Firbush Retreats Firbush retreats are organized and led by Robert T. Walker. Firbush retreats are designed to make the best theology accessible to as many people as possible and especially those not trained in theology and often not familiar with routine technical terms. They combine times of worship and prayer with reflection on a theme related to Torrance theology. For more information see https://tftorrance.org/firbush. ----------- Firbush Retreat Summer 2014 Jennifer Floether, "Reflections on Anglican Worship" https://tftorrance.org/firbushS2014 The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:12 Thank you very much Bob, I'd forgotten half of that, I think I'm not sure I wanted to be reminded of it. 00:12-00:27 You want to be careful what you talk to Bob about. I just happened to mention that the Eucharistic liturgy in my part of the church was quite interesting and well, here I am. 00:27-00:41 But actually I've learnt so much about the topic since being asked to speak on it that I'm quite grateful, at least I will be when this is over. 00:41-00:53 Having belonged to different churches in Germany, the Lutheran Church, Church of Scotland as a child, the Episcopal Church and now the Anglican Church, 00:53-01:05 churches that use set forms of worship and churches that don't, I feel in a fairly good position to weigh up the merits of each approach. 01:05-01:18 Probably the main disadvantage in using a set liturgical text is that repeating it week in and week out means that you get to learn it off by heart. 01:18-01:24 And so you can trot it out without really connecting with what you're saying. 01:24-01:35 I can confess to having planned entire lunch menus while simultaneously saying the liturgical prayers, which is shocking. 01:35-01:46 As C.S. Lewis remarked, simply to say prayers is not to pray, otherwise a team of trained parrots would serve as well. 01:46-01:55 But I've come to value using a set liturgy for reasons that I'd like to list here. 01:55-02:00 It ensures that worship always has structure. 02:00-02:15 It disciplines those of us who lead worship to keep to its core elements of proclamation, repentance, adoration, thanksgiving, supplication. 02:15-02:31 By following closely the liturgical year as we do in the Anglican Church, it provides a framework for the church's collective memory and that's also instructive for our congregations. 02:31-02:51 At their best, the great liturgies represent the gleanings of centuries of people striving to articulate in condensed form, sometimes very beautiful form, the faith of the worshipping church. 02:51-03:05 Good liturgical language can shape our thinking because it can point us beyond the words themselves to what they signify, pointing us to Jesus and the meaning of his gospel. 03:05-03:08 So again, it's instructive. 03:08-03:13 And I think there's something about worship in that too. 03:13-03:27 And not insignificantly, set liturgies shield congregations from careless language and theological or doctrinal drift. 03:27-03:37 Too often what starts off as a careless slip can end up being embedded in our thinking and our ways of doing things. 03:37-03:51 The Anglican Eucharistic Liturgy, and I'm talking here about the Eucharistic Liturgy, there are many liturgies, but the liturgy generally refers to the Eucharistic Liturgy. 03:51-04:15 The Anglican one has a blood spattered history, which still seems to arouse strong passions. When I mistakenly attributed the Epiclesis in Cranmer's Eucharistic Prayer to his 1549 prayer book instead of the 1552, or was it the other way around, 04:15-04:30 my hitherto mild and kindly tutor, a chap called Colin Buchanan, a retired bishop, who was incidentally the architect, one of the main architects of our current prayer book, 04:30-04:38 fired off an apoplectic email. I thought my computer was going to burst into flames. 04:38-04:49 This touched his heart. But you know, in a way Buchanan is right, because the details of the liturgy, I'm going to stick my neck out here, 04:49-05:00 the details of the liturgy are important because it matters what we say in worship and in what order we say it. 05:00-05:10 And this is nowhere more true than in the Liturgy of the Sacrament and in the Eucharistic Prayer in particular. 05:10-05:27 So it's this, I'm sorry, we're going back to the Eucharist, it's this I would like to explore in more depth, because I've discovered that this prayer that we're looking at this evening brings to light several issues to do with worship in general. 05:27-05:35 Of course, much of what I'm going to say will echo what we've looked at already in Robin's talk and in Bill's. 05:35-05:43 But we're approaching it from within the very narrow confines of a set liturgy in the Anglican church. 