Holy Communion: Prayer of Preparation

Worship should not be rushed; we are all here worshipping the One who has made us, redeemed us through the death of His Son and resides in us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Os Guinness, I think, used the phrase about preaching to the audience of One and the same applies to worship. We have no audience but God: Father, Son and Spirit. Whatever tradition we are in only the audience of the One matters.

Anglican worship typically begins with a lay reader's announcement of the opening hymn which is then sung while a group of leaders 'process' into the church with the 'crucifer'--a person appointed to carry a cross--coming first. Everyone in the procession follows the cross as a general rule both in and out of the church worship area. The priest (word derived from 'presbyter', elder) or if a bishop is present comes last.

Procession members stand before the altar rail and acknowledge the altar.*

Responsive Worship

Anglican worship is responsive worship with the leader (either priest or lay reader) calling and the congregation responding, backwards and forwards. And in this back and forth movement, God the Holy Trinity is centrally involved. 

Following the opening hymn which is announced by the lay reader, the priest (Pr) says
  
The Invocation
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Blessed be God's kingdom, now and for ever. [Words in bold type are always meant to be said by the people.]

The Greeting
Pr: [Either the words of 2 Cor 13.14] or more simply,

The Lord be with you, (with arms outstretched in blessing)
and also with you.

Pr: Let us pray.

Almighty God,

to whom all hearts are open,

all desires known,

and from whom no secrets are hidden:

cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,

that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy name,

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This prayer is known as the Prayer of Preparation or the Prayer for Purity. It is a prayer form known as a co'llect. (Accent on the first syllable.) Collects as a prayer form 'collect' together the silent prayers of all assembled and concentrate them into a prayer prayed aloud by all. (See here for more on this prayer form.) Originally this collect was found in the Catholic Mass in Latin and was translated into an English version by Archbishop Cranmer for the first English-language Prayer Book in 1549.

The first four lines are all God directed and God descriptive.

God is 'Almighty God', El Shaddai, not an indulgent grandpa but One who demands our reverence and worship. And God Almighty knows us through and through and nothing of us is hidden from his eyes.

This designation of God leads us to ask for cleansing for 'thoughts of our hearts' for our hearts, our inner, spiritual centre stand before God. Think of the prophet Isaiah when he 'saw' in a vision the Lord, 'high and lifted up' enthroned in the temple (Isa 6.1-8).

The cleansing comes from the 'inspiration of your Holy Spirit': and what is it about the Holy Spirit that has to do with cleansing? The blood of Christ is the meritorious cause connected with the cleansing of the soul but the Holy Spirit is the efficient cause. The Spirit brings about what the Blood of Christ has procured for sinners (1 Joh 1.9).

'That'

What an important word! Because it signifies a goal for the purity.

The acknowledgement of Almighty God and our tacit acknowledgement of our sinful tendencies lead to a cleansing reception of the Holy Spirit for a purpose: 'that we may perfectly love you [God Almighty], and worthily magnify your holy name'.

The phrase 'perfectly love you' led John Wesley I seem to recall into what he called 'Christian perfection'. What the phrase more immediately reminds me of is the great commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength'. That's the depth of this perfect love. To love God at and with the core of our beings, with our very selves.

Love means in Bible parlance to obey, believe, trust God's promises and to learn to know him, to know his character, his 'name' which equals his 'essential character' as revealed in Christ.

All members of the Trinity are mentioned in the collect which is typical of Anglican worship which is strongly Trinitarian. Our access to Almighty God is 'through Jesus Christ our Lord'. The Son is so important because the Father always listens to the Son and vice versa. One of the Church Fathers (Augustine I think) said that the love between the two is the Holy Spirit!

Amen!

Amen is generally the word for the congregation and we see from the Old Testament. In my earlier Pentecostal days, it was customary for preachers to encourage congregations to use the Amen word. So be it! It's a word of faith, trust and affirmation in God's promises. (See here for a helpful article.)

Anglicans know the above prayer 'by heart' but the danger is that it can become a mere prayer form that is not heart-felt. I think at one stage that Anglicans all knelt for prayer; whereas that is not the case today in my experience. Standing up to pray is acceptable to God I know but kneeling is a posture that reminds us of our status as dependent creatures before God.

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*Evangelicals will sometimes stand still or slightly bend their heads towards the altar at the beginning of a service or when they go to the altar for Holy Communion. (This acknowledgement can be likened to courtroom behaviour.) Others do not show any acknowledgement at all. 
All others bow their heads. The question of 'churchman-ship' arises at this point, a subject too large to be entered into here but differences are evident between Anglo-Catholic High Church and Evangelical Low Church worship. Anglicanism allows for different practices because of its conflicted history.