A Eucharistic Prayer for a Gospel-Shaped Celebration of the Holy Communion

By Robin G. Jordan

The following eucharistic prayer is inspired by the 1552-1662 Prayers of Consecration and incorporates material from several more recent Anglican and Lutheran eucharistic prayers.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks and praise to the Lord our God.

It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is indeed right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places offer thanks and praise to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

A special preface proper to the feast or season may be said.

And so, with the Church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your glorious Name and join in their unending hymn:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy and gracious Father, in your loving mercy you gave your only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our salvation.

By this offering of himself once and for all time he made a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world; and instituted and in his holy gospel commanded us to continue a remembrance of his precious death until his coming again.

Hear us, merciful Father, and grant that we who receive these gifts of your creation, this bread and this wine, according to our Savior’s command, in remembrance of his suffering and death, may be partakers of his body and blood.

On the night he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread and, when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way after the meal, he took the cup and, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.’

For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. .

Christ has died,
Christ has risen,
Christ will come again.

Renew your Church, heavenly Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit, unite us in the Body of your Son, and bring us with all your people into the joy of your eternal kingdom.

All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ. By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.

There is no credible reason that the proposed 2019 Prayer Book could not only have one or more such eucharistic prayers but also make other provisions for “Anglican Loyalists,” ACNA clergy and congregations who stand in the tradition of “Reformation Anglicanism” and subscribe to the teaching of the Bible and the doctrinal and worship principles of the historic Anglican formularies. The only reasonable explanation for the absence of such provisions from the proposed book is that the Liturgy Task Force, Bishops Review Committee, and the College of Bishops are pursuing a policy of deliberate exclusion targeted at Biblical Christianity, “Reformation Anglicanism,” and their adherents. The proof is the rites and services that have been authorized to date. The catechism and the ordinal are additional proof. With these three formularies the Catholic Revivalist wing of the Anglican Church in North America is further entrenching its views and denying space to any other views beside its own, including the views of authentic historic Anglicanism.

Why are “Anglican Loyalists” reluctant to speak out against these developments in the Anglican Church in North America and to call for substantial changes in the catechism and the ordinal as well as the proposed 2019 Prayer Book? Do they fear that they will further jeopardize their already imperiled position in the ACNA? Do they believe that by compromising their theological integrity they can maintain a tenuous existence in the province? If that is indeed the case, one only has to look at what happened to Anglicans like themselves in the Episcopal Church and the Continuing Anglican Churches to see that they are deluding themselves. Unless they take steps to correct the present state of affairs in the ACNA at an early stage, there is very little likelihood that they will be able to do anything later on.

Also see:
Nearly All Working Texts for Proposed ACNA Prayer Book Online