The ANiC's 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English: A Liturgy in the Reformed Anglican Tradition—Part 1

By Robin G. Jordan

Doctrinally the Anglican Network in Canada’s 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English takes a huge step in the right direction. Two versions, one with Canadian spelling and the other with US spelling, are available on the Liturgies page of the ANiC's web page.  The ANiC's House of Bishops approved the service for trial use for two years from 2016 to 2018.

Of the forms of Holy Communion produced for use in the Anglican Church in North America to date, it is the only form that genuinely stands in continuity with the liturgy of the reformed Church of England and which expresses its doctrine and respects its liturgical practices. At the same time The ANiC’s 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English does need some polishing and fine-tuning. It would benefit from a number of additions, alterations, and omissions.

In this article series I take a look at how the 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English might be improved. These recommendations and suggestions are not only for the working group that drafted the 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English but also for ACNA clergy and congregation’s interested in using the form. In the article series I systematically work my way through the 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English section by section, making recommendations and suggestions for the form’s improvement and providing a rationale for each recommendation and suggestion.

In more recent Anglican service book the first section of a Communion service is titled “Gathering in God’s Name,” a title which reflects its function. This section is the focus of today’s article.

1. Add introductory notes explaining that the directions for the postures given in the rubrics of the service are suggestions only; that hymns and songs may be sung at other places in the service than those indicated; that metrical versions of the canticles and psalms may be used in place of the prose versions; that texts which are said may be sung and vice versa; that the words in bold print are said by the congregation; and the words in brackets may be omitted.

Rationale: In some worship settings it may be impossible to kneel to say the General Confession or to receive communion. When my former parish was a startup, we gathered for worship on Sundays in rented space. This space did not permit kneeling. We sat with bowed heads when we said the General Confession and stood to receive communion. Standing to receive communion is a far older practice than the Medieval custom of kneeling to receive communion. The minister and an assistant stood in front of the Table. The minister gave the bread to the communicants; the assistant, the cup.

In some congregations it is customary to stand for the reading of the gospel. In the Edwardian Church and the Elizabethan Church the congregation stood for the reading of the epistle and the gospel and the preaching of the sermon or the reading of a homily. The people gathered around the pulpit from which the epistle and the gospel were read and the sermon preached or the homily read. Edwardian and Elizabethan churches had no pews or other seating. Members of the congregation who were unable to stand brought a stool with them to church. Sitting for the reading of the epistle and the gospel and the preaching of the sermon is a later custom. It dates from the eighteenth century when pews first appeared in English and colonial churches.

In the Elizabethan Church some congregations knelt to receive communion. Others stood. A number of congregations sat around the Table in what they believed was an imitation of the Last Supper. Jesus and the disciples, however, reclined at table. This was the custom of the day. Kneeling to receive communion was not vigorously enforced until the so-called Laudian reforms of the reign of Charles I. These reforms were not well-received in the Puritan parishes of the Church of England. They were one of the contributing factors to the outbreak of the first English Civil War.

While Archbishop Cranmer and the Restoration bishops favored kneeling to receive communion, none of the other postures are inappropriate. The important thing is to do what from a practical viewpoint works best for a congregation in its particular circumstances. Kneeling to receive communion is not what makes us Anglican Christians.

2. Omit the seasonal greetings.

Rationale: The seasonal greetings do not fit with the reformed character of the 1552 Communion service. One of the notable characteristics of the 1552 Communion service is its leanness. Archbishop Cranmer sought to restore the liturgy to its scriptural and primitive simplicity. He cut away the superfluous “responds, verses and vain repetitions.” (See “Concerning the Services of the Church.”) He sought to produce a liturgy that was simple and plain, Scriptural and easy-to-understand.

The seasonal greetings have their origin in the Eastern liturgies and the recent revisions of the Roman Rite. They were first introduced in a North American prayer book in the Eucharist of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer—one for use on all Sundays, feast days, and ferial days except in Easter and penitential seasons, one for use during Easter, and one for use during penitential seasons. Their use is optional in Rite I and mandatory in Rite II.

The seasonal greetings do not enrich the 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English. They make the service more complicated and less understandable. They are not first-time guest-friendly. People who are unused to liturgical forms of worship have difficulty in negotiating them and do not see the point of them.

If something is needed to mark the season or the occasion, an optional sentence of Scripture is the best choice. A sentence of Scripture can also serve as a call to worship. For example, “our help is in the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” or “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Ministers should have the option of saying this optional sentence of Scripture before or after the first hymn or song of the service. The text of the sentence of Scripture should make sense in the position in which it is used. For example, a minister might say, “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the world keep silence” before a period of silence at the beginning of the service but not before a hymn or song. What we say or sing in the liturgy should always make sense where we say or sing it.

