'He that instituted this holy ordinance was likewise the Author of the prayer': on the Lord's Prayer at the opening of the 1662 Holy Communion

One of the characteristics of what we might term Cranmerian orders for the Holy Communion is that the rite begins with the Lord's Prayer. Even some 20th century forms influenced by Anglo-Catholic thought - PECUSA 1928, England as Proposed in 1928, and Canada 1962 - begin with the Lord's Prayer. It is a feature which later 20th century liturgical revisers banished without hesitation, regarding it is an irrational use of the Lord's Prayer, distracting from our gathering for the Eucharist.

By contrast, John Shepherd - in his 'The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion' in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801) - demonstrates how this placing of the Lord's Prayer at the outset of the Communion Office is both fitting and deeply resonant:

We begin this office with the Lord's Prayer; which, as many of the Fathers testify, the primitive Church always used in the celebration of the Eucharist. He that instituted this holy ordinance was likewise the Author of the prayer; and the most suitable introduction to the Lord's Supper must be the prayer which the Lord himself has taught us.

The Lord's Prayer, said at the Lord's Table, for the Lord's Supper. It is entirely appropriate that we begin our approach to the Lord's Supper with the dominical prayer: what other prayer, after all, could be more appropriate than that given by Our Lord with the words "After this manner therefore pray ye"? The fact that the account of the giving of the Lord's Prayer in the Gospel according to Saint Luke is followed by the Lord's teaching on a child asking a father for food, further emphasises how fitting it is for us to begin our approach to the Lord's Table with the Lord's Prayer:

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

This is echoed by Shepherd's reflection on the 'daily bread' petition in the Lord's Prayer:

Jerome affirms, that Christ taught this prayer to his Apostles that it might be said at the Communion. He, and the Fathers in general, consider the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," as referring more especially to the bread of life, the body of Christ, which they received daily at the Lord's table.

We approach the Lord's Table in order to be spiritually fed and we so begin our approach to the holy Sacrament with the prayer in which Our Lord taught us to say 'give us this day our daily bread'. This beginning then flows throughout the entire rite. We hear it again in the Prayer of Humble Access: "Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood". It is heard, too, in the words of administration: "Take and eat this ... and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving". When the petition is repeated in the Lord's Prayer after reception of Holy Communion, we are expressing our continued dependence on this spiritual food. And with the Prayer of Thanksgiving, we end as we began: "Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly received these holy mysteries".

That the Lord's Prayer is the first prayer upon our lips in the Holy Communion is itself, therefore, testimony to profound sacramental truth: we are called to partake of the holy Sacrament, not look upon it; it is in "receiving thy creatures of bread and wine" that we partake of our daily bread, the One given for the life of the world.

There is a rich theology and piety in the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of the Holy Communion. Contemporary Anglican eucharistic rites are the poorer for rejecting it. It is, however, another reason to cherish Cranmerian rites and to ensure that, at least in some way, they continue to be a living part of the Anglican liturgical and sacramental life.

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...

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC. On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism. At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

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