Friday, May 31, 2019

Basic Tips for Planning the Eucharistic Liturgy: The Alleluia before the Gospel


By Robin G. Jordan

A growing number of Anglican congregations are singing an alleluia before the reading of the Gospel. This practice is an ancient one. The alleluia may be sung with or without a verse. If the alleluia is sung with verse, the cantor sings the alleluia, the cantor and congregation repeat the alleluia, the cantor sings the verse, and then all sing the alleluia.

If the gospel is read from the midst of the congregation, the gospel procession moves to the place where the gospel will be read while the alleluia and verse or the alleluia are being sung. After the gospel is read, the gospel procession returns to the sedilla in silence. It is not necessary to fill every space in the liturgy with music. The reading of the gospel should be followed by a period of silence for reflection and prayer.

A congregation can learn a number of simple alleluias. Some commonly used alleluias are the Celtic Alleluia, the Caribbean Halle, Halle, Halle, the Muscogee Heleluyan, and the Taize Alleluia. Among the outstanding characteristics of these alleluias is their singability and their different musical styles.

The Happy Land Alleluia was arranged by T. Fish for a Mass settings for use in Appalachian Catholic parishes. This Mass setting uses the tune of “There Is a Happy Land” and other folk tunes familiar to the residents of Appalachia. The tune of “There Is a Happy Land” originated in India. It found its way into the shape note hymnals of the Southern United States in the nineteenth century. The Mass setting is an example of how regional musical styles and musical instruments can be used in the liturgy. The Happy Land Alleluia may be placed on the dulcimer.

Due to the influence of contemporary Christian music a lot of music used in today’s sounds too much alike. The vocalists of church bands imitate the style of popular CCM performers. As being unsuitable for congregational singing, their singing style gives a bland sameness to the worship music of contemporary churches. The use of a wide variety of musical styles and musical instruments, hymns and songs from the various historical periods of the Christian Church—previous generations of Christians’ legacy to us and a testimony to their faith, and hymns and songs from around the world add diversity and color to the music of our worship.

Here in the South we have a rich heritage of gospel songs, shape note hymns, and spirituals. These songs have a place alongside traditional hymns and more recent compositions. When we sing them, we add our voices to the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us.

During Lent the alleluia is traditionally omitted in the Western Church. However, Lent is the season of the alleluia in the Eastern Church. When the alleluia is omitted, a gospel verse, also known as a gospel acclamation or Lenten acclamation, may be sung. It is a simple ascription of praise to Christ. Like an alleluia, it may be sung with one or more verses.

For a small congregation that has limited musical resources, a simple alleluia is a perfect to solution of the perennial question of what kind of song we should use before the reading of the gospel.

The musicians in the congregation can be encouraged to compose alleluias. The key to a good alleluia is accessibility and tempo. It should be easy-to-sing and have a moderate to fast pace.

Friday's Catch: 'The Church on the Move' and More


The Church is on the Move

Christianity is and always will be a mobile faith. Read More

6 Types of Donors Your Church Should Regularly Thank

It’s our opportunity and our responsibility as a church to thank the people who have chosen to invest in our ministry. Those who give to your church are actively choosing to give to your ministry. Whatever your philosophy on giving, the reality is that the donors who fund your ministry also encounter a number of other giving opportunities on a regular basis. The fact that they’ve opted to support your ministry is pretty amazing. Rather than outlining another way to increase revenue, we need talk about how to show our appreciation for those who already give. Read More

A Mistake We Often Make When Reading the Bible

As you read the Bible, keep in mind that there is a way we can read it wrongly. Read More

Launch a Second Worship Service: A Short Guide

Don’t let perceived (or real) hurdles discourage you. If you sense the need for potentially adding a new worship service, then prayerfully move forward. Read More

Is Livestreaming Right For Your Church? A Short Guide

Should your church start livestreaming your services, Bible studies, or events? Well, it depends. Read More

9 Social Media Ideas for Churches

Whether you’re a social media aficionado, or just your everyday feed-scroller, by now you know that social media influences today’s world significantly. The Church can engage culture like never before through social media, as messages of Gospel hope can be shared on a global scale with the click of a button. In this post, we’re sharing 9 social media post ideas for churches to engage the culture around you. Safe for Instagram and Twitter feeds alike, these crafty ideas make engaging your church community on social media fun and effective. Read More

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Basic Tips for Planning the Eucharist Liturgy: The Entrance Rite


By Robin G. Jordan

The entrance rite is one of the parts of the Eucharistic Liturgy that has tended to accumulate an accretion of unnecessary and redundant elements over the centuries. These elements have given undue prominence to what is an ancillary rite of the liturgy.

Those who are interested in restoring the liturgy to its primitive simplicity will omit the Opening Acclamation, the Collect for Purity, the Decalogue, the Summary of the Law, the Gloria in Excelsis or other Song of Praise, the Kyrie Eleison, and the Trisagion. All these elements are later additions.

In the Anglican Church the Opening Acclamation or, in some Anglican service books, the Opening Sentence of Scripture and the Trisagion were added in the twentieth century; the Lord’s Prayer. The Collect for Purity and the Decalogue in the sixteenth century; the Gloria in Excelsis or Other Song of Praise and the Kyrie Eleison in the fifth century, and the Summary of the Law in the eighteenth century. They will discover that omitting these elements does not impoverish the liturgy but adds to it, makes it far more prayerful. They will discover that less is more.

What about the entrance song? Singing hymns, litanies, and psalms while the ministers entered in procession appears to have become the practice by the fifth century. The twentieth century practice of singing a medley of praise choruses and worship songs before the liturgy, beginning with upbeat songs of praise and concluding with slower songs of adoration, is not far removed from the fifth century practice.

Liturgically the function of the entrance song is not to accompany the procession of the ministers, which may be omitted. The ministers may unobtrusively take their places before the beginning of the service.  Rather it is to draw together a loose aggregate of people into a worshiping assembly, to focus their attention upon God, and to prepare the assembly for the reading and explication of God’s Word which is to follow. The entrance song is the conclusion of the gathering of God’s people to offer him thanks and raise, to hear the Word, to pray for their needs and the needs of others, and to remember their Lord’s saving death in the breaking of the bread as he commanded. For this reason the entrance song is also known as the gathering song and the entrance rite as the gathering rite.

Simplifying the entrance rite also makes the liturgy musically less demanding for small congregations that have limited musical resources. In the 1980s the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Music recommended that small congregations omit singing the entrance song before the Opening Acclamation and sing the Song of Praise before the Salutation and the Collect of the day, using familiar setting of the Gloria in Excelsis or some other canticle, a metrical version of the Gloria or other canticle, or a hymn of praise. This is an application of the liturgical principle of less is more. If an entrance procession was desired, the ministers could enter in procession during the Song of Praise. As I have explained elsewhere, it is better to do a few things well than a lot of things poorly.

As for using a medley of songs in place of a single song at the opening of the service, this piece of advice was given to me. There is nothing wrong with this practice. However, it is best to vary what is done at the opening of the service. Otherwise it can lose its impact. One Sunday the service might begin with an instrumental piece, followed by a hymn, Gloria, or other canticle, and then the Salutation (or other Greeting) and the Collect of the Day. On another Sunday it might begin with the ringing of a church bell, followed by a period of silence, and then a hymn, Gloria, or other canticle, the Salutation, and the Collect of the Day. And so on. Different variations might be used during different seasons of the Church Year. For example, a solemn nine-fold Kyrie might be sung during the Season of Lent.

When using a medley of songs, seesawing back and forth between songs of a different tempo and mood does not have the same effect as moving from faster songs of praise to slower songs of adoration. Indeed it can be disconcerting to the congregation and should be avoided.

