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CHAPTER 11
The
Great Thanksgiving
The
people and presiding priest offer thanks (make
Eucharist)
In the Great Thanksgiving "the presiding priest gives
thanks in the name of the assembly" (page 511). "The
celebration of the Eucharist is the work of the whole
People of God" (page 515). All present are in that sense
celebrants at the Eucharist. The bishop or priest presides
in the midst of the assembly and prays the Great
Thanksgiving on behalf of all.
Consecrating is not a "magical" power (with "magical"
words) which a priest or bishop has independently of a
celebrating Christian community. Hence, in "Anglican
tradition there shall be no celebration of the Eucharist
unless at least one other person is present to receive
communion with the presiding priest" (page 517). There were
debates in the past, not wholly in jest, wondering what
would occur if a priest went into a bakery and said "this
is my body." Would the church have had to purchase all the
loaves and reverently consume them? Those debates belong to
the same past in which the words "hocus pocus" were derived
from the Latin for "this is my body"! (Incidentally, at
Jesus' last supper, "this is my body" and "this is my
blood" were words of administration or distribution not of
consecration.)
God consecrates in response to the whole Great Thanksgiving
prayer (cf. 1 Timothy 4:45). And it is part of the art of
presiding the way the presider uses gestures and voice
which draws in the whole assembly and involves them in this
sense that this prayer is being proclaimed on behalf of
all. Education will also affect this, as will the design of
the liturgical space, the robes worn, and so on.
Gestures in the Great Thanksgiving are interpretive
rather than
consecratory,
and hence none are obligatory with the new texts. On the
other hand, gestures which do not relate to the text will
end up appearing consecratory, as does complex ceremonial
which requires a lot of explanation. The interpretive value
of the gestures is obviously reduced if the congregation is
not watching! Certain individuals find they can be more
involved in the prayer if they follow the written text. For
most, however, following in the Prayer Book gives the
impression of checking to see the presider does not depart
from the formula! Should a presider use a variation or
addition to the Great Thanksgiving, congregational flicking
of pages in search of the alteration is distracting. At
most, the congregation only needs the responses. These are
quickly learnt, particularly if sung. During the period
that the community is learning the responses a simple
announcement before the Great Thanksgiving can highlight
this approach: "If you need the responses for the Great
Thanksgiving they are to be found at the bottom of page
420."
With the growing familiarity with the responses to the
Great Thanksgiving there will be an enriched experience of
the way that the Eucharist is action
accompanied by
interpretive words. (Jesus said, "Do this to remember me," not "read
pages 436439 to remember me"!) This rediscovery is realised
in the community celebrating around the table and being
able to watch the presider who now faces the assembly
rather than hiding the eucharistic action.
A community is furthermore encouraged to respond from
memory by the regular use of one Eucharistic Liturgy with
one set of responses. The presider can use consistent
leads, tone of voice, and gesture to cue the assembly's
acclamations. (Moving from the extended hands of
orans
to joined hands is one
traditional way to indicate the assembly's cue.)
A community committed to memorised acclamations and
responses need not lack variety within a well known
structure. Since 1984, New Zealand, along with other
Anglican churches, has authorised a framework for
celebrating the Eucharist (pages 511514). This includes an
enormous flexibility within the eucharistic prayer while
still maintaining the possibility of using well known
responses. Writing original eucharistic prayers or adapting
existing ones will be explored further below.
The Great Thanksgiving is a unity; from the dialogue to the
concluding doxology and great "Amen." Although in recent
centuries only the "preface" and conclusion have been sung,
at one time the prayer was sung in its entirety just as the
Jewish table prayers were. When priests began to recite the
central portion of the prayer quietly, the music dropped
out. Lengthy musical settings were then written for the
Latin text of the Sanctus
("Holy, Holy,...").
Such music would have "covered" the silent recitation by
the priest of the rest of the eucharistic prayer. A brief
pause between the Sanctus
and the
Benedictus
("Blessed is he...")
often provided the moment for the elevation of the
"priest's" wafer and chalice.
