15. The Eucharist
| MAIN PARTS OF THE SERVICE | NOTES |
|---|---|
| The Gathering | An introduction to the whole service |
| Prayer of Preparation (Collect for Purity) |
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| Prayers of Penitence (may include the Kyries) |
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| Gloria (not in Advent or Lent) |
|
| Collect (Prayer) for the Day |
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| Liturgy of the Word | Derived from the synagogue service which Jesus and his disciples attended in Palestine and which the Early Church took over and adapted |
| Readings before the Gospel | |
| Gospel | |
| Sermon | |
| Creed | |
| Intercessions (Prayers for others) | |
| Liturgy of the Sacrament | Derived from the Last Supper |
| The Peace | Our Risen Lord's greeting to his own. |
| The Offertory | We offer to God ourselves as symbolised by the bread and wine, manufactured foods which represent our life and work, what we are and what we do. We also offer our own special prayers and thanksgivings. |
| Eucharistic Prayer | |
| Preface, Sanctus and Benedictus | Preface, Sanctus and Benedictus – we are coming nearer to God's Throne. |
| Consecration | At the Consecration, when we repeat Jesus' words at the Last Supper, he takes possession of our offering and makes it his own. This is the very heart of the whole act of worship, when the bread and wine become the Blessed Sacrament of his Risen and Ascended Body and Blood, and when we join with him in offering to God his holy Sacrifice of himself, once made upon the Cross and now offered by him for ever in Heaven. |
| The Lord's Prayer | We join in praying with Jesus before the Throne of God. |
| The Breaking of Bread (Fraction) | Priest breaks the Host. |
| The Agnus (O Lamb of God) | We pray to the Risen Jesus in our midst. |
| The Communion | Jesus gives himself to us in his Risen and Glorified Body under the outward forms of Bread and Wine to renew us in his likeness. Then we possess him in our inmost being and he possesses us. And in him we should be made one with one another. |
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Dismissal Blessing |
Conclusion After the Eucharist we are meant to go back to our daily life to live as true children of our Heavenly Father – loving, trusting and obeying him – and as faithful friends of his Son Jesus Christ. |
The Eucharist, which Jesus gave us with his own hands on Maundy Thursday and commanded us to take part in, lies at the centre of the Christian religion and is the only perfect act of worship that can be offered to God. By it, our Crucified and Risen Saviour brings us in this life to his Father in Heaven, and renews us in his own likeness by uniting us with himself. (See also this diagram).