Eucharistic Minister Training

1. Eucharistic Minister Training Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real

2. The Western Catholic Tradition A Breathless Tour …

3. The Early [Domestic] Church100-313 • Elements for Eucharist used domestic elements • Wicker baskets or wooden bowls were probably used • Vessels would reflect the size, means, and needs of the community • Ordinary bread and wine

4. The Early Church

5. The Early [Domestic] Church100-313 • Small communities worshiped in homes • Head of household often leader of church and worship • Emerging Christian theologies emphasize the importance of the Reign of God and living not for this world but the next

6. The Early [Domestic] Church100-313 Eucharistic Theology • Widespread use of sacrificial language for reflecting on the Lord’s Supper • Spiritualized sacrifice: the Christian life itself is to be a living sacrifice of praise, in imitation of the life of Christ • The Eucharist is a living memorial of God’s unsurpassable covenant revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus

7. The Rise of the Roman Church313-750 • Public buildings • Growing complexity of worship; attempts to standardize the liturgy • Church shaping basic tenets of the faith • New attention to the content & etiquette of ritual

8. The Rise of the Roman Church313-750 Eucharistic Theology • Roman Canon: filled with language of sacrifice and offering • Explanations that give new focus to the change of the eucharistic elements • Eucharist a memorial of Jesus’ dying and rising, not only recalling past events, but making them present through work of Holy Spirit

9. Early Medieval Period750-1073 • Church used as an agent of unification; establishment of a uniform liturgy • Large, expensive structures subdivided for different ritual foci • Laity restricted from designated areas close to altar • Singing of people not considered essential • Presiders read what was previously sung; change from reading texts audibly to silently

10. Early Medieval Period750-1073 • Centrality of the priest in worship • Large chalices still in use; those with handles rare • Smaller chalices: decline in the communion of the people

11. Early Medieval Period750-1073 • Christ’s presence emphasized in eucharistic species • Transformed bread in the form of a host put directly on tongues • Drinking through a tube replaced drinking from the cup • Eventually cup completely withdrawn from laity

12. Early Medieval Period750-1073 Eucharistic Theology • Not a period of great synthesis; more a time of questioning and theological exploration • Time of magico-religious interpretation of the sacraments rather than ethical, doctrinal, or even eschatological

13. High Middle Ages1073-1517 • Period of papal strength and stability; Roman direction and control of liturgical and eucharistic practice • Rise of the great universities • Growing dissonance between sacramental theology and devotional practices of ordinary people • Renaissance in arts and literature

14. High Middle Ages1073-1517 • Birth of the gothic: long, narrow spaces • Sanctuary, choir, nave • Importance of visual aspects of the liturgy rather than auditory; eucharistic devotion • Members of the assembly become spectators • Ordinary people found ritual satisfaction in non-eucharistic devotions

15. High Middle Ages1073-1517

16. High Middle Ages1073-1517

17. High Middle Ages1073-1517 Eucharistic Theology • Significant separation between philosopher-theologians and ordinary people • Priest (not Christ) main actor; also substituted for the assembly • Worship more about offering and intercession than thanksgiving; great attention on the effects of Christ’s sacrifice

18. Reform and Counter-Reform1517-1903 • 1517: Luther posts his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenburg • Papacy in serious decline • Time of great political and social change: political experimentation, age of exploration, • Many liturgical changes by reformers • Roman Catholic liturgical change stalled after Council of Trent (1545-1563)

19. Reform and Counter-Reform1517-1903 The Church in England • Henry VIII “defender of the faith” • Tudor dynasty; need for a male heir • Political more than theological or liturgical reform • Henry theologically conservative; theological and liturgical reforms came following his death

20. Reform and Counter-Reform1517-1903 • Protestant Reformers • Renewed emphasis on preaching • Emphasis on the Word sometimes overshadowed the Eucharist • Congregational vernacular song important tool of reform • Council of Trent rejected vernacular and banished all “lascivious or impure” music

21. Reform and Counter-Reform1517-1903

22. The English Reformation • C of E separated from papal government, but not as radically changed in structures, practices, and teaching as continental reformers • Bishops still served as overseers; now appointed by crown rather than pope • Church moved to worship in English

23. The English Reformation • The Elizabethan Settlement tried to find a “middle way” to avoid conflict • Act of Supremacy • Act of Uniformity • Reforming Bishops returned from Germany and Geneva • Divisions between Calvinists and “Catholics” that still persist

