INSTRUCTED EUCHARIST

MAY 18, 2003

Welcome to this morning’s celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Today, instead of a sermon, a team of readers is reading an explanation of our worship which will be shared as we go through the service, in hopes that this will enrich your understanding of our worship. We hope that today’s experience, which is called “an instructed eucharist”, will answer some questions you may have and perhaps raise others, all of which is good.

“Eucharist” comes from the Greek word for “thanksgiving”, so the main emphasis of the service is our thanksgiving to God – for the Creation, for God’s steadfast love through thick and thin for thousands of years, for the People of God and the Holy Scriptures, for Christ’s saving death and life-giving resurrection, for each and all of us as human beings, for the guidance of the Holy Spirit here and now, for the Christian Church, and for any individual or communal blessings at any given time.

The Holy Eucharist is a service of worship by a community, not a solitary act by a priest (in the Episcopal Church there must be a congregation, even if that is only one other person besides the one presiding), and the Holy Eucharist is not a group of people saying individual prayers who happen to be in the same room. All present are invited to participate in the service by reading their parts in The Book of Common Prayer, the book which has that name because it has prayers shared and said in common.

We stand for the opening acclamation. Standing was the posture for prayer for the first ten centuries of the Christian Church (as well as the posture of our Jewish forbears) and has been revived in the last generation as the standard posture for prayer except for prayers which are especially penitential (asking for God’s forgiveness).

Usually, there is a procession to the front of the church at the beginning of the service, which is usually led by the processional cross. We stand up for the cross as a sign of respect for the symbol of the cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ died for our salvation, and some people like to bow when the cross reaches their row in the congregation as an added sign of respect. The bowing is optional and a matter of personal preference; in some Episcopal congregations it is commonly done and in others it is not done at all. Episcopalians believe in unity in essentials (including the importance of the Bible, the creeds and the sacraments) and personal choice in devotional styles.

PROCESSION STARTS (with hymn at 10:30)

PRIEST: “Alleluia! Christ is risen!”

PEOPLE: “The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

The word “Alleluia” means “Praise God” and is a joyous affirmation. Joy thanks to God exists whether or not one or another of us comes into church feeling joyful on any given day. God’s victory over death and sin is just as real – and especially powerful to remember – when we are feeling sad or angry.

-2-

We say this particular response, celebrating Christ’s resurrection, during the Fifty Days of Easter Season, starting in the middle of The Great Vigil of Easter (on Easter Eve) and continuing through the Day of Pentecost. Indeed, every Sunday is “a little Easter” all through the year; the reason we come to church on Sunday is that Christ rose from the dead on Sunday.

(Priest leads the people in The Collect for Purity.)

That prayer, called “the Collect for Purity,” is a prayer in which we ask to be purified so that we can worship and serve God rightly. Afterwards, at the 8:30 service we will say the hymn which begins “Glory to God”, the first two lines of which quote the message of the angels in the sky over Bethlehem to the shepherds on the first Christmas. At 10:30, we usually sing the “Glory to God”), but The Book of Common Prayer says we can sing “some other song of praise”, which we will do today. Today’s particular hymn was chosen because it quotes The Collect of the Day, the prayer for this particular Sunday which follows immediately afterwards.

(HYMN, COLLECT OF THE DAY.)

We usually have four readings from the Bible. The first one is usually from the Hebrew Scriptures (known commonly as “The Old Testament”), the story of God’s dealings with humanity up until the birth of Christ. During Easter Season, however, our first reading is drawn from The Acts of the Apostles, the book of the New Testament which tells how the early Christian Church grew and developed after Christ’s ascension into heaven.

(READING FROM ACTS)

Next, we read from one of the Psalms, devotional poetry from the Old Testament read with congregational involvement. The psalms are prayers which express many different feelings and situations, and remind us that whatever we may be feeling, we can express those feelings to God in prayer.

(PSALM)

Next, we read from one of the other books of the New Testament, usually from one of the Epistles or Letters that an early Church leader wrote, usually to a particular congregation. The Letters were usually “timely” (addressed to a particular situation) but are also “timeless” (have had great value for Christians everywhere ever since.)

SECOND READING

(After the second reading, at the 10:30 service the choir sings an anthem which is beautiful, inspiring and often particularly appropriate for the church season or even the day’s particular Scriptures. )

-3-

(ANTHEM)

We treat the reading of the Gospel in a special way. The Gospel at the Holy Eucharist is read from a special book (The Gospel Book) which has only Gospel readings in it, and which may be adorned, as this one is, with the symbols of the Four Evangelists (Gospel writers). The Gospel at the Eucharist may only be read by an ordained person (deacon, priest or bishop). The reading of the Gospel is announced and concluded and a congregational response of praise is invited each time, as noted in the Prayer Book. The whole congregation stands for the reading of the Gospel as a mark of respect for the Gospel itself, because in the Gospels we have the story and words of Christ, who came into our world in the midst of ordinary life. For that reason the Gospel book is read close to the congregation, and those who are in the aisle next to or in front of where it is read may turn and face the Gospel book during the reading.