A well-planned liturgy is a balance of elements that vary from Sunday to Sunday and elements that are unvaring during a season of the Church Year or a part of the longer seasons or throughout the year. I will be offering more basic tips for planning the Eucharist Liturgy in future articles.

What It Means to Love Jesus


“If you love me….” (John 14:15)

We do love the Lord, right? We would love to express our love to Him in His own love-language, right?

We love Him because He first loved us, right? (That’s I John 4:19).

The question then is “How exactly do we express our love to Him?” With flowers and candy? With huge gifts? Quick prayers before bedtime? Maybe if I’m baptized and join the right church? Should I tithe? Should I read the Bible through? Go to Sunday School?

What does He want? What would make Jesus feel loved? Read More

Also See:
Got Questions: "What does it mean to love Jesus?"

Thursday's Catch: The Importance of Ascension Day and More


Four Reasons Why Ascension Day Matters

Christmas and Easter have front and center significance to the Christian faith. As they should! However, there’s another Christian day that should be thought of in this light often forgotten by many Christians. Friends, Ascension Day is just as significant as Christmas and Easter. Read More

What Jesus’s Ascension Does for Us

It may be the most important doctrine you never think about. It’s in the Bible. It’s in the Apostles’ Creed. And it’s something the church commemorates today, May 30. I’m talking about the ascension of Jesus (Luke 24:50–51; Acts 1:9–11). Read More

The ‘Marks’ of Our Churches: Keeping from Mission Drift

What are the things that undergird the church itself? Read More

3 Reasons Your Church’s Mission Doesn’t Have To Be Different To Be Effective

There are great dangers in thinking that a church has to do something unique to fulfill their mission. Read More

Seven Things A Church Website Should Communicate When a Church Is Revitalizing

Church websites play just an important role in church revitalization. In this episode Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe we discuss some basic tips on how to best use your church’s website to help in revitalization. Listen Now

John Stott’s Simple Secret for Spiritual Productivity

At age 29, John Stott was overwhelmed with his ministry responsibilities as rector of All Souls Church. How would he manage all the administrative tasks? How would he spiritually nourish himself enough to feed those he served? Read More

The Worship Leader’s Guide to Creating A Contagious, Healthy Team Culture

As a leader, there’s nothing more important than defining and protecting your team’s culture. Read More

Six Things to Do This Summer to Create Effective fall Groups

You’ve heard the expression, “A stitch in time saves nine.” That simple phrase reminds us that we don’t wait until a major repair is needed; we can do some preventative maintenance now so that we don’t have to deal with a major issue in the future. That old saying works for clothing, and it also works for Bible study groups. Here are six things you can do now to be ready for the opportunities that will come your group’s way this fall. Read More

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

One Prayer Book Does NOT Fit All Congregations


By Robin G. Jordan

Ten years in the making, the proposed ACNA service book, The Book of Common Prayer 2019, is a study in anachronistic thinking. In some ways the proposed book resembles the contemporary language trial liturgies of the 1960s and 1970s. For a book that took a decade to prepare, the proposed BCP 2019 lacks the polish that characterizes the best of the more recent service books.

The proposed BCP 2019 suffers from a number of defects. The most serious of these defects is its doctrine. The proposed book does not just flirt with unreformed Catholicism, the book jumps into bed with it. The book will delight Anglo-Catholics who have been yearning for the days of the pre-Reformation Medieval Church. It not only revives the Medieval Catholic sacramental system but also reintroduces a number of practices associated with that system. The only thing that is missing is the invocation of the blessed Virgin and the saints and the adoration of the reserved sacrament. Perhaps these devotions will be published in a subsequent edition.

While the Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force cannibalized a number of texts from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, any resemblance of the proposed book to the classical Anglican Prayer Book is superficial. The book is no more Anglican than the Catholic Church’s  Divine Worship: The Missal.

The proposed BCP 2019 embodies what former ACNA Archbishop Robert “Bob” Duncan has championed as the “new settlement.” The “new settlement” is essentially a repudiation of the Protestant Reformation, the Elizabethan Settlement, and historic Anglicanism and a return to the age of unfettered episcopacy, sacerdotalism, sacramentalism, and superstition.

The proposed BCP 2019 makes no provision for shortening or simplifying the Daily Offices. It also makes no provision for those occasions when the services of Morning and Evening Prayer and Holy Communion do not meet the needs of a particular congregation.

The entrance rite of the Eucharistic Liturgy is an odd mixture of elements from Medieval Mass books and later rites. Rather than pruning the liturgical clutter that accumulates at the entrance rite, the Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force have added to it. While permitting a small number of substitutions, the task force has made no provision for the omission of these elements in the event circumstances require the shortening or simplification of the rite.

The so-called Standard Anglican Eucharistic Prayer is tediously long for a Eucharistic Prayer in an age of sound-bites and shortened attention spans. It is guaranteed to make aging church members doze off, young people reach for their cellphones, and first-time guests regret attending the service and vow not to return for a second visit. Forgotten are the Baby Boomers like myself who welcomed the shorter and more participatory Eucharistic Prayers of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the 1985 Book of Alternative Services.

The Ancient Eucharistic Prayer, as it is styled, bears a striking resemblance to Eucharistic Prayer II of the Catholic Mass of Pope Paul VI. Both are based upon mid-fourth century Anaphora of the Apostolic Tradition. The common origin, however, does not account for the similarity.

The communion of the people is separated from the consecration of the elements by the Fraction, the Lord’s Prayer and the Prayer of Humble Access. The Sancti sanctis or Ecce, Agnus Dei and the Agnus Dei may be added to this sequence of elements. The protracted interval between the consecration and the communion contrasts sharply with the much shorter interval in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and the 1985 Book of Alternative Services. Aging church members will have a few more minutes to doze and young people to play games on their cellphones or check their Instagram and Twitter accounts. First-time guests may be heading for the door.

The foregoing is just a few of the defects of the proposed BCP 2019. Based upon this sample, my knowledge of young people gained from attending classes with them at the local university, and a quarter of a century of pioneering new churches, I do not believe that the proposed book will be an asset on the twenty-first century North American mission field. In fact I believe that it will be serious liability. The book lacks the kind of simplicity, flexibility, and adaptability that are required on today’s mission field.

Indeed I am convinced that main purpose of the proposed BCP 2019 is not to provide the Anglican Church in North America with a liturgy but to establish, together with To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism, the doctrinal standard for the province just as the 1559 Book of Common Prayer and the 1571 Articles of Religion, what we know as the Thirty-Nine Articles, established the doctrinal standard for the reformed Church of England in the sixteenth century and formed the doctrinal core of the Elizabethan Settlement and historic Anglicanism. The proposed catechism and prayer book are the formularies of Bishop Duncan’s “new settlement.” This explains his eagerness to promote their acceptance.

Accepting To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism and The Book of Common Prayer 2019, however, means repudiating the Protestant Reformation, the Elizabethan Settlement, and historic Anglicanism and ultimately the Holy Scriptures and the gospel. ACNA’ers who are committed to Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism and who purchase and use the proposed catechism and prayer book will be compromising their faith. There is no two ways about it.

A far better use of the money that was spent in the preparation of these two formularies would have been to provide rent subsidizes to congregations struggling to find rental space for their worship gatherings and children’s ministries and one-time grants to congregations enabling them to purchase laptops, multimedia projectors, screens, and sound equipment. For people like myself who have done “church in a box” in which a congregation sets up and tears down the worship area and the children’s ministry area every time there is a meeting, prayer books and hymnals are just something else that takes up expensive storage space between meetings and which must be transported to the rented space, unloaded, and unpacked before meetings and repacked, reloaded, and transported back to the storage site after meetings. As long as church has a laptop, multimedia projector, and screen, prayer books and hymnals are something that a church can do without. For occasional services such as baptism and confirmations there is desktop printing.

