An Introduction to this
Annotated Holy Eucharist

This booklet is designed to provide a running commentary on the Eucharist Service. The center section contains the text from the Book of Common Prayer, while the shaded side column contains the commentary.

This service is known as Communion, for in it we commune with God and also with each other as the Body of Christ. It is also known as Eucharist, which is the Greek word meaning “Thanksgiving.” In the Eucharist, we give thanks for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

The Eucharist is a service that sets aside time as we know it. The Eucharist brings both the past and the future to present reality as we remember Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and await his coming again. The service is like a drama that we all enter. The first act of the drama is “The Liturgy of the Word.” This first half of the service is based on Jewish worship, which preceded Christianity. God’s mighty acts in history are recalled through scripture and applied to our lives in the sermon. The second act of the drama is “The Liturgy of the Table.” 

The liturgy is not something that the clergy do and the congregation watches. The word “liturgy” is a Greek word that comes from the root words for “people” and “work,” so the Liturgy is “the work of the people.” The liturgy is something that we all do together.

The service begins with an opening hymn, the procession and the opening acclamation. The opening hymn is a time for all the voices of the congregation to join as one to prepare to begin the work of the people together, so that by the time of the opening words of the service, we may respond as one gathered community. Please note that all baptized Christians may come forward to receive bread and wine in communion.

The prayer said by the celebrant at the bottom of this page is known as the collect for purity. A collect is a particular form of prayer which names some attribute of God or something God has done, asks for something specific and then closes with praise to God. For centuries, this collect for purity was said silently by the priest. The Prayer Book of 1552 made this prayer a public one, said aloud by the priest for all the people gathered. 
 
The service continues now throughout every season of the year except Lent with a song of praise. This song of praise is often the Gloria, which is at right.  This song centers the service on the God we are gathered to praise in our worship.

The collect is written to go along with both the season of the church year and the readings for the day. It summarizes the attributes of God as revealed in the scripture for the day.

Reading and commenting on scripture goes back to the earliest services of Christianity. Following the pattern of Jewish synagogue worship, readings follow a set pattern for what will be read when. This is known as a lectionary. The Christian communities began to add letters of Paul and others to their service. It was these readings that in time became our New Testament. Our pattern is to read a portion of the Old Testament, followed by a portion of a Psalm and then a reading from a New Testament epistle, or letter. 

We stand for the Gospel reading to show the particular importance we place on Jesus’ words and actions. 

Having someone comment on the scripture readings goes back to the earliest days of Christianity and to the Jewish Synagogue worship which preceded it. Preaching was rare during the Middle Ages, but was put back into a place of honor in the reformation of the Church in the 1500s. Since 1549, a sermon has been required at every Eucharist service. 

Originally the entire service was viewed as our confession of faith. However, since the sixth century, the church has recited the Nicene Creed at the Eucharist. The word creed comes from the Latin credo for “I believe.” 

Now we pray for ourselves and particularly on behalf of others. The prayer book offers different forms for these prayers, but the Prayers of the People always contain six elements listed at left.

The Prayers of the People are followed by the Confession of Sin. We ask God’s forgiveness for things done and things left undone. Private confession is not required in our church. However, private confession is offered. It is an especially comforting way to turn away from past wrongs and set out on a new path, which you may want to discuss with the priest. Most of the time we only need this time of prayer together as a community to recall our sins and to ask for God’s forgiveness. 

The priest in giving absolution assures us that all who make sincere confession are forgiven by God.

In the early centuries of the Christian Church, unbelievers could not stay for the rest of the service. Visitors would be asked to leave at this point as only the baptized persons who took part in it could see the Eucharist. After the visitors left, the Christians would greet each other with “the kiss of peace.” Today we shake hands or hug. There are no set words to use in greeting each other, but “Peace,” God’s peace,” and “Peace be with you” are all commonly used.

Now we come to the second act in the drama with the Liturgy of the Table. It is based on Jewish Fellowship meals, particularly the Passover observance. But this second half of the service is not communion in and of itself. It is the whole service, both acts of the drama, that make up the Eucharist.
	
This second act begins with the Offertory. Here we give back to God from the gifts God has given us. That is what is meant by the offertory sentence, “All things come of thee O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
	
Our offering is the first of four actions in the Eucharist. Just as scripture tells us that Jesus took, blessed, broke and gave the bread and wine. So this first of our four actions is for the priest to take the bread and wine. When we gather together we remember Jesus. Through repeating the words and actions of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, we ourselves join the story and make it our own. We don’t just watch the drama or listen to it unfold, but we enter into the story as we, too, take the bread and wine and eat and drink. While the bread and wine remain the bread and wine, they are not unchanged. The significance of the bread and wine for those partaking of them changes radically. Though they remain ordinary bread and wine, the elements of communion become the outward signs of inward grace. That grace, or gift from God, is Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist through the power of the Holy Spirit. The real presence of Christ is a full statement of our belief in God as a Trinity of persons.
	
