Peace

Announcements

The next portion of the service may seem like filler, but it is very important, and it is one where you, the assembly, do all the work. The Offertory. One of my seminary professors wrote, “It is not too much to say that one understands the meaning of the Holy Communion to the extent that he or she understands the significance of the Offertory.” (Edward Kryder). We can’t, any of us, really participate in Holy Communion without first acting ourselves to offer the ingredients of which Holy Communion is created. Most importantly, we must offer ourselves.

As part of the offertory, we e offer our creativity, our talent and our skill to the Glory of God and for the purpose of God. This offering of creativity is often represented by a musical offering, but it stands for all of the creative potential of all of us.

We also offer the fruits of our labor in the offertory, the substance of our lives. These days that’s money. Historically, those offerings of substance might often have been in kind… crops we had grown, clothing we had woven or sewed. We offer them in thanksgiving that all we have comes from God. We offer them for use to further God’s kingdom. We offer our money, not primarily because the church needs it (although of course it does), but because we cannot come into Communion with God unless we offer ourselves, all that we are, all that we value, our souls and bodies to God.

Make some active offering every time you approach participation in Holy Communion. Many liturgical scholars suggest each worshipper put something of some value in the collection plate every time we celebrate the Eucharist to ensure that we do the real work of offering, and remember that it is ourselves we offer.

And, of course, the assembly offers the bread and wine. They are your corporate offerings.

The offertory is not a time to be planning your afternoon or chatting to your neighbor in the pew or digging through your purse for God doesn’t care what. Your focus should be on God and on actively offering yourself to God. Offer your voice, your creativity, your substance, your body, your soul, all that your are. Participate in the offertory.

Offertory Sentences
Offertory Music (10:00 o'clock)

The next phrases are often called by their Latin name, the Sursum Corda. They are a dialogue, a conversation. Lift up your hearts means, among other things, literally, stand up. The next part is really a question from the presider to the assembly. Shall we, together, now, give thanks to the Lord? If you would like to proceed with Communion, you need to speak your assent. “Yes, we think it is right to give thanks to God.” Without your response the presider cannot proceed. The Prayer that follows is the Great Thanksgiving. The greatest of all thanksgivings for all of God’s saving acts on our behalf. Especially the gift of his living presence in Holy Communion.

Sursum Corda

…proper prefaces are seasonal. Listen for brief summary of the teaching of the various seasons of the calendar.

The Proper Preface for Trinity
Sanctus

The Council of Nicea forbade kneeling for prayer on all Sundays throughout the church year and every day of the Great Fifty Days of Easter. Kneeling thus was permitted only on weekdays outside of Easter season. Kneeling for the Great Thanksgiving, or prayer of consecration, did not become common until the late Middle Ages. At that time in the Roman Catholic Church, the peoples’ role in Holy Communion was a passive one of adoration only… passive to the point that they did not even receive the bread or wine. The Book of Common Prayer provides you the option to either stand or kneel. If you have never stood, try it for a few weeks sometime. It takes more than one Sunday to get over the awkwardness of change. If you give it a fair trial, you may find it a more open and active posture and find yourself powerfully drawn into Communion.

All versions of the Great Thanksgiving are Trinitarian. All include an institution narrative, recounting Jesus’ institution of Holy Communion, and all invoke the Holy Spirit’s transforming power upon the offered gifts, the offered gifts of bread and wine and the offered gifts of ourselves.

The Great Thanksgiving, continued

The Great Amen. Capitals and Italics. The greatest of Amens. Say this amen especially with joy and fervor.

And then we pray boldly by Jesus’ warrant and teaching. It is only at Jesus’ instruction that we boldly call God our Father and make these bold intercessions to him.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Fraction (Breaking of the Bread)
The Fraction Anthem

These next words are an invitation to come to the table. “The gifts of God for the people of God…” They are not a prayer or culmination. Resist the temptation to say “amen” at the end of the invitation. Just come. Jesus, your host, invites you to his holy table.

Come to the table promptly. Symbolically at least, we all dine together. Those of us here in the sanctuary do not dine first. Do say “amen” after you are offered the bread and wine. This is important, and most of you don’t. The Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven. “Amen.” The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. “Amen.” Amen, indeed. May these be for me the Body and Blood of Jesus. And do not leave the communion rail until the person after you has received. We dine together, always with at least one Christian neighbor beside us.

The Invitation

Distribution of Communion

The post-Communion prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving, thanksgiving that everything we have done the work of offering to God has been transformed. All of ourselves that we have truly offered has been transformed, thanks be to God. This prayer also reminds us that our primary work as Christians lies ahead. Our participation in the liturgy and in Holy Communion are not ends in and of themselves. They give us strength and courage to do the work God has given us to do throughout our daily lives.

Post-communion Prayer
Blessing

Having been fed and transformed by the Body of Christ, we process again. We process onward and outward through the doors of the church to be the Body of Christ in the world.

Hymn
Dismissal

Postlude