After all, we are living in the digital age. The 1950s and the 1980s are not coming back. They are gone forever. We cannot capture them in a prayer book any more than we can capture an imagined golden age of Christianity. God put us in this place and this time. It is his will that we serve him in the here and now.

What outward-looking dioceses and church networks need to be doing is investing in an online liturgical resource library like the one I proposed in my last article, a library that will enable worship planners to customize a liturgy for the local church, a liturgy that is tailored to its particular circumstances and which meets its particular needs.

The kind of worship gatherings that a startup holds are quite different from those that an established parish church might hold. What works for one church in its community may not work for another church in its community. Communities are different. Neighborhoods are different.

When it comes to establishing the doctrinal standard for a province, the process should be out in the open and not behind closed doors. The different parties should be given ample opportunity to hammer out their differences in public. No group should be allowed to sneak such a standard under the radar as the College of Bishops is attempting to do.

All ACNA’ers have a stake in the Anglican Church in North America, not just the bishops, not just the Catholic portion of the province. The views of all the stakeholders should be considered in the establishment of such a standard.

If the parties cannot reach an agreement, then it may be time to restructure the province into two or more parallel provinces that occupy the same geographic territory and overlap each other like the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. Non-geographic networks based on theological affinity may be the future of the ACNA, not geographic dioceses in which one church party is entrenched and other church parties are marginalized.

Wednesday's Catch: Gospel Centrality and More


Church Is Gospel-Centered? Start with the Pulpit.

One of the best ways to “test” gospel-centrality in the life of a church plant is to look at the pulpit. A church may have “gospel-centered” peppered throughout their statement of beliefs and on their website, but one of clearest places to see whether gospel-centrality is a real value—or simply a buzzword—is when the pastor preaches God’s Word on Sunday. Read More

How to Recognize the Behaviors of a Traumatized Child

Are you are aware of the many crises children today experience? A trauma-informed church understands how a crisis affects a child. Experiencing a life crisis can lead to some children exhibiting particular characteristics of being “traumatized.” Read More

What Makes a Good Pastor?

Teaching ability is a must, of course, but woe to the church that lays hands on a man merely because he can preach. Read More

Worship Music Doesn’t Just Set the Table

Some believe the purpose of our worship service music is just to set the table. But the goal of our service music isn’t just to prepare our hearts for something else. It’s not the undercard before the main event. It isn’t the warm-up band before the headliner. So it doesn’t just set the table for the sermon. Read More

Websites that Impact the World

We build websites that remove the barrier your site is putting between your audience and your message. Learn More

The Difference between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and Why It Matters

Lutherans and Baptists are basically the same. Wrong, and both groups would likely agree on that point. Neither is it true that all Muslims are the same. Of the over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, around 85 percent of them are a sect called Sunni and 15 percent of them are a sect called Shia. Read More

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

A Proposal for a Resource Website for Localizing the Liturgy


One the major challenges that 21st century Anglican churches face in North America is the limitations of the official prayer book of the jurisdiction with which the congregation is affiliated. All prayer books have their limitations. Some prayer books have more limitations than others.

The limitations may be doctrinal. For example, the book may not conform to the principles of doctrine and worship embodied in the historic Anglican formularies—a widespread problem in North American Anglican jurisdictions.

The limitations may be liturgical. For example, the services may have long sections of unrelieved text during which, in the words of Bishop Charles Lewis Slattery, “the mind becomes numb and the worship of the heart ceases.” This is one of the limitations of the 1928 BCP and the proposed BCP 2019.

The limitations may be missional. Rather than being an asset on the mission field, the prayer book’s services prove to be a serious liability due to the language of the services, their length, and the lack of opportunities for meaningful congregational participation.

In the past Anglican pastors have risen to this challenge in one of two ways. They have made unauthorized additions to the prayer book’s services. They have made unauthorized omissions from the services. When pastors begin to ignore the rubrics and to make unauthorized changes in the services, it is a good indication that it is time to revise the prayer book.

Prayer book revision is a slow process. The new book may no more meet the needs of a congregation than the old one. Too often the final product of prayer book revision reflects the ideals and preferences of the liturgical commission entrusted with the revision of the prayer book and not the realities of the parish and the mission field. In the 21st century all Anglican churches are missionary outposts wherever they may be located. Christendom is a thing of the past.

North America is far more diverse than it was 50 odd years ago. Canada, Mexico, and the United States have changed dramatically. We have entered the digital age. A cookie cutter approach to worship gatherings does not work anymore.

In the 21st century Anglican service books like the Anglican Church in North America’s proposed service book, The Book of Common Prayer 2019, are an anachronism. They are designed for a time when the North American population was much more homogeneous, demographically, culturally, and linguistically. One prayer book can no longer realistically meet the needs of all congregations in an Anglican jurisdiction.

What is needed most in the 21st century are localized liturgies, liturgies that are planned locally and are local in character, liturgies which are targeted at a particular segment or segments of the local population and take into consideration local conditions.

Localized liturgies are not a new development. They were common in the first five centuries of Christianity and even later. The Roman Rite was originally the liturgy of the church at Rome.

The notion of a single liturgy for an entire kingdom is a sixteenth century development. Its purpose was to secure doctrinal uniformity within the domain of a specific ruler. In the various German principalities Lutheranism was the form of doctrine that the Protestant princes sought to establish throughout their dominions. In England, Scotland, and the Swiss city-states Reformed Protestantism was the form of doctrine that the religious and secular authorities sough to establish in those territories. In France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, Roman Catholicism was the form of doctrine that the Catholic monarchs and the Catholic Church sought to maintain.

A website that offers resources for worship planners wishing to craft a liturgy for a local church would a 21st century solution to the limitations that come with the adoption a single prayer book for an Anglican jurisdiction. The Church of England pioneered this concept with Common Worship (2000). A collection of liturgical books containing new services as well as alternatives to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The Church of England has a website that contains all the liturgical texts published in Common Worship. The website provides directions and guidelines for their use. It also offers several different patterns of worship with which these texts may be used. It enables worship planners to craft a liturgy that meets the needs of a particular congregation.

The Anglican Diocese of Sydney has also pioneered this concept but on a smaller scale. Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings (2012) was produced by the Archbishop of Sydney’s Liturgical Panel as development and expansion of Sunday Services (2001). The services contained in Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings are variations of the services of An Australian Prayer Book (1978) and A Prayer Book for Australia (1995). These variations are permitted by the canons of the Anglican Church of Australia.

The Diocese of Sydney also has a website bettergatherings.com which explains the theology of doing church, provides helps for planning church services and other gospel-gatherings, and contains additional resources for use with the services of Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings. Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings is published in hard-cover and e-book editions.

Restricting congregations to the use of a single prayer book exacerbates the limitations of that prayer book. The compilers of a prayer book cannot anticipate all the situations that congregations which will be using the book must deal with. This may prove a serious problem when the members of the liturgical commission drafting the book are drawn from the episcopate and academia and are removed from the challenges of parish ministry and missionary work. As in the case of the proposed BCP 2019, the compilers of the prayer book may favor larger congregations with traditionalist leanings, a fondness for pageantry and ritual, and negligible interest in the Great Commission over “the little outposts of Christianity” as one prayer for missions describes them. They may not be sensitive to the needs of these smaller congregations or the challenges that they face.

