An Instructed Eucharist
By The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church, Kingsland, Georgia
www.kingofpeace.org

This Instructed Eucharist is intended for use with Holy Eucharist Rite II and Eucharistic Prayer A. The narrator begins the service by reading the introductory commentary. The celebrant, other servers and choir (if any) will enter as usual after that opening narration.

During today’s celebration of Holy Communion, I will offer a running commentary. We hope that this will give us all a deeper appreciation for what it is we do in our weekly celebration of the Eucharist. 
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 will be “The Liturgy of the Table.” 
The liturgy is not something that the clergy do and the congregation watches. This can be seen in the word “Liturgy” itself. 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.

Processional Hymn
Opening Acclamation
Collect for Purity

The last prayer 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 but Lent with a Song of Praise. This song centers the service on the God we are gathered to praise in our worship.
 
Song of Praise

Next follows the collect of the day. This prayer is written to go along with both the season of the church year and the readings for the day.

Collect

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 became in time 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. Our response of “Thanks be to God” acknowledges that we have heard the reading and are thankful for the Word of God. This response is appropriate following passages of harsh judgment as well as grace-filled portions of scripture.

Old Testament Lesson
Psalm
Epistle
Hymn

We stand for the Gospel reading to show the particular importance we place on Jesus’ words and actions. The congregation has special responses before and after the reading of the Gospel. These also set aside the Gospel reading as deserving special reverence. 

Gospel

This is the time usually reserved for a sermon. Having someone comment on the scriptures read 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. But, 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.” In the words of the creed we express together the faith we hold in common. At times in our lives when doubt and fear take hold, we can still say “we believe” for the community continues to believe for us. 

(Sermon Omitted)
Creed

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:

We pray for the whole church, its members and its mission; we pray for our nation and those in authority; we pray for the welfare of the world; we pray for the concerns of our local community; we pray for those who suffer or are in trouble; and we pray for the dead.

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, for those particularly in need of unburdening themselves of past wrongs, private confession is offered. It can be an especially comforting way to turn away from past wrongs and set out on a new path. But 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.

Prayers of the People
Confession of Sin
Absolution

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.

The Peace

Now we come to the second act in the drama with the Liturgy of the Table. It is this portion that follows Jesus’ command to his disciples to remember his last meal with them each time they gather. The second portion of the service 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.” In the early centuries of the church, Christians brought bread and wine with them. What was needed in the service was consecrated for use, while the rest of the bread and wine was set aside for deacons to take to the poor in the area. Today, a portion of our offering continues to help people in need around our community and around the world.
	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. After the bread and wine are received, the table will be prepared. The water and wine are mingled, as was the practice with Jewish table wine. It has also come to remind us of the blood and water that poured from Jesus’ side after his death on the cross.
 
The Great Thanksgiving
Offertory (with anthem)

As we lift up our hearts and join in the song of heaven, we enter the Eucharistic feast not with God coming down to us for God is already here. Through our prayers of thanks, we are lifted up to the realm of the saints and it is there that we join in their hymn of praise.

Sursum Corda
Sanctus

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.

Words of Institution
Invocation

The Lord’s Prayer follows. 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.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Priest now breaks the bread, the third and fourth of the four actions. The priest has already taken and blessed the bread and wine. Now she (or he) will break it and give it to the baptized Christians gathered here. 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. Dipping the bread in the wine and consuming them together is called intinction. Anyone who has not been baptized, or who does not wish to receive communion, may either wait in your 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.  

The Breaking of Bread
Communion
Post-Communion Prayer

	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.

Blessing
Dismissal
Hymn

References:
Galley. Howard E., The Ceremonies of the Eucharist: A Guide to Celebration (Cambridge, Ma.: Cowley), 1989.
Hatchett, Marion J., Commentary on the American Prayer Book (San Francisco: Harper Collins), 1995.
Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. IV. (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdmans), 1974.
McKim, Donald K., Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press), 1996.
Mitchell, Leonel L., Praying Shapes Believing: A Theological Commentary on the Book of Common Prayer (Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse Publishing), 1985.