This real presence is not the result of a magical incantation on the part of the priest. No set of words makes Eucharist happen. It is the whole action taken together that effects the Eucharist: the gathered community of faith remembering Jesus’ last meal with his disciples and calling on the Holy Spirit to transform the gifts of bread and wine into spiritual food and drink. It is God’s action that makes the Eucharist.

The Lord’s Prayer follows in either traditional or contemporary language. The link between our daily bread and the spiritual food we receive in the Eucharist is an ancient connection. In the Lord’s Prayer we ask for daily bread, meaning the things we need to get through each day. But as a part of that, the bread also symbolizes God’s presence, which is something that is also essential to our getting through the day.

Communion is taken by first receiving the bread by placing your right hand over your left and extending it to the priest. You may then either eat the bread at once and then partake of the wine, guiding the chalice to your lips, or you may hold the bread to dip it in the wine. You may also hold out the bread for the person administering the chalice to take the host, dip it in the wine, and place it on your tongue. This is called intinction. Anyone who has not been baptized, or who does not wish to receive communion, may either wait in his or her  seat, or come forward for a blessing. If you do wish to come forward for a blessing, please cross your arms over your chest in an “X” to signify your intention. 
	
Some of our communion is set aside each week to take to the sick and shut-ins. If you or someone you know would like to have communion brought to them, you can ask the priest to make arrangements. When you can’t come to church, the church can come to you. We partake in the Eucharist and are spiritually nourished, but it is not for our benefit alone. Communion enables us to return to the world with renewed vigor for proclaiming the Gospel in our words and in our lives.

In the Eucharist, Christ’s presence both nourishes us and challenges us. As the celebration ends, we are charged to “Go in Peace to love and serve the Lord.” The Eucharist is therefore not an exclusive gathering that separates us from the world, but a challenge to reach out beyond our own church to the world around us.

Glossary

Here are a few words that people often ask about. If you have other questions about either the words or the actions of the worship service, please feel free to ask. It’s the easiest way to find out the answer and we’ll be happy to help.

Catholic
The Nicene Creed describes the Church as catholic, which means universal. The Church is catholic when it proclaims the whole faith to all people. This does not imply any direct connection with the Roman Catholic Church.

Collect
A collect is a particular form of prayer which names some attribute of God or something God has done, asks for something specific in response to this attribute of God, and then closes with praise to God. 

Eucharist
Also known as Communion or The Lord’s Supper, Eucharist comes from the Greek word meaning “Thanksgiving.” In the Eucharist, we give thanks for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. All baptized Christians, from any church background, are welcome to receive communion.

Liturgy
The public prayer and worship of God, liturgy is a Greek word that comes from the root words for “people” and “work,” so the Liturgy is “the work of the people.” The liturgy is something that we all do together, not something the priest does on our behalf. But the Greek leitourgia also means “the work for the people” and it is something God does for us as we gather to worship.

Redemption
This refers to the way that God has worked to reconcile all creation to Godself through the person of Jesus Christ. 

Sacrament
An outward sign or symbol through which we receive God’s unmerited favor or grace. The Eucharist itself is a sacrament. But sacraments are not limited to the Church. God can convey grace to us in other ways. 

Seasons of the Church Year 

During the year, we take a deeper look at different understandings of the Trinity taught in scripture. The seasons of the church year  are helpful ways of focusing church attention on different aspects of the Christian story. The practice of keeping the church year dates back to fifth century Jerusalem. Here are the seasons with a brief word about each:  

Advent
From the Latin word Adventus, meaning “coming,” Advent is the first season of the church year. It begins four Sundays before Christmas and is set aside as a season to prepare for Christmas, Christ’s first coming, and to remember that he will come again.  

Christmas
This is the twelve days from Christmas Day until January 6, the start of Epiphany. It is a time for remembering Jesus’ birth and the idea of the Incarnation—God becoming human. 

Epiphany
From January 6 until Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent, is the season of Epiphany, which means “revealing” or “showing forth.” Epiphany is the season for remembering that Jesus came to be the savior of the whole world. 

Lent
This is the season of preparation for Easter, which starts on Ash Wednesday and goes 40 weekdays and six Sundays to Easter. Lent is a time for self-examination and reflection. 

Easter
This is the oldest and greatest day of celebration in the Christian Church. Easter is the day and season for remembering that Jesus not only died, but that he was raised from the dead. The season of Easter lasts 50 days from Easter Day to the Day of Pentecost.  

Pentecost
The day of Pentecost celebrates the birth of the Christian Church as it is the day when the disciples felt the Holy Spirit come upon them and empowered them to go out and tell Jesus’ story. The season lasts all through the summer until Advent. 

Annotations © 2002 Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church, Kingsland, Georgia
www.kingofpeace.org
This tex tmay be freely copied if this copyright notice is included.