The Gospel Reading

Whatever else is included or not included, every Eucharistic service has a reading from one of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. It is most often the case that the other readings are chosen in relation to that Gospel reading and follow an orderly chronology of Jesus’s life, teaching and ministry. That is, over the course of the Church’s year (beginning with the First Sunday of Advent), we follow Jesus from birth to death and resurrection. The readings invite us to journey with him. It is one way we “walk the way of the cross” as we worship together.

But it isn’t exactly a strict chronology – there are profound subtleties in the choice of readings. For instance, Advent begins not with an account of the coming Nativity of Jesus to which the season of Advent is meant to lead us. Rather, every Advent begins by focusing not on the “first coming” of Jesus, but the Second Coming which we now await. The readings on that first Advent Sunday direct us beyond the birth in Bethlehem, which, after all, has already happened. We cannot await an event that has occurred in the past. We can celebrate it, give thanks for it, deepen our appreciation of what that birth means, but we can’t really “wait” for it. What we await is the Second Coming of Jesus. The readings direct our attention to and through the Nativity to the horizon of our existence and the Christ who is our future. Without the promise of our ultimate future with Christ, Christmas can be reduced to sentiment and nostalgia. The readings steer us toward a more meaningful contemplation of Christmas by placing it in the context of eternity.

Another subtlety is that in the Gospel story, once Jesus is seen by Peter, James and John radiant and transfigured on the mountain, Jesus resolutely directs his path toward Jerusalem and the fateful events that will occur there. Thus, at the end of the Epiphany season, we hear the story of that Transfiguration, and on the following Sunday we begin the season of Lent, which is our own intentional directing of our attention to the Jerusalem events of Holy Week (Last Supper, Crucifixion, Entombment) in preparation for the joy of Easter. The readings invite us into deeper relation with all those events.

I always think of this interweaving of readings and theology and psychology as a sort of symphony with many elements making one sublime music. And, like a symphony, whether or not we know much about musical composition – what IS the sonata form? When did the violins rise above the oboes and play the theme again? – we are moved and changed by experiencing the music. Our liturgy is like that – it shapes us in ways beyond words and definitions. And the more we encounter it, the more we are touched, shaped and changed by it – increasingly changed into the image and likeness of Christ, which is the reality and the goal of the spiritual journey.

The Second Reading

The second reading appointed for each Sunday Eucharist comes from writings in the Christian Testament other than the Gospels. Most often the reading is from a letter of Paul but may come from another letter writer, The Book of the Acts of the Apostles, or The Revelation. Paul wrote his letters to fledgling churches beginning around 49 C.E. (A.D.). The oldest of the Gospels, Mark, was likely composed and written down between 65 and 75 C.E. Thus Paul’s accounts of the activities and life of early church communities and his accounts of Jesus’s life and words (though these are few) are the most ancient accounts we have. His description of "The Last Supper" predates all others. (On the night before he died, Jesus took bread . . .) The Gospels report events that happened much earlier than Paul’s writings, but the Gospels themselves were written down long after the events they relate.

Paul’s letters are curious things. He was writing specific advice, critique and thoughts about the significance of Jesus to specific communities with specific questions, problems and conflicts. He was not legislating universal solutions and responses for all events in all times. We are invited to learn from these letters about why and how Jesus matters. We are invited to learn how to address problems, puzzlements, conflicts, struggles and crises in our own time, not necessarily copying Paul’s specific solutions, but, using his example, to discover how that same Jesus would have us address life in our own day. Example: Paul decrees in his letter to the church community in Corinth that women should cover their heads. That was a solution related to the Middle Eastern custom still in use today of women wearing scarves and covering their heads and faces. That particular dictum of Paul has long been abandoned by most Christian communities of our day. The issue that Paul may have been addressing (something like competitive hair styling) is really about the need for all (men and women) to behave thoughtfully and decorously, respecting the sensibilities of each other and caring more for the joy and serenity of worship than for any tangential, petty issues. That “advice” is as apt now as it was then.

The Psalm

The Hebrew Scripture reading is followed by the reading of a psalm, or occasionally by another “song” like the Magnificat or Song of Mary. The Psalter (collection of psalms) has been called Israel’s book of hymns. Many of the psalms are clearly written for use in worship, but, frankly, some of the things expressed in the psalms are horrendous. See especially the ending of Psalm 137: its first six verses poignant and beautiful in their plaintiveness, the final three verses vindictive and repulsive. But the Psalms are not necessarily endorsing every emotion and thought that they present, no more than Shakespeare endorses the murderousness and nihilism of Lord and Lady Macbeth. The psalms are sublime in many ways, but they also reflect the range and variety of human emotion. They are a mirror more than a model of faith and behavior. Our Scriptures do not shy away from the truth about the human condition – we are capable of truth, beauty and goodness; and we are capable of mean-spiritedness and hatred. All these turn up in the psalms. The psalm included in The Liturgy of the Word is meant to be voiced by the people, not a trained, select few – like a choir. Our worship is in part based on the notion of hearing and responding. The Hebrew Scripture reading is heard, and the people make a vocal response in saying or singing the psalm. This pattern is found throughout our worship. The people in the congregation are not an audience. All present – the people as much as the priest – are the actors, the dancers, the performers in a beautiful, joyful ritual dance. The audience is God

