Episcopal Press and News

New Liturgy of the Lord's Supper Celebrated at Florida Acolyte's Festival

Diocesan Press Service. February 3, 1967 [51-2]

The joy and thanksgiving implicit in the Eucharist became very evident to participants in the new Liturgy of the Lord's Supper, celebrated publicly during the eighth annual Acolytes Festival at St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville, Fla. Celebrant was the Rev. Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., Ph.D., professor of liturgics at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, Calif.

The new service, used at the request of the Rt. Rev. E. Hamilton West, Bishop of Florida, marks the culmination of over 8 years of hard work and extensive research by the members of the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church.

This fall the Commission may request that the General Convention authorize the service for trial use throughout the Church. If it is authorized and well received, it could provide the nucleus of a possible revision of the Prayer Book.

More than 1,000 Episcopalians in the Diocese of Florida participated in the experience and experiment of the new Liturgy of the Lord's Supper, responding enthusiastically to the new order of service.

In his sermon, Dr. Shepherd presented some of the background for the new service which has developed from consultations with other churches in the Anglican Communion and also with liturgical scholars in other Christian traditions. It is new but not strange. "I trust you will not have the feeling you've been to any strange service. Episcopalians will feel at home with this service."

Dr. Shepherd told the congregation of the three major aspects in which the new liturgy differs from the present Prayer Book. First, the structure of the service is altered. "Once at the Holy Table, there is no interruption. This has been accomplished by putting all the prayers before the Offertory."

Second, the language of the service has been considerably modernized, though not completely recast. "The world has moved swiftly. Even since the last Prayer Book revision in 1928 many words have lost their edge or meaning. We have made many minor changes in the wording, and added new intercessions related to our life in the contemporary world."

Third, there is an attempt in the treatment of penitential sections to bring a better balance of devotion into the service. As Dr. Shepherd stated: "It is important to prepare ourselves for the privilege and grace (of the Eucharist) by sincere repentance, but we should come to the Holy Table in joy and hope and thanksgiving."

Participants commented: "Magnificent beauty!", "Tremendously moving!", "I felt I was more a part of the service and my mind was less likely to wander.", "I thought the new liturgy brought the congregation into the act. " Another said simply, "It's alive. " One parish priest commented, "I've always contended that Christian worship is not a spectator sport. This service proves it. "

Perhaps a most significant comment came from the composer commissioned by the Joint Commission on Church Music to prepare a musical setting for the proposed liturgy, organist-choirmaster Ronald Arnatt of Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, who was in Jacksonville to conduct the Liturgy of the Lord's Supper. "The new Liturgy from a composer's viewpoint, is very easily set to music. Many of the people on the Liturgical Commission had an innate musical sense; they used words that have good rhythm. There is a natural syncopation in the phrasing... "

Dr. Shepherd expressed the hope that everyone will acquire the study guide (Prayer- Book Studies XVII) which is available through The Church Pension Fund, 20 Exchange Place, New York, N. Y. He asked that interested persons forward their comments and suggestions to the Standing Liturgical Commission in the months to come before General Convention.

In referring to the action to be taken by General Convention, he emphasized that if the new Liturgy is received with favor, the Commission will ask for authorization for its trial use in the Church. Then everyone in the Episcopal Church will have the opportunity to use it and to perfect it before it finally becomes a part of a revised Book of Common Prayer.