The type of website that I envision would overcome the limitations of a single prayer book. It would offer a greater degree of flexibility than a single prayer book offers. It would provide a much wider variety of worship patterns. It would offer suggestions for simplifying church services and other gospel-shaped gatherings. For example, the Opening Acclamation, the Collect for Purity, the Decalogue, the Summary of the Law, the Gloria in Excelsis (or other Song of Praise), the Kyries, and Trisagion are later editions to the Eucharistic liturgy in the West. The Scottish Liturgy 1982 permits the omission of these elements when worship planners wish to simplify the service. This feature makes the liturgy more adaptable for use in a variety of worship settings. The website would provide shorter, more participative Eucharistic prayers, including a simplified version of the 1552 Prayer of Consecration. It would offer suggestions for the placement of liturgical texts like the Lord’s Prayer and the Prayer of Humble Access, which historically have been used in a number of places in the Eucharistic liturgy. The Prayer Humble of Access is a sixteenth century addition to the Eucharistic liturgy and its omission is not inappropriate. The website would provide words for the Invitation to Communion that conform to the principles of doctrine and worship embodied in the historic Anglican formularies such these words from An Australian Prayer Book (1978).

Come, let us take this holy sacrament of the body and blood of Christ in remembrance that Christ died for us, and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.
The bulk of the liturgical material on the website would come from Anglican sources and would conform to the doctrinal and worship principles embodied in the historic Anglican formularies. Some pages would be devoted to liturgical material from other traditions, which is compatible with this material. These pages would include the Agreed Liturgical Texts proposed by The International Consultation on English Texts.

In addition to downloadable liturgical material the website would provide video tutorials on worship planning, articles for small congregations on how to make the best use of non-traditional worship settings, downloadable music files of hymns, worship songs, and service music, and other useful resources. It would also serve as a clearing house of information and resources at other websites on the Internet.

The website would offer an annual copy right license for a fee based upon the size of a congregation. This license would enable churches to download and use the material on the website. This license would be a liturgical equivalent of a Christian Copyright License International, LicenSing, and OneLicense.net music license. Some material would be downloadable and usable free of charge, depending on what arrangements are made with the copyright holders.

I believe that such a website would be far more effective way of mobilizing the liturgical resources of the global Church in the service of the Great Commission than another prayer book. Tailoring the liturgy to the locality, to the place and to the people, is the direction that the Anglican Church must take if it is to reach and engage the unreached and unengaged population segments of North America. Such a website would put into the hands of the local church the resources that it needs to accomplish this task.

Practical Preaching Advice for Pastors and Lay Preachers #51


The Purpose and Benefits of Lay Preaching

Becoming a lay preacher may be a way for those considering the ministry to smooth the transition from secular employment to the full-time ministry. Read More

Tips for Lay Preachers

Preaching is a daunting task, especially for those of us who fill the pulpit when the regular preaching pastor is away. My aim in this article is to help lay elders, youth leaders, pulpit suppliers, seminarians, and anyone else who preaches occasionally understand how to play your role effectively. Perhaps you’ve recently been asked to preach at another congregation or maybe you’ve begun to preach more frequently at your own church. Many lay preachers feel unprepared for the task—I know I have. What should you do? Where do you start? Here are few tips I have found helpful for lay preachers. Read More

10 Things the Inexperienced Preacher (or Lay Speaker) Needs to Learn Fast

Here is my list of ten things the beginning (or rusty or occasional) speaker seems not to know, but needs to learn quickly in order to be effective. Read More

Are You Training Lay Preachers? Why Not?

When we neglect to develop and maintain active lay ministry in the life of the local church, our churches miss out on at least these blessings. Read More

10 Ways to Extend the Reach of Every Sermon

Here’s are a few ideas, suggestions, and practical tips to help you see a greater work for the return that you’re already putting into your sermons. Read More

How to Extend the Life of Every Sermon [Podcast]

Here are 10 ways that you can extend the life of every sermon. This will help each sermon live longer and reach more people. Listen Now

6 Options When It Seems Like No One's Listening to Your Sermons

If you’ve ever preached or taught, you know what I’m talking about in this post. No matter how hard you prepared your sermon or lesson—and regardless of how good you think it is—your listeners just seem to be in another world. They’re clearly not paying attention, and you wish you could just shut down the sermon and go home. Here are some options when that happens.... Read More

11 Ways To Evaluate Your Own Preaching

The more important our work is, the more imperative it is we strive to improve. Here's how. Read More

How To Preach To Old(Er) People

"Mildred" loves the Lord, shows up early for service--and falls asleep nearly every week. What to do? Read More

What If I Preach A Bad Sermon?

“God’s mercies are new every morning, and that includes our preaching ministry.” Read More

Tuesday's Catch: Understanding Your Community and More


Five Ways to Know Your Community for Outreach

If your church wants to be effective at building bridges into your community, then you must have a good understanding of your local community. Where are you? Who lives around you? What are their backgrounds? What are their concerns? What is the DNA of the neighborhood in which God has called you to serve? Read More

Is the “New Perspective on Paul” a Product of Our Current Cultural Moment?

Is it true that NPP folks have somehow been able to do what reformed folks have not, namely throw off the shackles of cultural influence and see the real Paul? Are they able to rise above their cultural circumstances and engage only in objective exegesis (whatever that might be)? Read More

10 Things You Should Know about Lifting Your Hands in Worship

Worship involves our bodies as well as our hearts and minds. Our posture tells a story. It makes a statement to God and to others about the state of our souls and the affections and passions of our heart. Read More

The Power of Your Example in Evangelism

Pause and ponder this question: Would you want every member of your church to do personal evangelism with exactly the same passion, intentionality and effectiveness that you do? Be honest. Read More

Churches Outnumber Pubs in the UK

While the big denominations continue their downfall, certain Pentecostal movements, from black churches to Hillsong, see a surge in attendance. Read More

Friday, May 24, 2019

No Saturday and Monday Editions of Anglicans Ablaze


I will be posting no edition of Anglicans Ablaze on Saturday and Monday as I will not have access to the Internet on those two days. My laptop black-screened on me and I have been using a desktop computer at my university's library. During the summer session the library is open only on weekdays. It is closed on Monday due to Memorial Day, which is a public holiday. As soon as I have replaced the laptop, I will be back to publishing Anglicans Ablaze six days a week.

Church Planting Ideas That I Picked Up Along the Way—Part 3


By Robin G. Jordan

5. Tailor the worship of the congregation to the particular circumstances of the congregation.

This principle I originally picked up from Bishop Michael Marshall’s book, Renewal in Worship. Marshall, when visiting the London congregations under his episcopal oversight, noticed how these congregations tried to worship in a way that did not fit with the setting in which they were worshiping, for example, a mission hall, and which was far beyond their limited musical resources. His advice to congregations in similar circumstances is to adapt their worship to their circumstances. This included includes to stop using the worship of larger churches as the standard for their worship and to start using simpler, more accessible forms of music in their worship. Based upon my reading in the areas of church planting and church growth, I concluded that other factors beside the size of the congregation, the setting in which the congregation is worshiping, and what musical resources a congregation has merit consideration in applying this principle. They include the composition of the congregation, the demographics of the community in which the congregation is located, the cultures and subcultures of the community, the musical tastes and preferences of the community, and related factors.

A very important factor is the congregation’s ministry target group, the particular segment or segments of the community and surrounding area that the congregation is endeavoring to reach and engage. Keeping our ministry target group foremost in our mind in worship planning is one way of maintaining an outward-focus and of avoiding putting own preferences first. Our preferences should always take a backseat to reaching and engaging our ministry target group.

Sometimes our preferences and reaching and engaging our ministry target group may lineup. But they often do not. If we are serious about reaching and engaging our ministry target group, we will put our ministry target group first. When we put our preferences or a particular ecclesial praxis first, we are likely to create barriers between our church and the people whom we are trying to reach and engage.

A number of startups with which I am acquainted did not learn this lesson. As a consequence they did not flourish and eventually failed.