With the renewed appreciation of the place of the whole
assembly gathered around the altar for the Great
Thanksgiving, briefer, congregational settings now replace
such choir settings. There are now several acclamations in
each of the Great Thanksgiving prayers (e.g. "Holy,
holy,..."; "Glory to you, Lord Christ..."; "Blessing,
honour and glory be yours,..."). In either singing all or
saying all of the acclamations the unity of the prayer is
recognised. Presiders too are increasingly singing the
whole of the Great Thanksgiving. This renewal also
recognises the unity of the whole of the Great
Thanksgiving. Those who criticise such a practice as being
alien to our culture forget how alien it is to sing
at
all in our
culture! Singing or chanting prayers has not only been the
norm in Jewish and Christian history, but it is continued
as normal in Maori worship to this day. This musical
renaissance is an invitation to musicians to provide modern
settings of the whole Great Thanksgiving prayer for both
presider and people.
Standing throughout the Great Thanksgiving is also a return
to the ancient JewishChristian posture for prayer. It makes
little sense to pray the words "with all who
stand
before you ... we
worship you" (page 423) while kneeling! Keeping the same
posture throughout the prayer again witnesses to the unity
of the Great Thanksgiving. Hence, announcements such as
"Let us pray" made after "Blessed is he ..." are to be
avoided. An announcement made in the middle of a prayer
interrupts its unity. Furthermore, "Let us pray" said in
the middle of the Great Thanksgiving implies that what has
occurred previously was not prayer! In any case, "Let us
pray" should not be equivalent to "please kneel," as if
kneeling is the only appropriate posture for Christian
prayer!
The only reference in the Prayer Book to what has sometimes
been called "concelebration" occurs in the "Additional
Directions" to the Ordination Liturgies: "It may be
appropriate for the newly ordained priests or the newly
ordained bishop to be associated with the presiding priest
or bishop during the Eucharist, but this should not include
vocal participation in the Great Thanksgiving" (page 923).
This rubric again highlights the understanding that the
presider prays the Great Thanksgiving on behalf of all
those present (including bishops, priests, deacons, and
laity gathered around the table) and it also underscores
the unity of the Great Thanksgiving. Whatever way is chosen
to involve other clergy present at a Eucharist, great care
needs to be taken not to give the impression of a clerical
caste. This care will include thinking about the visual
arrangements as well. It is not appropriate to delegate any
part of the Great Thanksgiving to a cantor.
The Prayer Book provides variations and additions to the
Great Thanksgiving for various occasions. Parts of the
Great Thanksgiving may also be omitted, and these are
indicated by brackets (pages 430 434).
Clashing symbols Actions speak louder than
words
Our actions can contradict the intention of the texts. For
example, one of the acclamations, coming directly after the
institution narrative in the Great Thanksgiving, is
addressed to Christ. If the presider addresses this
acclamation visibly to the bread and wine the action has
contradicted the intention of the text. Consecration does
not occur by formula, certainly not by the institution
narrative in the new eucharistic prayers (as the invocation
of the Holy Spirit, which follows, makes clear). God
consecrates in response to the whole Great Thanksgiving.
Gestures need to be consistent with this insight.
In our new texts the Last Supper account is addressed
neither to the bread and wine, nor to the congregation. It
is an integral part of the prayer and clearly addressed to
God. It is desirable that the presider's action at this
point is in accordance with this. The presider is not
mimicking the Last Supper during this narrative. The bread
is not broken and the wine drunk at this point, for
example. Furthermore, the whole
people of God
celebrates the Eucharist in persona
Christi (in the person of Christ). The
presider acts primarily in nomine
ecclesiae (in the name of the gathered
community).
Care needs to be taken that the presider's gestures for the
Great Thanksgiving do not clericalise the prayer rather
than encouraging the prayerful participation of all
present.
