Changes

In seminary, my wife and I attended a dear Anglican church. It used the 1928 BCP, chanted the service, used incense, and the people there were just lovely. Though the parish was small, it was a family. After attending the church for a few years, we called a new rector. He young had a family and was excited to be at the church. A friendship quickly was struck between the two of us and our families. After a couple of months, he started making large changes. He switched from the 1928 BCP to the 2019 BCP. There was no more chanting in the service, no more incense, and a few other changes. I remember being so frustrated and I don't think that frustration was bad. You see, we have been catechized, instructed, and formed in a particular way. We are taught how we relate to God in our particular setting and when that is changed, it feels like your relationship to God is changed.

Change, while difficult, is not always bad, but it needs to have a reason behind it. Christianity, Anglicanism, the REC, and even All Saints have gone through different seasons and changes over the years (though never contrary to the essentials of the Christian faith). We trust that if done rightly, God is working in the midst of it. But I think there is real wisdom in the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." We also need to see that our faith is larger than just us. We experience this when we participate in the rich traditions and heritage that are passed down to us. In worship, we participate in the work that God has accomplished in his Church and the faithful lives of the saints who have gone before us. There is a reason why the Anglican liturgy is the way it is, for it is largely how the Church has always worshiped (at least in the West).

A few weeks ago, I added Communion from the Reserved Sacrament to the end of Morning Prayer on the third Sunday of the month. The reason was to offer the Sacrament as spiritual food for the Christian life to those who could not come to the 8 AM service. Holy Eucharist is the chief worship of the Christian. We are not like other denominations who think that the sermon is the chief point of the service and that Holy Communion is merely a memorial. No, we believe that Christ has ordered the Christian to receive him sacramentally and that it is not an option. The third Exhortation in the BCP reads:

"...I bid you all who are here present; and beseech you, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, that ye will not refuse to come thereto [to the Lord Supper], being so lovingly called and bidden by God himself. Ye know how grievous and unkind a thing it is, when a man hath prepared a rich feast, decked his table with all kind of provision, so that there lacketh nothing but the guests to sit down; and yet they who are called, without any cause, most unthankfully refuse to come. Which of you in such a case would not be moved? Who would not think a great injury and wrong done unto him? Wherefore, most dearly beloved in Christ, take ye good heed, lest ye, withdrawing yourselves from this holy Supper, provoke God's indignation against you. It is an easy matter for a man to say, I will not communicate, because I am otherwise hindered with worldly business. But such excuses are not so easily accepted and allowed before God. If any man say, I am a grievous sinner, and therefore am afraid to come: wherefore then do ye not repent and amend? When God calleth you, are ye not ashamed to say ye will not come? When ye should return to God, will ye excuse yourselves, and say ye are not ready? Consider earnestly with yourselves how little such feigned excuses will avail before God. Those who refused the feast in the Gospel, because they had bought a farm, or would try their yokes of oxen, or because they were married, were not so excused, but counted unworthy of the heavenly feast. Wherefore, according to mine office, I bid you in the Name of God, I call you in Christ's behalf, I exhort you, as ye love your own salvation, that ye will be partakers of this holy Communion. And as the Son of God did vouchsafe to yield up his soul by death upon the Cross for your salvation; so it is your duty to receive the Communion in remembrance of the sacrifice of his death, as he himself hath commanded: which if ye shall neglect to do, consider with yourselves how great is your ingratitude to God, and how sore punishment hangeth over your heads for the same; when ye wilfully abstain from the Lord's Table, and separate from your brethren, who come to feed on the banquet of that most heavenly food. These things if ye earnestly consider, ye will by God’s grace return to a better mind: for the obtaining whereof we shall not cease to make our humble petitions unto Almighty God, our heavenly Father." (BCP p. 88)

We must not forsake the gathering of God's people to receive him sacramentally. While this was the heart behind offering Communion from the Reserved Sacrament, something can be done for the right reasons but at the wrong time and in a way that causes more confusion than clarity. So, for now, I have decided that we will return to this parish's custom of Morning Prayer for the third Sunday of the month at the 10:15 service. In the meantime, I will seek further clarity on how to ensure that all can receive Holy Communion in a way that brings clarity and not confusion to the customs and traditions of the Church. That said, I want to encourage you all for the Sundays we have Morning Prayer, to come to the 8 AM service also, so that you can receive Christ in the Sacrament. Holy Communion is always celebrated and offered at the 8 AM service.

Grace and Peace,

Fr. Aaron