In the case of St. Michael’s, the Episcopal church with which I was involved for fifteen years—from its earliest planning stage to its launch to its attainment of self-supporting parish status and for more than a year after a devastating church split, its ministry target group was primarily the new families who were moving to the North Shore and who, if they had been previously churched, had not found a new church home. Western St. Tammany was experiencing a building boom and a population explosion in the 1980s and 1990s.

The number of new families with an Episcopal background was very small in comparison to the number of new families with a non-Episcopal or no church background. A number of these families were also mixed marriages in which one of the spouses was a Protestant and the other spouse, Catholic. We chose to cast our nets for the more abundant fish which we discovered were much easier to catch. The new families moving to the North Shore were less concerned with denominational labels than they were with whether a particular church would be a good fit for them. We also discovered that the new families with a non-Episcopal or no church background made better church pioneers.

The new families with Episcopal backgrounds generally came with a lot of baggage. They had pre-conceived notions of how church should be done. They typically wanted to recreate the worship of a previous church that they had attended. They had picked up a lot of bad practices from their previous churches.

Bad practices, like bad habits, are easily acquired but they prove even more difficult to eliminate. They become enshrined in custom. For example, one woman wanted to introduce the practice of lighting all of the candles on the Advent wreath throughout the Advent season. It had been the custom of her previous church.

Bad practices usually begin as the bright idea of someone who is not knowledgeable about liturgical practices but who wields enough influence in the church to have her own way. The individual in question may badger the pastor until he caves in.

In some cases the bright idea is the pastor’s. Pastors may exhibit poor liturgical judgement as much as anyone else. We might think that they would know better but often they do not. They are also not spared from the temptation of putting their preferences first.

My former rector and one of his seminary professors did not meet eye to eye. Due to the way that the service of Holy Communion is structured in Rite II of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the practice of singing a doxology at the offertory is generally discouraged. It overshadows the Sanctus in the Eucharistic Prayer which immediately follows the offertory. It also gives undue emphasis to the offertory which is an ancillary rite and not a major part of the service. Like the entrance rite and the concluding rite of the Holy Communion service, the offertory is prone to accumulate unnecessary clutter—offertory prayers, presentation sentences, doxologies, and the like. More recent Anglican services no longer use the term “offertory” to describe this part of the service. They may title it “the preparation of the Table” or “the presentation of the gifts” or give it no title at all. When my former rector planned his first chapel service in seminary, he included Thomas Ken’s Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” at the presentation of the gifts, modeling the service after the services of the church which he had attended before entering seminary. In his critique of the service the professor pointed to his attention the inappropriateness of the use of a doxology at that point in the service in front of the other seminarians. This did not sit well with my former rector who swore to himself that when he had a church of his own, the congregation would sing Thomas Ken’s Doxology at the presentation of the gifts. As long as I knew him, he adamantly insisted that Thomas Ken’s Doxology was a part of the liturgy.

I personally find far more profound the practice of presenting and placing the gifts of bread and wine on the Table in silence. This is the most ancient practice. We do not need to fill up every empty space in the liturgy with music. Silence is often more appropriate. In the case of the presentation of the gifts, silence enables the congregation to focus their attention upon the liturgical action

The late Lionel Dakers, the long-time director of the Royal School of Church Music, in Choosing and Using Hymns notes that the singing of Thomas Ken’s Doxology is a peculiarly American custom. It was not known in the Church of England in 1985. I have not been able to determine the origin of the practice.

Despite the archaic language and grammar Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s essay, “Of Ceremonies, Why Some Be Abolished, and Some Retained,” is a good description of how churches fall into bad practices and why congregations cling to them. The meaning and use of the liturgical practices that we adopt should be understandable to the congregation. They should also not create barriers for the ministry target group that we are trying to reach and engage. We should not adopt them on the basis that “this is the way we have always done things in the Anglican Church.” Really?!

One way of forestalling the introduction of bad practices into a new congregation’s worship services is to conduct a series of mini-classes on liturgical practices. These classes should include an explanation of how churches fall into bad practices and why congregations cling to them. They should deal with the mistaken belief that the continuance of a bad practice is justifiable on the basis that the practice has become customary. These classes should emphasize that in worshiping God we should not settle for mediocre or second-rate. What is worth doing is worth doing well. Even a small congregation meeting in one of its members’ living room can maintain a high standard of worship. It can offer God its best. This does not entail purchasing expensive communion ware and vestments or imitating the worship of a large church. What it does involve is putting our best effort into whatever we do. We pray with expectancy. We sing with enthusiasm. We read the Scriptures with clarity and feeling. We preach with boldness. We pour our hearts into everything that we do.

As I have written elsewhere, it is better to do a few things well than a lot of things poorly. Michael Forster tells the story of his father who was the choirmaster of a small village church. Rather than attempting anthems that were beyond the ability of his small choir, he would pick a new or unfamiliar hymn and teach the hymn to the choir. He then would work with the choir on singing the hymn well, not in parts but in unison. Once the choir had mastered the hymn, he would have the choir sing the hymn in a worship service as an anthem. He worked within the limitations of his small choir, enabling the choir to put its best effort into what it was asked to sing and in doing so to glorify God.

The effort we put into our worship music does not go unnoticed. In interviewing unchurched people who had begun to attend a church, Thom Rainer found that one of the main reasons that these people had started to attend a particular church was that the church put its best effort into its worship music. This conveyed to these people that the church took the worship of God seriously.

For the better part of ten years I was involved in a collaboration with St. Michael’s first music director. While my former rector hired her, I had recruited her while I was chairman of the mission’s worship committee. (When he came aboard, one of the first things he did was to disband the worship committee.) She had agreed to take the position if I helped her in planning the music of St. Michael’s worship services because she was not knowledgeable about the use of music in the liturgy and had no experience in planning music for the liturgy. St. Michael’s would benefit from our collaboration—from the combination of her musical judgement and musical skills with my liturgical judgment and my familiarity with the vast mountain of new music that was being publish at that time. I functioned as a surrogate for my former rector who had abdicated what is normally the role of the pastor in an Episcopal church and with the exception of insisting upon the use of Thomas Ken’s Doxology at the presentation of the gifts had left the selection of the music of the worship services entirely to the discretion of the music director. During our collaboration I was able to put into practice the principles that I had gleaned from the literature on worship renewal, church planting, church growth, and evangelistic outreach.

We used the Ecumenical Hymn List to identify what hymns our hymnal, its hymnal supplements, and the yet-unpublished new hymnal shared with other denominational hymnals and what hymn tunes were widely used in these hymnals. We used this information in selecting hymns and hymn tunes for worship services with a view to including in these services a number of hymns and hymn tunes that might be familiar to guests visiting St. Michael’s for the first time. We wanted them to immediately feel at home. Unfamiliar hymns and hymn tunes can be very off-putting for first time worship visitors.

We sized up the musical tastes and preference of the new families moving into the community and the surrounding area. We took their tastes and preferences into consideration in our selection of the music of our worship services. We used a larger number of the newer worship songs as well as the older hymns. We selected hymns and worship songs that were within the limitations of the congregation. We selected special music that was within the limitations of our small choir. We often used hymns and worship songs from other traditions as simple anthems. We worked these hymns and worship songs gradually into the congregation’s repertoire. We made a point of selecting hymns and worship songs with refrains and repetitions that enabled young children to participate in the congregational sing.

We placed a high value upon congregational singing. We were intentional in introducing new hymns and worship songs to the congregation and gave the congregation ample opportunity to master them. We often used the choir to introduce a new hymn or worship song as a simple anthem. We conducted pre-service congregational rehearsals and weeknight hymn sings.