24. The English Reformation • People received wine as well as bread in Holy Communion; encouraged to receive regularly • Stress on individual faith and intelligent participation of the people • Church defined by BCP and pattern of worship rather than by statement of doctrine

25. The Church in the Colonies • First Prayer Book service: Drake’s Bay, 1579 • Virginia: church developed a democratic, congregational style of government; valued independence • New England: Calvinist dissenters; C of E supported by societies in England; valued ties with England

26. The American Episcopal Church Following the Revolution: • Needed Bishops; Seabury and the Scots • Forming a new national church: House of Bishops and House of Deputies (all dioceses represented by equal numbers of clergy and laity) • Church survived and grew: seminaries founded, mission work in N. America and beyond

27. The American Prayer Book Scottish Influences: • Collection offered with bread and wine • Epiclesis • Prayer of Oblation “Here we present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, . . . • Familiar words of introduction for The Lord’s Prayer • Attempt to recover ancient sacrificial pattern of the Eucharist

28. The American Prayer Book • How to remain Anglicans faithful to the tradition of The Book of Common Prayer while still revising that tradition in light of their new social and political context. . . . • The church was free to revise the official prayer book, taking into consideration those theological understandings that made the greatest sense in the new world. [Lee]

29. The American Prayer Book • First General Convention: 1789 • Adopted 1789 BCP • Subsequent books: • 1892 • 1928 • 1979

30. The American Prayer Book Mid-nineteenth century challenges: • Civil War, immigration, industrialization, biblical criticism, evolutionary theory • The Oxford Movement: deeper appreciation of the sacraments; renewed interest in liturgy • Need for greater flexiblity in worship most apparent in urban settings

31. The American Prayer Book Big Names in Liturgy: • William Augustus Muhlenberg • Singing • Altar in center • Weekly Eucharists • Concern for poor and working people

32. The American Prayer Book Big Names in Liturgy • William Reed Huntington • Leader in House of Deputies • Controversies stemming from Catholic Revival and liberalish: reaction • 1892 BCP: modest revision: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis appear

33. The American Prayer Book Big Names in Liturgy • Edward Lambe Parsons • 1928 BCP • New prayers, • concern for social justice, • provision for more ritual acts, • greater sensitivity to ecumenical concerns

34. The Liturgical Movement • Ecumenical movement would transform the worship and self-understanding of all the Christian churches in the twentieth century • Began in RC monastic communities late 19th/early 20th centuries • Roots can be traced back to the Reformation and resulting scholarship • Attempted to recover worship patterns and texts of early church

35. The Liturgical Movement • Leaders of movement had a passion for recovering the fundamental pattern at the heart of Christian worship, a pattern they discerned clearly in the witness of the early church but not in the liturgy of their own time. [Lee] • Anglicans: parish communion movement focused on connections between worship and social action

36. The Liturgical Movment • US: William Palmer Ladd and his student, Massey Shepherd • Driving forces behind Prayer Book revision • The Hymnal 1940: liturgical music designed to be sung by congregations • Liturgy the shared work of priest and people • Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission began in 1946

37. Prayer Book Revision Trial Use • Prayer Book Studies • The Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper • The Green Book • The Zebra Book • The Blue Book

38. Prayer Book Revision Changes reflected broad outlines of the Liturgical Movement: • Insistence on baptism as the fundamental sacrament of ministry • Essential pattern of eucharistic worship on the Lord’s Day • Sense that participation in the liturgy has profound implications for the life of Christians in society

39. The 1979 Prayer Book • Overall, the 1979 prayer book has moved worship in the Episcopal Church from being an experience primarily of text to one of liturgical actions. • Congregation participates • Thus these actions can become vehicles for the activity of God in shaping and reshaping the community of believers. [Lee]

40. Ongoing Revision • Hymnal 1982 • Wonder, Love, and Praise • Lift Every Voice and Sing • Voices Found • My Heart Sings Out

41. Ongoing Revision • Enriching Our Worship 1: additional texts for Daily Office and Eucharist • Enriching Our Worship 2: Ministry with the Sick or Dying, Burial of a Child • Book of Occasional Services • Lesser Feasts and Fasts • Holy Women, Holy Men • Rachel’s Tears, Hannah’s Hopes • Daily Prayer for All Seasons