05:43-05:49 We have to follow this. We're not free to pick and choose. 05:49-05:58 So it's quite interesting how that shapes the way that we plan services and the way we think about their content. 05:58-06:07 You have in your handouts an outline of the Church of England Authorised Order for the Celebration of Communion. 06:07-06:18 It comes in two parts. The first part begins with a form of preparation, a greeting which changes according to season. 06:18-06:24 Also at Easter for weeks we say, "Hallelujah, the Lord has risen, hallelujah." 06:24-06:28 Then that's followed by the commandments or a summary of the commandments. 06:28-06:33 There are more handouts here if you'd like. 06:33-06:44 Followed by confession, the kind Bob doesn't like, absolution and a gloria, usually sung. 06:44-06:55 And these all lead to the Liturgy of the Word, the readings and the sermon, followed by the Nicene Creed and intercessions. 06:55-06:59 Then after the peace, the Liturgy of the Sacrament begins. 06:59-07:06 We've got the sense actually that all this is leading us up to the sacrament itself. 07:06-07:11 Much of the liturgy is taken up by the Eucharistic prayer. 07:11-07:18 There are eight of these in common worship, A to H, to cater for all tastes. 07:18-07:26 Some a little bit more contemporary and others much closer to Cranmer's original language. 07:26-07:32 Prayer C, which you have in the handout, is a direct descendant of Cranmer's... 07:32-07:37 Perhaps I ought to mention, I'm sure you all know Cranmer was the architect of the English Liturgy. 07:37-07:44 I should have mentioned that. Influenced by Calvin and basically reformed in his thinking eventually. 07:44-07:51 So, Prayer C is a direct descendant of Cranmer's 1549 prayer. 07:51-07:57 And that had retained the general shape of the serum or Salisbury Rite, 07:57-08:05 which was the Anglo-Roman Rite used in England from about the 10th century up to the Reformation. 08:05-08:12 The reason I mention that is that that contained elements of very, very early liturgies. 08:12-08:16 So there's a lovely sense of continuity here. 08:16-08:22 So, the Liturgy of the Sacrament. The whole congregation stands. 08:22-08:26 Together we are co-celebrants. 08:26-08:34 Now, depending on where you stand, so to speak, we are either sharing in the work of the human priest, 08:34-08:39 or we're participating in the high priesthood of Jesus. 08:39-08:42 We'll touch on that later. 08:42-08:49 The greeting, "The Lord is here, His Spirit is with us," directs us immediately away from ourselves 08:49-08:55 to ponder on nothing other than the Lord, as Saint Cyprian put it. 08:55-09:05 The Sursum Corda, which we've mentioned already, points to worship as an ascent into God's presence in repentance, 09:05-09:18 lamentations for instance, supplication, many psalms, adoration, more psalms, and thanksgiving, Ephesians, Colossians. 09:18-09:29 Interestingly, the Sursum Corda was the only part of the ancient text that Calvin retained. 09:29-09:36 In his words, "Let us raise our hearts and minds on high, where Jesus Christ is, 09:36-09:44 in the glory of His Father, and whence we look for Him at our redemption." 09:44-09:52 The preface begins with the great thanksgiving. 09:52-10:00 There's a sense here of real Eucharistic, thankful, joyful worship. 10:00-10:02 It's not, what was the word we used? 10:02-10:05 It's a pulchral funereal. 10:05-10:11 There is a sense here that we are beginning to say thank you properly. 10:11-10:17 We give thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord, for He is our great high priest, 10:17-10:24 who has loosed us from our sins and has made us to be our royal priesthood to you. 10:24-10:30 There's so much compressed here, it's quite hard to know where to begin, 10:30-10:34 but what a preparation for taking communion. 10:34-10:41 I've been finding Torrance very helpful on the subject of the priesthood of Jesus, 10:41-10:47 particularly in this context, but I have to say also very, very challenging. 10:47-10:52 I really think I'm a bit out of my depth here, so please bear with me. 10:52-10:59 I've got the sense I'm beginning what's going to be a long journey of discovery. 10:59-11:05 I hope in the discussion I'll be corrected. 11:05-11:09 If I'm correct, the key to understanding for Torrance, 11:09-11:13 the key to understanding the Eucharist and worship in general, 11:13-11:20 can be summed up in the high priesthood of Christ in His vicarious humanity. 