In the Breaking of the Bread: A User's Guide to a Service of Holy Communion in the Anglican Tradition

By Leander S. Harding

This book is for people who are new to a form of Christian worship that is centered on the weekly celebration of the Holy Communion. It will be a help to people moving from a non-liturgical church to a more liturgical church and to those contemporary Christians who are seeking an ancient-future form of Christian worship. Those who are familiar with Eucharistic worship will encounter new treasures that have been hiding in plain sight. The book follows carefully the service of Holy Communion as it is celebrated in a local congregation, describing what is done and why. The service chosen is from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Christians of other traditions will find close parallels to the way this central act of worship is celebrated in their own tradition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Nov 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781498271363

Leander S. Harding

Leander S. Harding is an ordained priest of the Episcopal Church. After twenty-six years of parish ministry and eight years as a seminary teacher he now serves as Rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Catskill, NY. He is the author of In the Breaking of the Bread and Reverence for the Heart of the Child, both by Wipf&Stock.

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In the Breaking of the Bread

A User’s Guide to a Service of Holy Communion in the Anglican Tradition

Leander S. Harding

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In the Breaking of the Bread

A User’s Guide to a Service of Holy Communion in the Anglican Tradition

Copyright © 2011 Leander S. Harding. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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Manufactured in the U.S.A.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version.

Scripture quotations from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Rev. Leander S. Harding, Ph.D., is an Episcopal priest who has served rural, suburban, and urban parishes, and now teaches pastoral theology at Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge PA.

For Claudia

"And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you."

—Luke 24:30–36 Auth. (King James) Version

Preface

This little book has been more than ten years in the making. It started as notes for parish education classes for people who were new to a tradition of Christian worship centered on the service of Holy Communion, the Eucharist. These chapters represent the efforts of one parish priest to explain as simply and straightforwardly as possible what happens in a service of Holy Communion, what it means, and how to enter into the service in a meaningful way.

My hope is that people who are encountering Eucharist-centered worship for the first time will be helped to be taken up in wonder, love, and praise, and that people who are familiar with Eucharistic worship will encounter new treasures that have been hiding in plain sight.

The format of the book is a careful exposition of one of the Eucharistic services in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church USA (Church Publishing Inc., New York). This prayer book is the result of the renewal of liturgical studies in the twentieth century. The service is in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer tradition. Christians of other denominations will be able to apply much of what is said to the service of Holy Communion in their own traditions.

I especially hope that this book will be a help and encouragement to those Christians who are drawn to an ancient-evangelical future.

I want to acknowledge the encouragement that I have received to develop this book from the congregations I have served, and from my students and fellow faculty members at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. I am especially grateful to Dr. Christopher Wells, editor of The Living Church, for publishing excerpts from the work in progress.

Introduction

The Map

In the last chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, Chapter 24, beginning in the 13th verse, there is one of the most beautiful and haunting recollections of the risen Christ in the entire New Testament. It is the third day since the Crucifixion and two disciples are walking from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus, about seven miles distant. It is very likely that they were in a state of profound disappointment and confusion. The Lord in whom they had placed so much hope had died the cruel death Rome reserved for criminals and traitors. The fragile movement that had gathered around this Galilean rabbi had collapsed. People either fled the city like our two friends or went to ground like the group around Peter. As these two disciples are walking on their way to Emmaus they are talking about all the things that have happened.

As they are talking a stranger joins them. He asks them what they are talking about. They were stopped in their tracks by this question and looked sad. The Greek says literally that their faces fell. The disciple named Cleopas answered. Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem that does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?

What things? said the stranger.

The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.

Then he said to them, Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory? Then the stranger began to speak to the two disciples about what the Jewish scriptures, Moses and the Prophets, taught about the Messiah, the savior.

As they walked on their way, engrossed in what the stranger was saying, they came to the village. The stranger made as if to go further. They asked him to stay with them, for evening is at hand. They went in together and he took the bread and blessed it and gave it to them. It was a very normal thing to do. It was the kind of thing done all the time at Jewish tables, and especially when a group of disciples gathered with their rabbi. In that ordinary moment of the breaking of the bread, the eyes of the two disciples were opened and they recognized the Risen Christ and in that same instant he vanished from their sight. They looked at each other. They had known it all along. Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? The two disciples returned to Jerusalem and found the others who had had their own encounter with the Risen One and heard the proclamation of eleven that the Lord was risen indeed. In answer, Cleopas and his companion told them about how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Eucharist is a journey. It is a journey from the kingdom of death to the Kingdom of God. It is a journey from the time of this world that is ticking away to the time-fullness of the Kingdom. It is a journey from fear and despair to courage and hope.