We used a medley of worship songs at the beginning of worship services to draw the congregation together as a worshiping assembly and to focus the congregation’s attention upon God. We also used periods of silence, announced by the ringing of a hand bell. Except during Lent, we sung a simple alleluia before the reading of the gospel. We used the simpler service music settings, those which were easy to learn and easy to sing and which wore well. They did not grow stale with frequent repetition. On the few occasions that Morning Prayer was the principal worship service, we used metirical versions of the Venite and the Jubilate and the canticles.

All of these choices were applications of the principle of tailoring the worship of a congregation to the particular circumstances of the congregation.

Enthusiastic congregational singing and an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary music characterized St. Michael’s worship services and was high on the list of reasons that newcomers gave for attending St. Michael’s. It was above the pastor’s sermons and beneath a warm, friendly, welcoming congregation. Relaxed but reverent worship was also on that list with an informal atmosphere and simple, uncomplicated services.

The application of the twin principles of simplicity and less is more enabled the congregation and the choir to put its best effort into what it was doing. A few things done well would more than compensate for our non-traditional worship setting and our lack of ambiance. In the kinds of settings in which new congregations worship, the ambiance that characterizes the typical Episcopal church is impossible to create and any attempts to create it look decidedly out of place. It is like putting lipstick on a pig. The lipstick does not improve the appearance of the pig. It makes a very nice looking pig look ridiculous. The pig looks a whole lot better without it.

Simplicity does not frighten off people who are unused to the elaborate ceremonial and formalism that is found in a number of Anglican and Episcopal churches. It does not look out of place in a former factory, a school commons area, or a storefront.

Along with simplicity and less is more, brevity is a third important principle for tailoring a congregation’s worship to its circumstances. When a congregation is small as is often the case in startups, tediously long services are best avoided. Adding more to a service does not enrich it or make it more worshipful. It just makes the service more wearisome. Tiring and boring guests does not encourage them to return for a second visit. Rather it is likely to cause them to warn their friends, colleagues, neighbors, and relatives against visiting the startup.

All the embellishments and enrichments beloved by liturgical commissions, liturgiologists, and other ritualists are also best-avoided. They not only lengthen worship services but they look out of place, even ludicrous, in the non-traditional settings in which startups usually worship. They do not make our services more appealing to guests contrary to what we may read in articles and books and hear at conferences. Guests often have quite different reactions to these practices than we do. In a startup it is important to be mindful of how the way we worship can create barriers between the new church and the people that it is trying to reach and engage. What turns us on may turn them off.

What we do in our worship should be harmonious with the setting in which we are worshiping. Restrained gesture and simple ceremonial works well in a wide variety of settings, including conventional settings such as cathedrals, seminary chapels, and parish churches.

When we tailor our worship to our circumstances, we transform our worship and make it more impactful. We take a step toward become a high impact church that really makes a difference in our community.

Friday's Catch: First Time Guest No-Nos and More


10 Things Not to Do to First-Time Guests

We all know about making “to do” lists; less frequently pursued are “stop doing” lists. But sometimes, that’s the more important list to make—particularly when it comes to what the church should stop doing to first-time guests. So in that spirit, here are 10 things every church of any size should stop doing—and not only should, but can.... Read More

What’s Wrong With The Church Today? Nothing That Hasn’t Been Wrong Every Other Day

God has always used imperfect people and imperfect churches, because that’s all there is to work with. Read More

Do You Desire to Pastor

Do you feel called? If you’re serving as a pastor, do you want to be in your role? I don’t mean do you want to be in the exact church you’re in, but do you want to pastor? Do you desire to serve God’s people as a shepherd? Read More

Did the Church Decide Which Books Made It into the Bible? [Video]

The church did not create the canon but rather reacted to what was already there. You might say it was like a thermometer that reliably responded to God’s Word. In this brief clip, Michael Kruger uses a helpful analogy from everyday life to demonstrate the Protestant view of the canon. Watch Now

Five Ways to Lead Your Groups to Become Outwardly Focused [Podcast]

Groups are one of the most important factors in getting people to stick with a church. The community that is built in groups helps your church members become more well-rounded disciples. In this podcast Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe discuss five ways to make your groups more outwardly focused. Listen Now

Thursday, May 23, 2019

A Renewed Call for a Convocation of Confessional Anglicans in the ACNA



By Robin G. Jordan

The Anglican Church in North America does not really welcome Anglican Christians who identify themselves as Protestant and who espouse Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism. The ACNA does not offer them an environment in which they can flourish and pass on their faith to the younger generations. The question is, “What can be done about it?”

One option is to establish a distinct jurisdiction for these Anglican Christians within the Anglican Church in North America. The drawback is that any organization affiliated with the ACNA is subject to its governance documents. The organization must accept the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the ACNA. One possible way around this obstacle is to organize a distinct jurisdiction within the province but not seek official recognition from the province. If the jurisdiction is large enough, it may be able to negotiate a special protocol with the province exempting it from a number of the requirements for recognition.

A second option is to establish a distinct jurisdiction for these Anglican Christians outside of the Anglican Church in North America—a second alternative province in North America. The second province might cooperate with the ACNA in areas of common interest but the two provinces would be independent of each other. The second province would have its own governance documents, fundamental declarations, synods, judicatories, bishops, catechism, and service books. As I have previously pointed to the attention of Anglican Ablaze readers, disaffected Lutherans have formed several Lutheran ecclesial bodies. These bodies reflect different emphases in Lutheranism. I have also posted links to articles documenting the trend away from denominations to smaller networks of churches and away from hierarchical organizations to flatter ones. The digital age has had a strong impact on the way ecclesial bodies are organized in the twenty-first century. The ACNA in the way it is structured is something of an anachronism.

A third option is to establish a distinct jurisdiction within the Anglican Church in North America and one outside the ACNA. The two ecclesial bodies would maintain close relations. Clergy and congregations involved in the church network within the ACNA would be able to migrate to the network outside the ACNA. The existence of a second province might serve as a check on the ambitions of certain ACNA leaders since unwise decisions on their part might prompt an exodus to the second province. The Anglican Church of Canada, the Continuing Anglican Jurisdictions, and the Episcopal Church represent no serious threat to the ACNA. All of these ecclesial bodies are in various stages of decline. On the other hand, a thriving second province would be another story entirely. It might encourage the ACNA to undertake much needed reforms to retain disaffected clergy and congregations.

Would the formation a second province weaken the Anglican Church in North America? If the ACNA is set on a course that leads the province away from Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism, whether a second province would weaken the ACNA is of no importance. What is important is the strengthening of Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism in the North American Anglican Church. At the provincial level the ACNA is doing nothing toward that end. Rather it has been putting into effect a series of steps that erode the doctrinal foundation of historic Anglicanism—the Holy Scriptures and the historic Anglican formularies. These steps have also weakened Biblical Christianity in the North American Anglican Church. The weakening of the ACNA should be the least of our concerns. Considering the direction that the province is moving a strong ACNA is not in the best interest of Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism.

As the seventeenth century Anglican poet-priest George Herbert recorded in Outlandish Proverbs (1640) “He that makes his bed ill, lies there.” This is an early version of a proverb that I frequently heard as a boy, “As you make your bed, so you must lie upon it.” For the past 10 years ACNA leaders have had every opportunity to develop and implement a generous policy of recognizing divergent opinions in the province. Instead they chosen to adopt a policy of favoring the views of one party in the province whose members are Anglo-Catholic-philo-Orthodox in their theological outlook or open to Catholic doctrine, ecclesiology, and practice. If this policy should prove to have negative consequences, it is their own fault. They must live with these consequences.

One thing that I learned as a social worker is that we do not help someone when we rescue him from the consequences of his poor judgment. He will not learn from his mistakes and keep repeating them. In order to make genuine and lasting changes in his life, he may have to suffer the consequences of his poor judgment to the fullest.