Our texts assume one bread, and one cup on the table during
the eucharistic prayer. If more wine is needed it could be
in a clear glass pitcher, a flagon or other vessel, placed
on the table at the Preparation of the Gifts and poured
into more chalices brought up after the breaking of the
bread. Placing the pitcher or flagon on the table indicates
the intention to consecrate this wine. Touching these
vessels during the Great Thanksgiving may give
inappropriate messages about how and when consecration
occurs.
Last century, manual actions for the eucharistic prayer
were imported into the Anglican Eucharist from the Missal
of Pope
Pius V. These often married poorly with the Anglican text.
They are even less appropriate for our new texts. Their
unsuitability is accentuated now with the presider facing
the congregation (except, of course, if the congregation is
not watching!)
Some ceremonial guides from overseas or from other
communions need adaptation to our New Zealand Anglican
texts for the eucharistic prayer. This is particularly true
when their texts have a different structure to ours.
Each of the New Zealand Anglican Great Thanksgiving prayers
is a single prayer. Its unity is best preserved if the
presider keeps gestures ("manual acts") simple and also
avoids changes in voice during the prayer.
Reading from the book at the altar can unfortunately be
done in such a way that one gives the impression that one
is following a recipe book. It can help to have the book
lying flat or else to have a card flat on the altar. This
can include the text, and any variant to the Great
Thanksgiving. In this way problems arising from having to
turn pages are also resolved.
Suggestions for gestures during the Great
Thanksgiving
Ceremonial needs to support the text and be suited to the
community, surroundings, and relative importance of the
occasion. Ceremonial should not highlight secondary
elements at the expense of primary ones. Gestures should be
graceful rather than sudden.
There are no gestures prescribed by A New Zealand Prayer
Book for
the Great Thanksgiving and so it is over to the presider to
use suitable gestures with which they feel comfortable. The
Jewish tradition of holding the bread and the cup
throughout the prayer of thanksgiving is now appropriately
chosen by some.
Others stand with hands raised in orans
throughout. This
traditional Christian stance for prayer has hands extended
and raised in a human gesture of openness, praise,
pleading, and offering. This simple posture is the prayer
posture of all the baptised. Hence, the assembly may stand
around the table also praying with their hands so raised.
The presider prays aloud on their behalf.
The bread and wine do not need to be touched in the Great
Thanksgiving. Breaking the bread in the institution
narrative was a novelty introduced in 1662 after the
universal practice of a separate fraction was lost in the
Commonwealth period. The breaking of the bread has now been
restored as a separate action after the eucharistic prayer.
It may surprise some that Orthodox priests have never
touched the bread in the eucharistic prayer.
Where ceremonial has been prescribed in A New Zealand Prayer
Book,
often the gesture is followed by a pause, and only then are
the interpretive words said. In the Prayer Book, for
example, the rubrics indicate that the bread is broken, the
presider pauses and then says, "The bread we break ..."
(page 471). Another example of this is that the bishop lays
hands on the ordinand, pauses, and then says, "God of grace ..." (page
897). Presiders may wish to reflect on this principle which
is followed here.
The following suggestions are for the Great Thanksgiving on
pages 420423. The principles proposed can be adapted by
each presider to whichever Great Thanksgiving is used.
Gestures are basically interpretive they highlight the
meaning of what is being said in the prayer and are not in
themselves necessary for "validity."
Introductory dialogue: The presider opens the hands in
greeting (as at the initial biblical greeting or at the
Peace) and then says, "The Lord is here." The hands are
raised for "Lift up your hearts."
The initial gesture of greeting may be resumed for "Let us
give thanks..."
The
Preface: (from
the Latin, praefatio,
meaning "proclamation" rather than "introductory") "It is
right indeed, ... for ever praising you and saying:"
The presider's hands are extended in orans. In turning pages both hands are
brought down to avoid giving the impression of fencing!
Sanctus & Benedictus: (Is 6:3, Ps 118:26, Mt 21:9)
The presider's hands may be joined together. This drawing
in of the hands is a gesture to encourage the
congregation's strong acclamation.