11:20-11:26 Of course, that embraces a huge amount of doctrine for which there's no time, 11:26-11:29 and I certainly couldn't deal with it now. 11:29-11:36 But in brief, because Jesus is like us in every way, except without sin, 11:36-11:41 as our representative and substitute, 11:41-11:49 His self-offering to the Father of His vicarious life of perfect obedience 11:49-11:57 and substitutionary sacrifice on the cross has loosed us from our sin. 11:57-12:04 In old Scots, we're loused. 12:04-12:09 Now risen and ascended, Jesus is in the very heart of God, 12:09-12:15 still our brother man, still our representative and substitute, 12:15-12:24 interceding for us eternally as our High Priest, the one true worshipper before God. 12:24-12:29 It is Jesus who is offering to God our sacrifice of praise, 12:29-12:32 which we'll come to shortly, in Himself. 12:32-12:34 We'll revisit that. 12:34-12:40 And it's Jesus who is the Royal High Priest in heaven, 12:40-12:45 who has sent the gifts of the Spirit on His church, 12:45-12:50 so that through and in and with Him in the Spirit, 12:50-12:54 we are made a royal priesthood on earth. 12:54-12:58 So this preparation for taking communion. 12:58-13:04 Then follows the Sanctus and the Benedictus, Isaiah 6, Psalm 118, 13:04-13:10 both sung, also a very beautiful part of this liturgy. 13:10-13:18 Then we move on to the narrative of the institution or inception, as Bill puts it. 13:18-13:22 One feature of this harks back to the prayer's history 13:22-13:26 and to something that the Reformers, Cranmer, wanted to change 13:26-13:30 and that was the idea of communion as the re-sacrificing of Christ. 13:30-13:34 Again, we've touched on this already. 13:34-13:37 And as we know, the medieval and still today, 13:37-13:41 the Roman understanding in many quarters is that 13:41-13:45 the bread and wine change in substance from bread and wine 13:45-13:50 to the actual body and blood of Christ through the priest's act of consecration. 13:50-13:55 And this led to thinking that the priest then offered, 13:55-13:57 still does in some places, 13:57-14:04 the real body and blood of Christ on the altar as our sacrifice to God 14:04-14:08 for the sins of the living and the souls of the dead. 14:08-14:12 So you can see there a huge gulf opening up 14:12-14:18 between the priest and the people in that way of thinking. 14:18-14:23 And the bread and wine are therefore worshipped and adored. 14:23-14:27 Calvin thought this was abominable idolatry 14:27-14:30 and a sink of pollution and sacrilege. 14:30-14:34 For Cranmer, it was repugnant to the plain words of scripture 14:34-14:38 and had given rise to dreadful superstitions. 14:38-14:43 And in this prayer, we have almost his exact words. 14:43-14:49 Where are we? 14:49-14:54 I've lost it. Help me somebody. Oh yes. 14:54-14:59 So, the narrative of the institution. 14:59-15:03 Jesus Christ has suffered death upon the cross for our redemption, 15:03-15:06 who made there by his one oblation of himself, 15:06-15:10 once offered a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, 15:10-15:14 oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. 15:14-15:19 It's bomb-proof. There is only one sacrifice and it is Christ's. 15:19-15:25 So in the epiclesis, we invoke the power of the Holy Spirit 15:25-15:32 on our receiving of the bread and the wine. 15:32-15:36 Not on, we don't pray that they will change their substance. 15:36-15:43 So consecration here is the action of Christ himself, 15:43-15:49 present, accomplishing in the Holy Spirit what the sacrament signifies. 15:49-15:54 And that's back to Calvin, I believe, and Cranmer. 15:54-15:56 The bread and wine remain what they are, 15:56-16:01 but signify reality beyond themselves in the Paschal mystery of Christ, 16:01-16:04 as Torrance puts it. 16:04-16:07 But it's interesting that in the Anglican church, 16:07-16:11 this whole issue of consecration is avoided. 16:11-16:16 Nowhere in any official literature, online or in book form, 16:16-16:20 will you find mention of the word 'consecration', 16:20-16:24 because it's a very tricky, touchy subject. 16:24-16:27 Ever since the Anglo-Catholic movement of the 19th century, 16:27-16:35 we are trying to deal with a completely Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist, 16:35-16:39 and at the same time not fall out about it. 16:39-16:42 And then we tend just to avoid things. 16:42-16:46 We're Anglicans, we don't want to deal with tricky doctrinal issues. 16:46-16:51 The official position though is that there is no transubstantiation 16:51-16:54 in the Anglican church. 16:54-16:58 And the instructions for the president, the priest, 16:58-17:07 at the institution is that they simply take the bread into their hands, 17:07-17:09 in the wafer. 