It is quite obvious that the ACNA leaders who are influencing the present direction of the province consider of little importance Anglican Christians who identify themselves as Protestants and espouse Biblical Christianity and historical Anglicanism. They receive little consideration in the plans which these leaders have made for the province. This oversight may eventually work against the success of these plans. Whether or not it does, the same Anglican Christians have no reason to be loyal to leaders who discount their importance, or to an organization that they lead. These leaders show no loyalty to them. These leaders should not be surprised if they make plans of their own. Loyalty is a reciprocal relationship. A leader who does not show loyalty to those whom he is leading does not merit their loyalty.

This is an issue with which disaffected Episcopalians wrestled in the days leading up to the formation of the Anglican Church in North America. They concluded that they had no obligation to be loyal to the Episcopal Church when its leaders were marginalizing them. The same thing is happening in the ACNA. It may not have reached as dramatic a stage as it would in the Episcopal Church but it is still the same thing. Those who were marginalized in the Episcopal Church, having formed their own province, are now marginalizing a portion of that province. They appear to have learned nothing from their experience in the Episcopal Church other than how to marginalize their fellow ACNA’ers. I do not believe that they have any insight into what they are doing. They are preoccupied with pursuing their vision of the ACNA.

At this stage Anglican Christians who identify themselves as Protestants and who espouse Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism need to be taking care of themselves and not the Anglican Church in North America. They need to be forming their own networks of churches and taking other appropriate steps to preserve their doctrinal and worship heritage and to fulfill the Great Commission.

When an ecclesiastical organization does not want a particular group of Christians, it makes no sense for the group to remain a part of that organization, hoping to win the approval of the organization, only to have the organization exploit the group for money and to pad its stats. The group is like a woman who stays in an abusive relationship, hoping that her boyfriend or husband will change. She may bend over backwards to please the abusive boyfriend or husband, only to have him remain the way that he is and abuse her over and over again. She is taking care of the boyfriend or husband and not herself. The healthy decision is to take care of herself and break off the relationship with the abusive boyfriend or husband.

For Anglican Christians who identify themselves as Protestants and who espouse Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism, the healthy decision in the long run will be to take care of themselves, form a distinct jurisdiction outside the Anglican Church in North America, and to make a gracious exit from that ecclesial body. In any event it is in their best interest at the present time to form a distinct jurisdiction within the ACNA—a convocation of confessional Anglicans.

What is a confessional Anglican? A confessional Anglican recognizes the Holy Scriptures as the final authority in matters of faith and practice. A confessional Anglican subscribes to the principles of doctrine and worship set forth in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles. As Dr. Mark Thomas, the principal of Moore College, Sydney, Australia, and former president of the Anglican Church League, points to our attention, the Thirty-Nine Articles form “the doctrinal core of the Anglican expression of corporate Christianity.” He writes:
Put alongside the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal, and with due acknowledgement that the Articles themselves commend the two books of homilies, what we have here is the bedrock of authentic Anglicanism
By forming such a convocation Anglican Christians who identify themselves as Protestants and who espouse Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism will be taking a major step to advance the cause of Biblical Christianity and historic Anglicanism in North America. While they may face hardship and criticism, I do not believe that they will regret taking this step.

Thursday's Catch: Verbal Witness and Proclamation of the Gospel and More


When You Proclaim the Gospel, Use Words

Those who have been changed and shaped by the gospel cannot help but speak and share the gospel. Read More

The Plague of Lazy Pastors

Christ calls pastors to labor in their feeding of the flock through sound teaching. And diligent word-work — both in preparation and presentation — is not easy work, not when it is done well. Read More

10 Suggestions for Making a Friend as a Pastor

In 2015, Chuck Lawless wrote an article called “Five Reason Some Pastors Are Loners – and Why That’s Not Good.” For the past seven years I’ve had the privilege of seeking to strengthen the ministry of pastors, and I count myself among their number. I believe loneliness and friendlessness are a threat to our wellness and to finishing well. So, I’d like to offer ten suggestions for making friends as a pastor....Read More

Five Options to Consider if You Are Fed Up with Your Church [Podcast]

“What should I do when I’m ready to quit?” That question is faced every week by countless pastors across the country. In this podcast Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe we cover how best to respond to it. Listen Now

5 Reasons People Aren't Showing Up for Your Small Group

It can be very disheartening to prepare for your small group and then have no one show up. It’s sometimes worse if only one person comes! Here are a few factors to think about if no one signs up or shows up for the group.... Read More
Sometimes a small group just does not jell. We ask a six week commitment from new participants. During this time they can decide whether a particular small group is for them. I have participated in a number of small groups as well as co-led a number of them. The couple whose group that I left after the initially six weeks, the only group in which have participated for that shorter time, were too structured in the way they conducted the group meetings. Everyone had to take off their shoes. Everyone had to sit at the dining table and eat a meal before the meeting. And so on. The groups in which I have participated the longest have been more relaxed. On the other hand, some participants like that kind of structure. You may have to encourage people to try several groups before they find one which is a good match for them. For this reason it is a good idea to offer a wide variety of groups in a wide variety of settings.
5 Tips for Short Mission Presentations

In this changing world, how can a traditional missionary maximize that 3–5 minute segment he or she may get at a local church? Here’s my advice.... Read More

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Renewing Our Reformation Heritage: The 1552 Prayer of Consecration


Among the treasures of the Anglican Church’s Reformation heritage is the 1552 Prayer of Consecration. The older I get, the greater my appreciation of that prayer grows.

The 1552 Prayer of Consecration is biblical. As we shall see, the 1552 Prayer of Consecration is thoroughly Scriptural. It embodies a number of key themes from the Old and New Testaments.

The 1552 Prayer of Consecration is reformed. It does not focus undue attention on the priest and draw attention away from Christ. Our Lord is clearly the host at the supper. The priest is a humble steward whose duty is to serve the meal on the behalf of his Master.

The 1552 Prayer of Consecration is concise. It makes clear that the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice above all else. Recalling what Christ did for us on the cross invigorates and strengthens our faith. It is by faith that we appropriate the benefits of Christ’s suffering and death and feed upon him in our hearts with thanksgiving.

The 1552 Prayer of Consecration is short. It focuses on what matters most. It does not drag on interminably like the Prayer of Consecration of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer or the so-called “Standard Anglican Eucharistic Prayer” of the proposed BCP 2019. It moves quickly to the communion of the people which is the high point of the 1552 Communion Service. Nothing comes between the consecration of the bread and wine and the communion of the people except for an “Amen” in the 1662 revision of the prayer, the only change that the Restoration bishops made in the prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer follows the communion of the people. “In it,” in the words of Evan Daniels, “we glorify God for the great privilege to which we have just been admitted, and pray for a continuance of that spiritual food which we daily need.” It is a reminder that the spiritual feeding to which the Lord’s Supper points is a daily occurrence. That feeding is not confined to one brief moment in time.

The Prayer of Humble Access follows the Sanctus and serves as a fitting response to the angelic cry, “Holy! Holy! Holy!” in which we acknowledge our unworthiness as did the prophet Isaiah. “Woe to me. I am a man of unclean lips.” Having acknowledged our unworthiness, we pray “for all that is necessary to a worthy reception of the Sacrament.”

To Anglicans who are accustomed to the Eucharistic Prayers of the 1928 Prayer Book, the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book, the 1979 Prayer Book, and the 1985 Book of Alternative Services, the sparseness and the structure of the 1552 Prayer of Consecration may initially feel strange. But repeated use of one of the simpler forms of the prayer such as the Prayer of Consecration of the Service of Lord’s Supper Form 1 of Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings (2012) will foster an appreciation of the prayer.* As with anything new we become comfortable with it over time.