PostSanctus:
"All glory and
thanksgiving to you, holy Father;" (this is the briefest
"PostSanctus" in our Prayer Book. Compare this, for
example, with page 437, "All glory and honour ... eternal
life.")
The presider continues the prayer with hands extended.
Institution
narrative: "on
the night ... as often as you drink it, to remember me."
The presider may hold the bread (or paten) a convenient
height above the table throughout the words concerning the
bread. For the action to precede the words, presiders may
like to try lifting the bread before the beginning of the
sentence, which in this case means before "All glory
and ..." The cup may similarly be held throughout the
words concerning it.
It may, however, be preferable not to "take" the bread and
cup during the institution narrative. The "taking" is done
at the Preparation of the Gifts just as the "breaking and
giving" occur at the fraction and communion and these are
not duplicated during the institution narrative. The
presider can simply pray the institution narrative with
hands extended in orans.
In any case, gestures such as signs of the cross,
elevations, breaking the bread, bows, or genuflections have
little place at this point in these revised texts. They
give the impression that the character of the prayer has
changed at this point and that the presider is "doing
something" to the bread and wine other than giving thanks
over them.
The
Epiclesis
Memorial
Acclamation:"Glory to you, Lord Christ;
...Come Lord Jesus." The presider's hands may be joined for
any acclamation.
Anamnesis: "Therefore loving God, ... cup of
salvation."
The presider continues with hands extended in
orans.
Oblation: "Accept our sacrifice ... high
priest."
The presider continues in orans. Alternatively, the bread and cup
may be lifted in offering (cf. the doxology below.)
Epiclesis:
"Send your Holy Spirit
... your kingdom."
The presider may choose, in the ancient gesture associated
with the epiclesis, to "impose" hands over the bread and
cup. A sign of the cross over the gifts has also a long
tradition that some may wish to retain at this point,
crossing themselves for "that we, filled..."
The downside of these actions is that they can signify that
something is happening at this moment that is not happening
elsewhere in the prayer. Continuing to lead the prayer
in orans
at this point avoids
this.
Doxology:
"United in Christ
...
for ever. Amen."
The bread and cup may be raised in a gesture of offering at
this point. This is the high point of the eucharistic prayer.
"Eucharist" not only refers to the whole service, and to
the prayer of thanks, but originally also described the
bread and cup themselves. Eucharist is offered to God. If
there is a deacon assisting, the deacon, standing on the
presider's right, normally elevates the cup. The elements
are returned to the table after the "Amen."
As has already been noted, genuflections, elevations,
bellringing or other acts of veneration at the time of the
institution narrative are inconsistent with the theology of
the Prayer Book texts. An act of reverence after the
conclusion of the Great Thanksgiving, however, would be
appropriate. The Prayer Book also indicates ...........
The
Doxology
"silence may be kept" at this
point.
Writing
Eucharistic Prayers
The eucharistic prayer draws its shape from the
Birkat
hamazon,
the long prayer over the cup of wine at the end of the
Jewish meal. This meal prayer includes the request by the
one presiding, "Let us give thanks to God." The community
gives its assent that this one preside on their behalf, "It
is right to offer thanks and praise."
In the Birkat hamazon
praise is followed by
thanksgiving, then supplication. Finally, a doxology is
concluded by the community's "Amen." All these features are
preserved in the eucharistic prayer. Since earliest times
Christians have also included a greeting ("The Lord is here
...") and the invitation, "Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord." The Christian stress on
thanksgiving rather than praise is reflected in the title
"Eucharist" which is Greek for "thanksgiving."
The Last Supper narrative was inserted into the
thanksgiving supplicationdoxology structure of the
eucharistic prayer in two alternative positions. The church
in the East placed it within the thanksgiving. In the West
it was placed within the supplicatory material.
The
Book of Common Prayer has an unusual, fragmented
eucharistic prayer. Reception of communion comes in the
middle of this eucharistic prayer (which later continues
with "O Lord and heavenly Father,...."). It serves,
nonetheless, as an example of the Western pattern, with the
institution narrative coming within the supplicatory
section, "Hear us, O merciful Father, ...."