If a liturgical greeting is desired, a small number of these greetings like those in The Alternative Service Book 1980 are the best choice.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

or

The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.

or Easter Day to Pentecost

Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

A different liturgical greeting is not needed for each season of the Church Year. Three suffice. They fit with the leanness of the 1552 Communion service.

3. Omit the rubric permitting the reading of the optional Exhortation before the Collect for Purity.

Rationale: The beginning of the Communion service has a tendency to attract liturgical clutter. One of the tasks of prayer book revision is to pare away this clutter and not add to it. Historically the Exhortations to Holy Communion have preceded the Invitation. In that position they form a part of the Preparation for the Lord’s Supper.

4. Make the use of the Collect for Purity, the Ten Commandments, and the Summary of the Law optional.

Rationale: The Collect Purity was originally a private prayer of the priest before the celebration of the Mass. It was incorporated into the Communion service in 1549. The Ten Commandments was incorporated into the Communion service in 1552. It was a feature of a number of Reformed liturgies. The Summary of Law as an optional alternative to the Ten Commandments was not incorporated into the Communion service until 1789. It has its origins in a 1714 Non-Juror liturgy.

Worship planners should have the option of omitting these elements if the particular circumstances of the congregation require their omission. The Communion service should have as much flexibility built into it as possible. Archbishop Cranmer recognized the principle of tailoring the worship of a congregation to its particular circumstances in the 1549 Communion service in a rubric at the end of the service:

When the holy Communion is celebrated in the workday, or in private houses, then may be omitted the Gloria in Excelsis, the creed, the Homily, and the Exhortation “Dearly beloved, etc….”

5. Add to the rubrics before the Ten Commandments and the Summary of the Law permission to read the Ten Commandments as a continuous whole without the response except that which follows the tenth commandment.

Rationale: This addition would give worship planners a third option for the use of the Ten Commandments, one which does not take as much time as the other two options for their use. It is one of the options available to worship planners in An Australian Prayer Book (1978), A Prayer Book for Australia (1995), and Common Prayer; Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings (2012). It might also be appropriate to drop the second option which is little more than a half-way measure.

6. Alter the wording of the final response to the Ten Commandments and the response to the Summary of the Law to “Lord have mercy upon us, and write your law in our hearts by your Holy Spirit.”

Rationale: “We pray” does not convey the same meaning as “we beseech thee.” To beseech is to entreat, to ask earnestly. A near synonym is to implore, to beg earnestly. The aforementioned Anglican service books substitute “by your Holy Spirit” for “we beseech thee.” It is close to the cadence of “we beseech thee” when it is recited. “By your Holy Spirit” preserves something of the eloquence of the original phrase. “We pray” does not. “By your Holy Spirit” is also compatible with the reformed character of the 1552 Communion service.

7. Add a rubric permitting the singing of the Ten Commandments.

Rationale: Martin Luther wrote a metrical version of the Ten Commandments with Kyrie as the response. Myles Coverdale translated Luther’s metrical version of the Ten Commandments into English. The translation was published in 1539. John Calvin’s Strassburgy liturgy included a metrical version of the Ten Commandments. The Kyrie was sung at the end of every verse. Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins included a metrical version of the Ten Commandments in the Old Version, first published in 1562. Their metrical psalter was the first complete English language version of the psalms. It would become the standard version in England for almost two hundred years. Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady include a metrical version of the Ten Commandments in the New Version, first published in 1696. Their metrical psalter would eventually replace the Old Version.

Elizabeth I encouraged the composition of cathedral music during her reign. This included chant settings of the Ten Commandments.

The 1559 Prayer Book, which was the prayer book of the Church of England for almost a hundred years, was essentially the 1552 Prayer Book with two exceptions. Both exceptions have been incorporated in the 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English. As a consequence “1559 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English” is a more accurate description of the 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English.

8. Add the three-fold Kyries in their English form, “Lord have mercy upon us….,” as an optional alternative response to the Summary of the Law.

Rationale: The three-fold Kyries were added as a response to the Summary of the Law in the 1892 revision of the American Prayer Book. The addition of this optional alternative response would provide congregations that are fond of music or skilled in music with a second option.

9. Alter the rubric before the Collect of the Day to “The minister says the Collect of the Day.”

Rationale The need to substitute “pray” for “say” is not self-evident. To say a prayer is not an archaism. When we say a prayer, we are offering the prayer to God. Even if the minister is not praying it from the heart, the spiritual state of the minister does not negate the prayer. The minister is only the tongue of the assembly. If the congregation declare their assent at the close of the prayer with “amen,” the prayer becomes the prayer of the congregation. Their amens may be heart-felt.

The preceding recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of the 1552 Order of Holy Communion in Modern English would preserve the reformed character of the 1552 Communion service and would give worship planners greater flexibility. They would provide a wider range of options that are consistent with the service’s reformed character. They would also increase the number of musical options at the beginning of the service. In my next article in this series I will look at how the Ministry of the Word, the Offertory, and the Prayers might be improved.