The Lessons

Following The Collect of the Day come The Lessons, readings from Holy Scripture: The Hebrew Bible, The Epistles and other Christian Testament writings, and The Gospels. There are readings appointed for each Sunday and major feast which may or may not fall on a Sunday like Christmas, The Day of Epiphany and The Ascension. The readings from The Hebrew Bible (or in Easter Season the Book of the Acts of the Apostles) are of two sorts: readings chosen because they have some connection with the Gospel reading like a prefiguring of Jesus (i.e. the kingship of David) or a topic which Jesus addresses in the Gospel reading (i.e. bad shepherds versus good shepherds); or the Hebrew Bible readings may be read “in course,” a continuous reading of certain sections like the Saga of Abraham, the story of Joseph, and the writings of particular prophets. This “reading incourse in The Lectionary (as this list of ‘proper’ readings is called) recognizes the dignity and integrity of the Hebrew Bible is its own right. That is, the writings of The Older Testament have a power and beauty of their own and not just as “supporting actors” in the story of God’s redemption of Creation. According this dignity to The Hebrew Bible recognizes, among other things, that when “The Scriptures” are referred to in these very Scriptures, it is, with extremely few exceptions, the Hebrew Bible that is being referred to. The Hebrew Bible is the only Bible Jesus and Paul knew. The readings are in a three year cycle that we call Years A, B and C, generally containing, in this order, Matthew, Mark and Luke. The Gospel of John is interwoven among the three years’ readings and is especially prominent during Lent.

The Collect of the Day

This first part of the Holy Eucharist is called the Liturgy of the Word. It centers around the Holy Scriptures, and these readings from the Bible are preceded by another collect, this time the Collect of the Day. This second collect focuses us on the particular date or occasion on which the day’s worship is taking place. Christianity is a very time-conscious religion. In the Incarnation of Jesus, God entered into time and space in a new and unique way. This means that time and space have been hallowed (made holy) in a way which humanity not been conscious of before. Time, for us, is not just a succession of hours, days, weeks and years. For us, time is a path, a journey, a progress toward God. It is our walking the way of the Cross in the companionship of Jesus. From Advent to Christmas to Easter to the Ascension and the Coming of the Holy Spirit, time has direction, always “God-ward.” The Collect of the Day marks our temporal location along that way like that star on the map in the local mall that says, “You are here.”

A Song of Praise

Continuing our walk thorough the words and intent of The Holy Eucharist:

Following the Collect for Purity (Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open) comes a “song of praise.” The usual choices are the Gloria (Glory to God), the Kyrie (Lord, have mercy), or the Trisagion (Holy God, holy and mighty). Each of these is ancient and has held a place in Christian worship since the earliest days of the Church: The “Gloria” from the second or third century. The more penitential songs, often used in Lent or Advent, are less songs of praise and more. Many other songs may be used, but should properly be songs of praise or an appeal for God’s mercy and compassion. Thus we follow acknowledging God’s intimate knowledge of us (Almighty God, to who all hearts are open) with praise of the Holy One, and we do so using the Church’s most ancient hymns. As we stand in praise of God, we do so in concert with all those who have sung these words over the past two thousand years, and, as we poetically imagine, who now sing these hymns in the nearer presence of God in the life after death. This is the fulfilling of the words of another great “modern” hymn (1759) by Charles Wesley,

Let saints on earth in concert sing
With those whose work is done;
For all the servants of our king
In Heav’n and earth are one.

The Collect for Purity

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hid: 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.

A “collect” (pronounced COLL-ect) is a prayer whose purpose is to gather the congregation together with unity of intent, that is to “collect” (coll-ECT) us. The Eucharist begins as a corporate act, an act of a single people and not just a gathering of individuals. Throughout the Scriptures, Jewish and Christian, God has consistently acted to redeem “a people,” not just certain individuals. In the middle ages, Christian worship became a spectator sport. Individuals came to church to do their private devotions while Mass was being said in a language they did not understand by priests who were physically remote from them, separated from the congregation by screens and rails. Our Prayer Book calls us together in unity of heart and mind and intention. This particular collect reminds us that we are utterly known to God and that we are filled (inspired) by God’s Spirit dwelling within us. This prayer, therefore, states what we believe to be reality – we are known by and filled with God.

During Lent and in response to requests, I thought I would walk us through the Rite of Holy Eucharist, a kind of “instructed Eucharist” in slow motion, day by day. The goals are to deepen our understanding of what our Prayer Book tradition intends and to provide some insight into the riches our worship offers us – sometimes in very subtle and beautiful ways. Let me know what you think of this idea.

We Gather for Worship

In my growing-up years, it was customary to enter the church, kneel in prayer, acknowledging God's presence in "God's House," the church building. The time before corporate worship was spent in quiet and preparation for the encounter with God that is about to occur. I agree with Annie Dillard who has said, "Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake some day and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return." What we often encounter, however, is something more like a preview of Coffee Hour, full of chatter and pleasantries -- not bad things in themselves, but certainly a missed opportunity to open one's heart and soul and mind to the mystery we have come to experience. At the very least, the chatter that could easily be conducted in the many other nearby places makes it difficult for those who might like to be present to God in reverent quiet.

We Begin Our Worship

Following a hymn chosen to gather us as one people united in voice and in intention, our Eucharistic worship during Lent will begin with The Penitential Order (Book of Common Prayer (BCP), page 351). This is an optional way to begin our worship with confession and the assurance of God’s unconditional love. It is an especially appropriate way to begin in the penitential season of Lent.

Having gathered as the People of God, we begin by saying these words:

Celebrant Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.
People His mercy endures for ever.

We “bless” water at baptism. We “bless” crosses to worn on neckchains. We “bless” God’s people at the end of each Eucharist, but what does it mean to “bless” God? The world “bless” has many meanings. In its Hebrew origins the word “bless” comes from the verb meaning “to kneel down (in adoration). The idea of blessing people or objects is a secondary meaning derived from the first. So, we begin our worship by “blessing” God – adoring God, ascribing all worth to God. (The word “worship” is derived from “worth-ship,” that is ascribing worth, value to something or some one.)

We begin our worship by adoring God and ascribing to God all “worth-ship.” God is valuable and worthy above all else, and we bless – kneel our hearts before – God.