All Anglican revisions in New Zealand since 1970, however,
have followed the Eastern pattern of placing the
institution narrative within the thanksgiving. This has not
always been the case overseas.
As with the Collect, in this central prayer we are reminded
that as Christ's body we pray through, with and in Christ,
by the power of the Spirit to the Father. This trinitarian
emphasis is also reflected in the structure of the Great
Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving of the Father is followed by
memorial of Christ and invocation of the Spirit.
In the Prayer Book there is an authorised framework for
writing eucharistic prayers (pages 512514). Although
writing eucharistic prayers is not easy, this provision
expects that the gifts for this may be quite widely
present.
In the framework the introductory dialogue is fixed. As
noted above, the words "Lift up your hearts ..." unite us
with Christians over ten thousand Sundays, and many
denominations. "Let us give thanks ..." goes back even
further, to the Judaism of Jesus' time and earlier.
Thanksgiving for creation, revelation and salvation is
required but the wording is free. The "Holy, Holy, Holy
..." (Sanctus)
and "Blessed is he who comes ..." (Benedictus qui
venit) may
be incorporated. Many eucharistic prayers give extensive
thanks for creation. This and God's action among the Hebrew
people might precede the "Holy, Holy,...," with God's
action in Christ following the "Blessed is he..."
The institution narrative is fixed. Care needs to be taken
in placing a congregational acclamation directly after the
Last Supper narrative. This can give the false impression
that this narrative is the "moment" of consecration. In any
case acclamations are better introduced by a characteristic
cue line. For example,
"Gracious God, we now celebrate the memorial of our
redemption.
From the gifts you have given us
we offer you this bread and this cup,
and proclaim the mystery of our faith,
Christ
has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come in glory."
Another option is to have several congregational
acclamations throughout the text or a simple one repeated
at intervals.
The memorial of Christ and invocation of the Spirit again
are fixed and may lead into intercession and prayer for the
benefits of communion. A doxology (the wording of which is
free) and an "Amen" ends the prayer.
A single eucharistic prayer can not say everything. Hence
choices need to be made. In the West, rather than recite
all the acts of God in one prayer, proper prefaces
celebrated a particular aspect of God's action at a
particular celebration.
Examples of Great Thanksgiving prayers written to conform
to A Form
for Ordering the Eucharist are to be found later in this
book.
The
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer has had a very long association with this
point of the service. For more than sixteen centuries it
has been seen as the appropriate preparation for receiving
the Sacrament. It was placed in its present position, after
the Great Thanksgiving, by Gregory the Great (590604), in a
sense extending and concluding that prayer.
From the early church the "daily bread" was identified with
the Eucharist, the "living bread" which is "food indeed"
(John 6:51,55). We come seeking forgiveness and we forgive
others as we receive the cup given for the forgiveness of
sins. Through the Eucharist we are strengthened to hallow
God's name in our daily lives, to work and to pray that
God's kingdom may come, and to do God's will on earth as it
is in heaven.
The presider can assume the orans
position for the
Lord's Prayer. As this posture is the common possession of
all Christians and not reserved for the clergy, it is
particularly appropriate for the whole assembly to join the
presider in this posture for the recitation of the Lord's
own prayer.
There are several good congregational settings to which the
Lord's Prayer can be sung.
In introducing the Lord's Prayer, a theme or thread of the
service can be picked up by the presider. For example in
Advent: "Let us pray for the coming of the kingdom as Jesus
taught us."
Some
Questions
The third paragraph of this chapter says; "God consecrates
in response to the whole Great Thanksgiving prayer ...And
it is part of the art of presiding... which draws in the
whole assembly and involves them in this sense that this
prayer is being proclaimed on behalf of all. Education will
affect this, as will the design of the liturgical space,
and the robes worn." Having read this chapter it may be
helpful to have some trusted people review what happens
within this section of the Eucharist in your setting,
asking whether there are changes that might further enhance
the sense of participation that is referred to here by the
author.
