'He acknowledges his and their unworthiness to approach the Lord's Table': on kneeling for the General Confession at the Holy Communion

The rubric introducing the general Confession at the Holy Communion states that both the minister and the communicants are to be "kneeling humbly upon their knees". As John Shepherd notes - in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801) - this is one of only three places in the 1662 rite in which the priest is directed to kneel, emphasising the solemn and corporate nature of the general Confession: 

During the whole time of the Priest's officiating at the Communion he is directed to kneel only thrice, at this Confession, at the Collect before the prayer for Consecration, and at the act of receiving. In every other part of the office he is to stand. This was the practice of the ancient Church, and the attitude was probably borrowed from the service of the temple, where the legal sacrifices were offered by the Priest standing. Between the legal and evangelical sacrifice there is the same correspondence that exists between the shadow and the substance. The Christian Priest offers up the incense of prayers, praises, and alms; the oblation of ourselves, our souls, and bodies; and the memorial of the sacrifice of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. At the Confession, and the Collect before the prayer of Consecration, which form no part of these oblations, he kneels. In the former he confesses his own sins, as well as the sins of the people; and in the latter he acknowledges his and their unworthiness to approach the Lord's table. 

This reference to the priest kneeling for both the general Confession and the Prayer of Humble Access, at one with the congregation in the acknowledgement of sin, is a reminder of the seriousness with which the 1662 and related rites understand our unworthiness as we draw near to the holy Sacrament. When, in contemporary eucharistic rites, we stand for what is usually a much less searching confession - or, worse, merely the kyries - there is no parallel acknowledgement of our sin and unworthiness. If the congregation kneel, but the minister or ministers remain standing, again this fails to adequately symbolise the reality and extent of our individual and corporate sins. 

The rubric, therefore, points us to one of the many strengths of the 1662 rite: the seriousness with which it recognises our sinfulness is particularly compelling. There can, however, be ways of at least partly replicating this in contemporary rites: using a meaningful exhortation to self-examination and repentance; not replacing a proper confession with the kyries; ensuring the absolution, as a proclamation of God's forgiveness of our sins, is not omitted.  And, mindful of Shepherd's words, the minister/s kneeling with the congregation for the solemn confession of our sins, in solemn acknowledgement of our shared "unworthiness to approach the Lord's Table".