An initial step is to disabuse ourselves of any prejudices against the 1552 Prayer of Consecration which we may have picked up from the liturgiologists of the last two centuries. These liturgiologists created their own standard of what is the ideal Eucharistic Prayer based upon the 1549 Canon and ancient, Eastern, and Oriental anaphoras. Their particular area of study and their subsequent conclusions reflects a pre-existing bias. Very few of these liturgiologists bothered to study Reformed liturgies.

The compilers of the Reformed liturgies were not concerned with the recreation of early liturgies but with the development of a liturgy that embodied the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and conformed to their teaching. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was one of them. Their guiding principle was not the rule of antiquity but the rule of Scripture.

While the compilers of the Reformed liturgies may have used prayers from earlier liturgies, they used these prayers because the prayers embodied the teaching of the Holy Scriptures or after they had revised the prayers according to the Holy Scriptures’ teaching. Archbishop Cranmer articulated the principle of retaining the old where the old might be well-used. By “well-used” Cranmer meant revised in accordance with the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and used in a manner that conformed to the Holy Scriptures’ teaching.

Liturgical commissions like the ACNA’s Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force have tended to ignore this principle in recent years. As a consequence the rites and services that they produce use unscriptural versions of older forms in a manner that pays little attention to Scripture.

Among the objections to the 1552 Prayer of Consecration of which we may need to disabuse ourselves is the notion that the 1552 Prayer of Consecration embodies the late medieval view that the moment of consecration is when the priest rehearses the Words of Institution. Historically Anglicans have regarded the whole prayer, even the entire service, as setting the bread and wine apart for sacramental use. This misunderstanding arises from the use of the Words of Institution to consecrate more wine or more bread. It must be noted that the Words of Institution are a prominent feature of Lutheran and Reformed liturgies. In a number of Lutheran liturgies the Words of Institution are used in place of a Eucharistic Prayer. The compilers of these liturgies followed what they believed was the scriptural model. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he did not recite a lengthy anaphora over the bread and wine. He said a simple table grace. What he left us was not the words of this grace but the Words of Institution. The rehearsal of a lengthy anaphora over the elements is a later development. In giving thanks over the bread and wine, some bishop ignored our Lord’s warning about using too many words in our prayers and set an unfortunate precedent.

Among these objections is the notion that the Prayer of Humble Access should immediately precede the communion of the people. The position of the Prayer of Humble Access in the 1548 Order of Communion and the 1549 Communion Service are often cited as the basis for this notion. The Prayer of Humble Access was used in this position in the 1548 Order of Communion for barely a year and in the 1549 Communion Service for barely three years. The Prayer of Humble Access was Cranmer’s own composition. Having tried it in this position, Cranmer moved it to a position between the Sanctus and the commemoration of our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross in the 1552 Prayer of Consecration. It occupied that position in the American Prayer Book until 1928 and in the Canadian Prayer Book until 1962. It occupies that position in the Australian and English Prayer Books to this day. The 1662 Prayer Book is still the official Prayer Book of the Anglican Church of Australia and the Church of England.

One of the reasons that Cranmer moved the Prayer of Humble Access to its 1552 position was that in its 1548 and 1549 position it reinforced the idea that Christ was substantively present in the consecrated elements. This is the real reason why it is placed before the communion of the people in more recent liturgies. It has nothing to do with its short use before the communion of the people in the 1548 Order of Common and the 1549 Communion Service.

If the Prayer of Humble Access has a traditional position, it is between the Sanctus and the commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Placing it before the communion of the people or before the Prayer of Consecration are relatively recent developments.

A third objection to the 1552 Prayer of Consecration is the notion that the Prayer of Oblation rightfully belongs after the Words of Institution because, well, that is where it is in the 1549 Canon. It is an argument that has little substance as does the argument that in the 1552 Communion Service Cranmer placed the communion of the people in the middle of the Eucharistic Prayer. What these two arguments do is set up their own standard for a Eucharistic Prayer and a Service of Holy Communion, measure the 1552 Prayer of Consecration and the 1552 Communion Service against this standard, and then find both wanting. Cranmer might have crafted new prayers when he compiled the 1552 Communion Service. However, consistent with the principle of retaining the old where the old may be well-used, he used texts from the 1549 Communion Service but arranged them in a different order and put them to a different use. He knew what he was doing when he used a text from the 1549 Canon as a Post-Communion Thanksgiving. He eliminated from the Prayer of Consecration anything which suggested that the priest was offering a sacrifice. The focus of the 1552 Prayer of Consecration would be Christ’s sacrifice and Christ’s sacrifice alone.

A fourth objection to the 1552 Prayer of Consecration is its failure to mention the resurrection, the ascension, and the return of Christ. Cranmer focused on what he understood was the most important event in salvation history—Christ’s suffering and death on the cross for the sins of the whole world. It is the central event of Jesus’ life and ministry as recorded in the Gospels. The importance of Jesus’ oblation once offered is emphasized in the Letter to the Hebrews. In his First Letter to the Corinthians Paul tells us that when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim Christ’s death until he comes again. None of what the New Testament says about Christ’s sacrifice was lost on the archbishop. Cranmer was a Reformed theologian. Reformed theology recognizes the importance of the atonement, If Christ’s suffering and death did not stand between a sinful, rebellious humanity and the righteous wrath of a holy God, none of us would be saved.

As we work through these objections, we come to recognize how weak they are. The 1552 Prayer of Consecration is not a cause for embarrassment. It admirably serves the purposes for which it was compiled—to set apart the bread and wine for sacramental use while focusing our attention upon what Christ has done for us, how he atoned for our sins with his own blood.

Our next step is to help the congregation to understand the biblical theology of the 1552 Prayer of Consecration and to become accustomed to the use of the prayer. Before we introduce the prayer, we might offer a succinct explanation of its different parts and how they fit together. We might want to touch on the history of the prayer. Once we have introduced the prayer, we may want to preach on the key biblical themes associated with the prayer—Isaiah’s vision of God and the cry of the seraphim around the throne, Isaiah’s response to the vision, the Syrophoenician woman’s conversation with Jesus, Jesus’ “I am the vine” discourse, the Paul’s explication of Jesus’ suffering and death in his letters, Jesus as the Great High Priest of Hebrews, Paul’s account of the Lord’s Supper in First Corinthians, and the Synoptic Gospels’ account of Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper. A series of sermons on these themes would show the congregation that the 1552 Prayer of Consecration echoes all these themes.

We may want to point to the congregation’s attention that the 1552 Prayer of Consecration’s simple petition that “we may receive the inward grace with the outward sign of the Sacrament” is far more biblical than the invocation of the Holy Spirit in a number of Eucharistic Prayers. In the Bible we find no instances of the invocation of the Holy Spirit in which inanimate objects such as bread and wine or water are involved. We do, however, find a number of instances of the invocation of the Holy Spirit in which people are involved. On this basis Cranmer concluded that the practice of invoking the Holy Spirit in the consecration of the elements was not biblical.

The Anglican Network in Canada took a step in the right direction with its contemporary language version of the 1552 Prayer of Consecration. The Archbishop of Sydney’s Liturgical Panel took a further step in that direction with the Prayer of Consecration of the Service of the Lord’s Supper Form 1 in Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings (2012). An Australian Prayer Book (1978), A Prayer Book for Australia (1995), and Common Worship (2000) contain contemporary language versions of the 1662 revision of the 1552 Prayer of Consecration. The Anglican Mission in America and the Prayer Book Society of the USA’s An Anglican Prayer Book (2008) also contains a contemporary language version of that prayer. Anglicans wishing not just to preserve the Anglican Church’s Reformation heritage but to celebrate it in their worship have no lack of prayers from which they may choose.
*Also see Order Two in Contemporary Language in Common Worship (2000). It uses a contemporary language version of the 1662 revision of the 1552 Prayer of Consecration.