(8) The Sending Out of God's People

The sending out of God's people into the world to work and witness for him is the last movement of the drama involving the people of God hearing the Word and receiving the sacrament which are at the heart Anglican Sunday worship.

Five short subsections comprise this main movement which are numbered §21 to §25.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

§21    Priest:

Gracious God, thank you for feeding us,

with the spiritual food of the body and blood

of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Thank you for assuring us of your goodness and love,

and that we are living members of Christ's body.

[How do we know that we are 'living members of Christ's body' (Rom 12.5; 1Cor 6.15; 1Cor 12.12; Eph 5.30 & etc.)? An important question because some Anglicans at least seem to waver on whether they are destined for God's presence or not. Yet, the apostle John in his 1st letter said that he had written in order that his hearers might know that they had eternal life (1Jn 5.13). The whole epistle might be understood as distinguishing between those who are truly God's from those caught in various first century heresies. Certainly just attending an Anglican Church does not make us true disciples of Christ! God has always been interested in the transformation of hearts even under the Old Covenant. Only those divinely born 'from above' (Jn 3.3,5; 1Peter 1.22-25) will enter into the Kingdom of God.]  

§22    All say together:

Father,

we offer ourselves to you

as a living sacrifice [Rom 12.1]

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Send us out in the power of your Spirit

to live and work to your praise and glory.

I have always found this 'sending out' to be a remarkable part of the Anglican service for it denotes the fact that the congregation has once again been spiritually fed by word and sacrament and equipped to continue to 'shine as lights in the world to the glory of God the Father' [to quote a piece from the baptism service].

The congregation should not have come to the service to receive only but to receive from God so as to give to others which redounds to the praise and glory of God.

 

§23     A Hymn of Praise may be said (depending on size of service) or sung (more usual for services I've been in).

§24    Priest says the following or an appropriate seasonal* blessing 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; [Phil 4.7]

and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.

   

§25   The deacon (lay reader) may say

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord:

In the name of Christ. Amen.

By seasonal the Prayer Book is referring to the Church Calendar which sets out for every year a certain yearly pattern for Sunday worship. It starts with Advent then to Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, Pentecost and finally 'Ordinary Time'. The latter time, between Pentecost and Advent, is counted and hence called 'Ordinary' from the word 'ordinal'. 

       

(6b) The Great Thanksgiving

NB The Great Thanksgiving has been divided into two in this blog post for convenience but is one liturgical whole in the Prayer Book service.
This part of The Thanksgiving homes in on the Holy Meal itself.

---Merciful God, we thank you

for these gifts of your creation,

this bread and this wine, (just normal bread and wine)

and we pray that by your Word and Holy Spirit, (note, not by the action of any human)

we who eat and drink them

may be partakers of Christ's body and blood. (1 Cor 10.16 'communion' or 'participation')

--On the night that he was betrayed Jesus took bread;

and when he had given you thanks

he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying,

'Take, eat. This is my body given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.'

--After supper, he took the cup,

and again giving you thanks

he gave it to his disciples, saying,

'Drink for this, all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant

shed for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins,

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'

[The memorial acclamation is used here or after next paragraph.]

Christ has died,

Christ is risen,

Christ will come again.

--Therefore we do as our Saviour has commanded:
proclaiming he offering of himself
made once for all upon the cross,
his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension,
and looking for his coming again,
we celebrate, with this bread and this cup,
his one perfect and sufficient sacrifice
for the sins of the whole world.

--Renew us by your Holy Spirit
unite us in the body of your Son,
and bring us with all your people
into the joy of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
with whom, and in whom,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
we worship you, Father,
in songs of never-ending praise:
Blessing and honour and glory and power
are yours for ever and ever. Amen.  (echo of Rev 5.13)

Next time we will look at The Breaking of the Bread and the Communion and also consider the meaning of Sacrament.

(6a) The Great Thanksgiving

For All Your Blessings, O Lord

The Great Thanksgiving is preceded by the sharing of peace and the bringing of the gifts of the people to the Lord's Table at the front of the church building.

The offering reminds us that we are one body who are called to be a forgiving body of Christ-believers and in the offering, the onus is on any who are out of fellowship with another in the congregation to make peace before taking Holy Communion (see Matt 5.23).

The present 1995, Prayer Book (A Prayer Book for Australia -APBA) has five different forms of The Great Thanksgiving. Some priests use them by rotation each week, using the fifth one when there are five Sundays in a particular month; others use Thanksgiving 1 predominantly which is the one with which I am most familiar; however, each one of the different forms brings out a different emphasis found in the Scriptures.

Again what is noticeable is the call-response structure of this Thanksgiving and the number of allusions to or direct quotes of scriptural passages in the liturgy. The congregation stands during this prayer which is the Hebraic-Jewish stance taken while praying.

§26 The Great Thanksgiving
One can say that The Great Thanksgiving takes its cue from the scriptural record that Jesus Himself gave thanks (Matt 26.26-27) twice in the last supper before the bread and before the wine.

And saying 'thank-you' is one of the first social graces we try to instill into our children from an early age and thanksgiving is at the heart of the Christian life because our lives are completely dependent on the grace and mercy of God.

It is not only our duty to give thanks to our Creator it is our delight and privilege to be called to do so.

(The priest begins:)

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks for the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

[If the church is passing through a particular season (e.g., Lent, Easter-tide, etc.)
then a Seasonal Preface may be substituted for relevant parts
of the following.]

[In these next 4 paragraphs (denoted by --) we first ADORE, THANK the Father for the incarnation of His Son, AFFIRM the meaning of his sacrificial death for sin and its power to rescue/deliver us from realm of sin forever, PRAISE the Father's Name with all the hosts of heaven.]

-- All glory and honour be yours always and everywhere,
mighty Creator, everliving God.
-- We give you thanks and praise for our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who by the power of your Spirit was born of Mary
and lived as one of us.
--By his death on the cross
and rising to new life,
he offered the one true sacrifice for sin
and obtained an eternal deliverance for his people.
--Therefore with angels and archangels,
and all the company of heaven,
we proclaim your great and glorious name,
for ever praising you and saying [or singing]:

[Anglican worship forms these days are highly flexible and can accommodate small gatherings where no organist or pianist is present to accompany in singing what follows or larger places of worship which have a choir for singing such parts with/without the congregation.]

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.    (Isa 6.3)
Hosanna in the highest.        (Matt 21.9)
[Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. (Ps 118.26; Mk 11.9-10)
Hosanna in the highest.]