GOSPEL READING

The sermon follows immediately after the reading. Sermons should apply one or more of the Bible readings to the daily lives of people in the congregation and/or explain the Bible readings so that people can draw strength, guidance and nurture for their lives today. There is a wide range of ways this can be done and topics that are pertinent, for there is no part of our lives which is outside of God’s concern. There are many different styles of preaching. Sermons may be moving, thought-provoking and even controversial. We have many examples of sermons within the Bible itself, including those of Jesus. Today, since we have this “Instructed Eucharist”, we go straight to the congregational affirmation of faith known as the Nicene Creed, agreed to at an ecumenical council of all the Christian bishops in the world in the year 326 in Nicaea. “Creed” comes from the Latin word for “I believe”.

THE NICENE CREED

Then we have The Prayers of the People. We pray for a variety of concerns, using one of the set forms in The Book of Common Prayer (though we could write our own form, as long as the list of concerns on page 359 is covered). At St. Barnabas, we include in our prayers three “Cycles of Prayer”: for the Anglican Communion (those Churches which are part of the “Episcopal Family of Churches” around the world), for the Diocese of New Jersey (the 164 congregations in central and southern New Jersey under the leadership of our bishop), and for many of the houses of worship of South Brunswick, North Brunswick and Franklin Townships.

After the Prayers of the People, for which we stand, those who are able kneel (the traditional posture for asking God’s forgiveness) for the Confession of Sin. Episcopalians believe that Christians can confess their sins and be forgiven directly by God, but that it is important for the community of faith to remember the importance of

confession and forgiveness and to practice it by asking for God’s forgiveness in public

and in a group. The Episcopal Church also believes that bishops and priests have been

-4-

empowered to declare absolution (God’s forgiveness) to those who are penitent. People are encouraged to have something specific in their minds (for which they ask forgiveness

when they say the confession). Anyone who wants to make a private confession to a priest may do so, and some find it helpful in certain circumstances, but it is not required; this confession and absolution are sufficient preparation for communion.

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

AND THE CONFESSION OF SIN

After we have received the assurance of God’s forgiveness, we can get off our knees and stand up with renewed joy. “Passing the Peace” is not a social interlude in the service, but a holy moment which affirms that we are all fellow children of God loved by God and called to love each other. It is an ancient tradition first revived in the Anglican Communion by the Church of South India, which wanted to make clear (in a country with an ancient caste system) that in Christianity there are (literally) “no untouchables.”

THE PEACE

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHARING TIME

SUNDAY SCHOOL ENTRANCE SONG

(For those of you who have just come in, this Sunday we are doing an “Instructed Eucharist”, which means we’re hearing a series of explanations about different parts of our worship. For instance, (point to each) the altar, pulpit and lectern have white colored hangings on them during Easter Season, the liturgical color for the greatest joy. During Easter Season, the Paschal Candle (point out) is lit, symbolizing Christ’s resurrection and presence as “the light of the world”, and we also bring it out and light it for baptisms, weddings and funerals as a symbol of new life through Christ. All through the year, we have candles on the altar as a more subtle reminder that Christ is the light of the world.

God made the whole Creation, including wheat and grapes, which God gave to human beings for proper use. Human skill made these gifts of God into bread and wine, which we offer back to God at the offertory as symbols of all our work – taking God’s Creation and impacting it with our various skills – ALL of which we offer to God. God takes the bread and wine and blesses them and offers them back to us as the Real Presence of Christ with us. We also collect and offer our money to God for the work of God in the world which this church is committed to, remembering that everything we have and earn is possible first of all because of God’s generosity to us.

THE OFFERTORY

(After the presentation of gifts.) The Holy Eucharist is a holy meal. We remember Christ’s death and celebrate his invisible, wondrous and mystical presence with us. At each Eucharist, the priest or bishop presiding recalls and reenacts Christ’s actions at The Last Supper: “he took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it.” All baptized

-5-

Christians are welcome to receive communion, because baptism makes a person part of the Christian family and able to take part in the Christian family meal.

The “Holy, holy, holy” we say or sing quotes what the prophet Isaiah heard the angels singing when he was in the temple in Jerusalem and had a vision of God, and the “Blessed is he” quotes what people said when Christ came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER

The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer Christ taught his followers, and is the most universal prayer – although different churches may use different translations of it.

“ALLELUIA. CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED FOR US;

THEREFORE LET US KEEP THE FEAST. ALLELUIA.”

Lay Eucharistic Ministers, nominated by the Rector and licensed by the bishop, may assist in distributing the wine at communion. The one bread plate and the chalice are symbols of unity for the whole congregation, even though there may be more than one chalice and even more than one bread plate and more than one ordained person serving the bread. Most Episcopalians sip from the chalice, though some dip their bread into it, and some choose to receive the words only but not the wine itself. People are invited to say “Amen” (which means “so be it”, or “I agree”) after the priest or lay eucharistic minister says the words of administration to them (“The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven” or “The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation”) as the recipient’s way of affirming the meaning of these gifts from God. People who are not baptized or who do not wish to receive communion today may also come up to the communion rail and place their arms over their chests and receive an appropriate verbal blessing from the priest.

THE GIFTS OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD