Liturgy Lesson for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity: Sanctus Bells
July 18, 2008
Sanctus bells are chimes rung during the Sanctus [Holy, Holy, Holy] and have been part of worship in the Holy Eucharist for over 800 years. At All Saints, we ring them just before the consecration, signaling we’re about to enter the holiest portions of the service—tasking us to devotion to the Lord’s Presence as the priest elevates the consecrated host and chalice. It’s also a joyful noise to the Lord, obedient to Scripture and heralds the supernatural at the Holy Table, when we call the Holy Spirit down into the elements at the Epiclesis, transforming them from mere wine and bread to containing the Real Presence of the Lord! Bells are mentioned in the Old Testament—notably in Exodus 28:33-35, describing Aaron’s vestments to enter the Holy of Holies: “On its skirts you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet stuff, around its skirts, with bells of gold between them, a golden bell and a pomegranate, round about on the skirts of the robe.” They were likely used for two reasons. First, worshipping with a joyful noise to God, (Psalm 98:4) and, secondly, apotropaic—warding off unclean spirits—to protect Aaron as he entered God’s Presence. They also signified adoration to God during early times, according to Zechariah 14:20. Ancient cymbals in Psalm 150:5-6 resembled modern bells and led to using bells in the Church as early as the fifth century, when Saint Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, rang them to call monks to worship. Sounding bells during Communion derives from the tintinnabula (tiny bells) in ancient Judaic worship and were brought indoors by English churches, who originated our custom here. They are, then, both joyful and reverent, tasking us to devotion and attention to an act of our supernatural God—granting us His Presence in the Communion, so we can have His life in us by partaking. Consequently, we are very orthodox (rightly glorifying) when we join the psalmist in saying, “Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
Liturgy Lesson for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity: Approaching the Holy Table
July 11, 2008
We approach the Holy Table—after hearing the Word proclaimed, asking for mercy in the Kyrie, declaring our Faith in the Creed and even confessing/being absolved—with the Prayer of Humble Access, our admission of unworthiness of the privilege God affords us by His Sacrament—where we partake of His life-giving nature in the Real Presence. Since it prepares us to receive that infusion of life He promised us in it, our prayerbook very appropriately makes this the last thing we do before actually receiving the Lord’s Presence in the consecrated elements. It calls us to examen—asking God the Holy Ghost to show us the places in our lives where we need His help to change, in order to avoid eating or drinking unworthily at the Lord’s Table. This is an important concept, because Scripture teaches if we have unresolved sin (or its attendant attitudes, such as bitterness or unforgiveness) in our hearts, we are more liable to incur God’s judgment from Communion than His blessings—not a pleasant prospect. After this last spiritual “attitude check” then, we rightly approach by reverently and humbly kneeling (making ourselves small before God), taking the bread in palms open and lifted high to His ministry and grace, and not manipulated with closed fingers. Likewise, we take the cup firmly, with both hands, embracing Christ’s nature to replace our own, praying silently the devotion St. John Baptist gave us, “More of Him…Less of Me.” No wonder we usually follow with the ancient Gloria in Excelsis (High Gloria)—we’ve received our magnificent Lord entirely by His Grace and not by our own merits—joining in the ancient angelic praise—“Glory be to God on high”— recharged by the Holy Ghost via the Sacrament!
Liturgy Lesson for Independence Day: God Bless America
July 4, 2008
Why does the Church offer prayer for the nation and its leaders? To teach her people the duty of loyalty and submission to civil rulers and to secure peace and righteous government. (Read 1 St. Timothy 2:2). Our liturgy employs prayers for our government in several places. In today’s Holy Communion we celebrate our Nation’s birth with the propers (Collect, Epistle and Gospel) especially composed to render the Eucharist, or Great Thanksgiving, with the intention of thanking our Heavenly Father for our free land and His blessings on it, while at the same time calling down further blessings from Him for our country. In the Prayer Offices, we pray the Prayer for the President and Civil Authority, derived from the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, a 4th Century rendering of the Holy Communion service. In it, we ask for Godly leadership, inspired by the Gifts of the Spirit exercised in obedience to God. In other places, we pray for Congress, the military, legislatures, justices, and our Country in general. We also pray for fruitful seasons, rains, relief from rain, safety in calamity, education, and Christian service. And, of course, we also thank God for His provision and Grace to our land. Clearly the Church, along with the Founding Fathers (mostly Anglican) intended us to invoke God into the affairs of our Country. May we continue in their footsteps…may God bless and revive America!
Liturgy Lesson for St. Peter the Apostle
June 27, 2008
St. Peter—called the Prince of the Apostles—is someone whose life and personality are well painted in the Gospels, Acts, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, and tradition. He is the “everyman” of the Faith—full of faults, but equally full of heart. When Jesus called him to His service, he was a man known for his fiery temperament, and was, most likely, quick with his fists. Born in Bethsaida, a village near Lake Tiberias, he was working in his family fishing business when his brother Andrew introduced him to the young rabbi from out of town—Jesus. In St. Luke, this first meeting with the Lord resulted in a huge draught of fish he captured when Jesus directed him to let his nets down in an unlikely spot—giving us the first glimpse into this man’s nature, when he begged Jesus to “depart from him” after the miraculous catch—owing to St Peter’s conviction of his own ungodly lifestyle in the face of God made man. However, Jesus diffused Peter’s insecurity, by simply saying not to fear—hesitate or dread—because from then on, he would capture men alive. St. Peter believed Him and acted immediately, leaving his business to follow Jesus, and was immediately part of His inner circle, and usually spoke for all the disciples—but most notably at Caesarea Philippi, when he made history’s first confession of Jesus as Messiah—prompting the Lord to establish that confession as the rock the Church would be built upon. St. Peter’s high point in confession contrasts with his low ebb—when his courage failed him, and he denied Jesus three times—as the Lord predicted—and then modeled repentance for us all in bitter tears—because the Lord forgave him, restoring him to leadership of the early Church, preaching history’s greatest sermon, saving 3000 on the spot, and being so full of the Holy Ghost that He healed the sick that Peter’s shadow passed over. He served the Church, according to tradition for 31 years after the Resurrection, when he died, far from home, in Rome, insisting on crucifixion upside down—because he was not worthy of dying the same way Jesus did. His lesson for us, then, is simple—follow when we’re called, repent hard when we need to, and work with all our heart where the Lord plants us.
Liturgy Lesson for St. John Baptist: He must increase, but I must decrease
June 21, 2008
Today, we commemorate St. John Baptist, and, in contrast to many of the saints’ days, we observe his nativity (birth) rather than his death. Called in some places the “Christmas of Summer” this event celebrates a miracle birth involving a supernatural and miraculous intervention by God in the pregnancy and birth. St. John Baptist was the last and greatest of the prophets and was both our Lord’s cousin and His herald, as documented in the early chapters of SS. Luke and Matthew. He was the first to proclaim the Lamb of God and actually ministered Baptism to our Lord, an act of humility on Jesus’ part, and certainly an awesome and highly emotional act of obedience on St. John’s. St. John said, speaking of the coming ministry of the Messiah words we can live our devotional lives by: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” St. Augustine renders a strikingly mystical interpretation of these words when he notes that beginning with the celebration of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, the days actually decrease in length, whereas, beginning with the Nativity of Our Lord, they lengthen. This is the lesson on this day, then—He must increase, and we diminish—for the Christian, this means invoking and assimilating Christ’s nature, more and more, in favor of our own fallen selves—lives changed by His Presence!
Liturgy Lesson for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity: The Liturgical Calendar in Communion
June 12, 2008
When we worship in our Holy Communion service, we actually model the cycle of a healthy spiritual life—and the liturgical Calendar as well. In each mass, we will find a little bit of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and even Trinity! If Advent is all about the Lord’s coming (and His Second Coming), just consider the first prayer, the Collect for Purity—we are asking the Holy Ghost to look into and prepare our hearts—much like St. John Baptist saying, “Prepare ye the Way of the Lord,”—and praying for the Second Coming in the Our Father: “…thy Kingdom come (Maranatha!). Aside from the proper preface for Christmas that celebrates the Lord’s birth, we proclaim it in the ancient words of the Nicene Creed and declare it with the words of God’s angels on that night in Bethlehem, when we sing the High Gloria—Gloria in Excelsis. Epiphany is in the inclusivity for all mankind in the prayers for Christ’s Church, the confession and absolution and when we commemorate the Body and Blood shed for all in the Consecration. There is ample Lent—the Collect for Purity (first one in the service), the Kyrie Eleison (Lord Have Mercy), and the Prayer of Humble Access—making us a people of open and contrite hearts when approaching the awesome and powerful Sacrament of Holy Communion. Of course, there is Easter—in the prayers for the faithful departed (Prayers for Christ’s Church), the confession and absolution, and the Consecration (All Glory be to Thee…), all of which come to us by the Resurrection. We invoke the Holy Ghost in the Epiclesis (Greek: “Calling near”) following the Consecration (And we most humbly beseech…) and in the preface for Whitsunday. Finally, we have Trinity—growth time—when we ask the Lord to fill us with His Nature in the Sacraments and continue to grow us in His Grace and blessing in the Consecration and Blessing. Lord, use this service to show us your cycle of grace and growth in our lives—more of you, less of us, as we look forward to your Return in Glory!
Liturgy Lesson for St. Barnabas the Apostle: Confirmation
June 6, 2008
Confirmation is administered to those who are baptized and have come to the “years of discretion” - meaning they can understand and answer the questions contained in the Catechism and are willing to renew and ratify the promises made at their Baptism. The word confirmation means to seal, sign or make strong - and is the outward and visible means God employs to convey to us the empowerment and inward, spiritual grace of the Holy Ghost via the Apostolic ministry of our bishop’s laying on of hands, as first mentioned in Acts 8. It’s our license to take the Holy Communion, which is limited to those who have been confirmed or are ready and willing to be confirmed. Sometimes referred to as the “ordination of the laity,” this rite is best described by the bishop’s prayer for the confirmand, “Defend O Lord, this thy Child with thy heavenly grace; that he(she) may continue thine forever; and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit, more and more, until he(she) come unto thy everlasting kingdom, amen.” Likewise, we lay hands to receive into our communion those who were already confirmed in other apostolic faiths - not just formally admitting them to fellowship, but asking God the Holy Ghost to empower them to His purpose in the Kingdom of God. May God be now, and evermore, our home and defense and may the Holy Ghost increase in us all!
