'We can at no time repeat this more effectually': the post-Communion Lord's Prayer in the Prayer Book Holy Communion

Having expounded the theological and spiritual significance of the post-Communion portion of the 1662 rite, John Shepherd, his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), considers the first aspect of the post-Communion, the Lord's Prayer:

The Post-communion, like the Ante-communion, begins with the Lord's Prayer, and we can at no time repeat this form more properly, or more effectually, than when we have just commemorated the meritorious sufferings and death of its divine Author.

It is a short but very insightful and powerful comment. That the very first words uttered in prayer by communicants, after receiving the holy Sacrament, are 'Our Father', profoundly embodies the grace given to us in the Supper of the Lord. This significantly echoes the opening words of the Prayer of Consecration:

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy ...

As the Prayer of Consecration sets before us the Lord's saving Passion as the outpouring of "our" heavenly Father's "tender mercy", so praying the Lord's Prayer after the communicants have received the Sacrament is a declaration that we have thereby been renewed, in hearts, by faith with thanksgiving, in this love in Christ.

What is more, in opening the post-Communion, the Lord's Prayer sets this theme as a principal characteristic of this portion of the 1662 rite. Hence, the Prayer of Oblation begins with "O Lord and heavenly Father", giving thanks for "thy fatherly goodness". The Prayer of Thanksgiving states that by "these holy mysteries", we are assured "of thy favour and goodness towards us", language which surely makes us think of the Lord's teaching that the "good gifts" given by earthly fathers are signs of those bestowed by "your heavenly Father". And, indeed, this Prayer concludes with "heavenly Father".

The post-Communion Lord's Prayer, therefore, beautifully sets before how the Sacrament renews us in the gracious love of our heavenly Father. I would argue that this is the central characteristic of the 1662 post-Communion, part of the homely, gracious comfort which wonderfully defines this rite.

Shepherd also notes that this Lord's Prayer, unlike that which opens the 1662 Holy Communion, includes the doxology:

The Doxology is here added to the Lord's Prayer, because this part of the office is principally eucharistic.

It is a reminder of the deeply eucharistic nature of the doxology of the Lord's Prayer. We might reflect how its use at this point in the 1662 rite recognises in our reception of the holy Sacrament that which is declared by the opening invocation of the great liturgies of the East:

Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages.

As Shepherd points out, the Lord's Prayer begins both the ante-Communion and post-Communion in 1662. Both these uses of the Lord's Prayer have been lost in contemporary Anglican eucharistic rites. We do not begin with the Lord's Prayer grounding us in the fatherly love of God in Christ through the Spirit; and we do not turn to post-Communion thanksgiving with the Lord's Prayer expressing how the Sacrament renews us in the fatherly love of God in Christ through the Spirit. This is not to detract from the dynamic and flow of contemporary rites, It is, however, to emphasise that such use of the Lord's Prayer in 1662 is no oddity, but an expression of profound and comforting theological and spiritual truth.

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

1928 practices and the 1979 book: unthinking conservatism or popular piety?

Those responsible for Earth & Altar - a new blog emanating from a group within TEC - are to be congratulated for an excellent contribution to wider Anglican discussion and debate. The commitment to "an expansively conceived credal orthodoxy as fully compatible with LGBTQ inclusion, gender equality, and racial justice" is an important part of a wider retrieval of creedal orthodoxy within what we might call the post-liberal generation. It is in this spirit that I want to respond to a recent post on the site by Andrew McGowan , Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and Professor of Anglican Studies at Yale Divinity School. Against the background of another round of "ill-defined" liturgical revision in TEC, he understandably urges that a fuller reception of the 1979 BCP should occur before further reforms. In doing so, however, he takes aim at what he describes as "clinging to the ritual structures of 1928" while using the text of 1979. We ...

laudable Practice

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