17:09-17:14 But quite what they do with those hands is up to them. 17:14-17:18 So an Anglo-Catholic priest will break the wafer, 17:18-17:22 and then hold it up as high as he can, 17:22-17:26 put it back in the pattern, and then kneel or bow before it. 17:26-17:33 A reformed Anglican priest will break it and put it straight back in the pattern. 17:33-17:39 So you know exactly where your priest stands, doctrinally speaking, 17:39-17:42 by just watching his actions, except for one of ours, 17:42-17:47 who very carefully keeps the wafer at table level 17:47-17:49 and then drops to his knees in front of it. 17:49-17:51 So quite where he stands, I don't know. 17:51-17:58 So transubstantiation is alive and well in 21st century Anglicanism. 17:58-18:04 Echoes of abominable idolatries, perhaps. 18:04-18:17 So we pray that we will be partakers of the body and blood of Jesus. 18:17-18:21 Now if I'm right, if I'm correct, in reformed teaching, 18:21-18:25 the body and the blood of Jesus are not to be understood in themselves, 18:25-18:32 but as his whole work of salvation. 18:32-18:37 So when we receive the body and we receive the blood, 18:37-18:43 we're receiving Christ clothed in his Gospel in his whole salvation. 18:43-18:52 That makes more sense to me than somehow localising this eating in simply body and blood. 18:53-18:57 So when we take his body and we take his blood, 18:57-19:05 in our union with Jesus, we participate in all that he's done and is continuing to do. 19:05-19:14 So our act of remembrance then is one of praise and thanksgiving 19:14-19:18 for what is real in Christ, 19:18-19:24 in place of the holy and undefiled sacrifices of the Roman mass. 19:24-19:32 But if there is only one sacrifice, and if it is Christ's, 19:32-19:36 why is the word sacrifice here at all? 19:36-19:43 I thought communion was about receiving Christ, coming with empty hands, 19:43-19:46 not offering anything to God. 19:47-19:52 So is there in the prayer here, 19:52-20:00 'Therefore Lord and Heavenly Father, in remembrance of the precious death and passion, 20:00-20:04 the mighty resurrection and glorious ascension of your dear son Jesus Christ, 20:04-20:08 we offer through him this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.' 20:08-20:14 Are we offering something in return for receiving forgiveness 20:14-20:22 and all the merits of Christ's passion? 20:22-20:29 Now I think this question is only arisen because I'm thinking in dualistic terms. 20:29-20:38 I think any disjunction in our thinking between Christ and the sacrament, 20:38-20:44 between sign and reality, between our worship and Christ's worship, 20:44-20:46 between ourselves and Christ, 20:46-20:53 is bound to end up with abominable idolatries. 20:53-20:55 For Torrance, 20:55-21:03 'When the Eucharist becomes detached from the atoning life, death, 21:03-21:05 resurrection and ascension of Jesus 21:05-21:09 and his high priesthood in his continuing humanity, 21:09-21:14 we will look for the meaning in the right itself instead of in the living Jesus.' 21:14-21:22 But seen in terms of our union with Jesus in his body and blood, 21:22-21:30 of our participating in his vicarious life, faith, worship, prayer, thanksgiving 21:30-21:37 and self-offering to the Father, perhaps we could go as far as to say that 21:37-21:46 our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is Jesus worshipping the Father in us, 21:46-21:51 glorifying God in us. 21:51-21:54 Now I put this as a question. 21:56-22:00 If we think of Jesus as our great high priest 22:00-22:07 who has taken on all that we are and healed and restored and redeemed and sanctified us, 22:07-22:13 can we say that his eternal offering to the Father, 22:13-22:16 in which we are participating in the Eucharist, 22:16-22:20 is his finished work? 22:20-22:24 And aren't we his finished work? 22:24-22:32 In other words, is what Christ is offering on our behalf also us, 22:32-22:34 not only our worship? 22:34-22:40 And then our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving could be seen 22:40-22:46 as also part of his very life. 22:46-22:53 Again, no separation between Jesus himself and what is happening in the Eucharist. 22:54-22:58 I don't know the answer, I hope we can discuss this later. 22:58-23:04 But just to conclude, whatever form our Eucharistic liturgies take, 23:04-23:12 they are, at least they should be, I think, an attempt to express something of the reality 23:12-23:20 that when we worship the Father through the priestly mediation of the Son in the Spirit, 23:21-23:27 it is Jesus, the Son himself, who is the true content of that worship. 23:27-23:36 As Torrance puts it, it is a form of the life of the Son ascending to the Father. 23:36-23:39 Thank you. 23:40-23:45 [Applause]