Liturgy Lesson for the Second Sunday after Trinity: Prayer Book Rubrics
May 30, 2008
In the Book of Common Prayer, there are italic directions, called “rubrics” (reds) because of their original red lettering. They hold the force of canon law, and officiants in any services must comply with them as a means to do things “decently and in order,” as Scripture commands. At the end of the Holy Communion service are general rubrics, intended to govern the administration of the entire service. These instruct the celebrant to refuse the Holy Communion to anyone openly living an evil (unrepentant) life or who have wronged their neighbors by word or deed. It also directs the priest to deny communion to anyone he perceives to have unresolved malice or hatred against their brothers or sisters in Christ. In this, the clergy actually protects those living this kind of life, because they have not repented from sinning and are in danger of partaking in the Lord’s Supper unworthily-that is to say, with unresolved, purposeful sin in their lives-which calls the Lord’s condemnation down on them. This calls the great question, then to us all-have we truly turned from our sins? Are we, as we say in the words of invitation, truly and earnestly repenting from our sins and in love and charity with our neighbors, and intend to lead a new life by following God’s commandments and walking from that point on in His holy ways? If we can answer “yes,” then we can go to the Lord’s Table to receive Communion, allowing the joy of the Lord to quiet our hearts and strengthen us, but if not, we need to do authentic “heart business” with our Heavenly Father, seeking the answer to that question, as the Holy Ghost shows us our hearts! This is the way we have His peace and governance in our world-with a heart broken and ready for His indwelling!
Liturgy Lesson for the First Sunday after Trinity: The Lord’s Supper
May 23, 2008
The Lords’ Supper, also called Eucharist (Great Thanksgiving), Holy Communion, or Mass (meaning a sending out) is the central worship act and one of two sacraments (including penance) repeated in the Church. Ordained by our Lord in St. Matt 26, St. Mark 14, St. Luke 22 and 1 Cor 11, it is central to our life in Jesus. We use the term “life” decidedly, because Jesus commanded us to observe this sacrament to have life. Additionally, He also told us to do it in remembrance of Him-a term meaning “calling Him back.” Because of this, we believe He inhabits the wine and bread spiritually by the Holy Ghost, accomplished by the Prayer of Consecration (”This is my Body…”) and the Epiclesis-the calling near of the Holy Ghost (”And we most humbly beseech thee to hear us…”) prayed shortly after the Consecration. In short, our Lord is present in the consecrated elements. But what does this mean to the Faithful who eat this Heavenly feast? We can express it well in the simple devotion we teach in the Salt and Light Course. After we have spent time preparing for the service by a personal examen and invoking the Holy Ghost’s indwelling presence personally, we ask Him to minister to us collectively by a series of entreaties to purify us, teach us by the Scripture, forgive our sins, and admit us to the Holy Table-all leading us to an exchange of our own nature for that of the Lord Himself. The simple devotion? Just before receiving the Holy Sacrament we pray, “Thy nature, O Lord, for my nature.” This is the ultimate “good deal” of the ages-giving our Father our fallen flesh for His more Excellent Way. This is why we urge our members to have Communion at least weekly-we need His life and His nature. Come Holy Ghost-change us into the Lord’s image when we exchange His own nature for ours in your sending out of your Church into the World.
Liturgy Lesson for Trinity Sunday: Our Triune God
May 17, 2008
Trinity Sunday celebrates the great Christian belief in our triune God-one belief (among many) that distinguishes us from any religion, anytime, anywhere. We aren’t pagan polytheists, worshipping multiple gods, but believe in the one true God, expressed in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost-but still, one God. He revealed this truth to us via His Word-Holy Scripture-and much of the New Testament would be unintelligible without it. The Word trumpets God’s Trinity nature: He is one God in Isa 44:6-8; II Sam 7:22 & Deut 6; the Father is God in St. Matt 6:9; St. John 20; Rom 9:25 & II Cor 6:18; the Son is God in St. John 1 & 20; Heb 1: 1-8 & I Tim 3:16; the Holy Ghost is God Acts 5:3; I Cor 2:11 & Ps. 139:7. In liturgical worship, we reverence the invocation of the Blessed Trinity in worship with the Sign of the Cross, made over our forehead, breastbone and to either shoulder-which also commemorates the Jewish Passover-the Blood of the Pascal Lamb, Jesus, applied to door and lintel, forming a cross by which we enter our dwelling place. The Church Fathers correctly represented Trinity with green, as this is the time of growth and fullness, because we have received God’s fullness God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost-and grow in Him!
