On the way home from the retreat we stopped for Holy Eucharist in Denison, TX at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. The rector there is a fellow who went to seminary from our church, and though I had never met him, he is well known and loved by many of our group.
His sermon was wonderful...he referred us to the scripture of the day in the pew Bibles by page number, and that is something that doesn't happen much in the Episcopal Church. In my opinion, it needs to be a regular thing! I hope it will become so in our home parish, as we have recently had a fund drive to purchase pew Bibles and they are expected to arrive any time. We need to connect the four readings from the Bible TO the Bible in a real and hands-on way.
The Holy Eucharist was Rite One, the more formal and old-fashioned language. I don't know when I have heard it last, and oh, have I missed it.
There is a prayer in Rite I called the Prayer of Humble Access that is said by all, just after the Fraction (breaking of the Bread) and just before the invitation to the Table:
"We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful
Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold
and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather
up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord
whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore,
gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ,
and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him,
and he in us. Amen."
Rite Two does not seem to me to give a place to express these thoughts, and I don't know why. I NEED to say it.
Here's a shout-out to Thomas Cranmer, who wrote the words that resonate so deeply for me.
