Do Anglicans Wash Before The Lord's Supper?

Nov 18  Hudson Barton. Comments: 6

I have now attended or witnessed the consecration and ordination of two ACNA bishops.   The latest was Rt. Rev. William Thompson of ACNA's Diocese of Western Anglicans, who is slated as chairman of ACNA's liturgical review committee.  The earlier one in May of 2007 was Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, now of the ACNA diocese called "CANA".  

In both cases, after a sermon was preached and they were ordained, they proceeded to lead a celebration of the Holy Eucharist using the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.  At the point where the the service would normally have a confession of sin, the 1979 BCP allows the celebrant with discretion for "the occasion" to skip the confession of sin and proceed directly to the meal.  

In no Anglican Prayer Book up until 1979 was this practice allowed (to my knowledge).  So I recently asked a few of its fans what their justification was for dropping the requirement of public confession in the 1979 BCP.   As unbelievable as these reasons are going to sound to most Christians, they were that:
  • The confessional part of the Lord's Prayer is good enough. 
  • Occasional confession is good enough.
  • Corporate confession before the Eucharist can be replaced by voluntary private confession
  • The priest is doing confession on your behalf so don't worry about it.
They, both clergy and lay, even questioned the Biblical warrant for confessing sin before Holy Communion, thus seeming to show no recognition of how our washing in Baptism (for the remission of sins) is related to our remembrance of the life he shed on the Cross. 

Now back to the story of Minns and Thompson.  Their services of ordination and consecration were supposed to be watershed moments for the new American province which was formed, so I thought, to lead us away from The Episcopal Church and back toward our Anglican roots:  
  • In the case of Minns, the ordination (2007) was done by the "lion of Africa", Peter Akinola whose leadership as the head of GAFCON had been strong. I thought here surely the theology of Grace as presented in the 1662 BCP might begin to rub off onto the TEC oriented Americans.
  • In the case of Thompson, he was ordained by the man chiefly responsible for the founding of ACNA, Robert Duncan.  Here was a man (Thompson) whose love of and skill with Anglican liturgy was so highly regarded that he is now commissioned in ACNA to head a committee whose job it will be to prepare and publish a new Book of Common Prayer.  I thought surely that he would know his ordination was a good occasion to initiate liturgical reform, demonstrating his understanding of the problems in the 1979 BCP.
But no.  On both occasions the Holy meal was gobbled up without a preceding confession of sin.  Not a very good start for the bishops' ministries and not a very good witness to the saving work of Christ on the cross; He whose baptism cleanses us of all our sin and whose life shed for us is the foundation of our hope of Resurrection.

I am telling these stories with full understanding that men can make mistakes and that we can judge them too harshly.  Nevertheless, I think they demonstrate that ACNA's bishops do not yet comprehend their duty to preserve the teaching of the Apostles and to carefully administer Christ's sacraments.  Neither Anglican tradition nor Biblical authority permit us to celebrate Holy Communion without public confession of sin.
Laura Schick I'm in agreement with the first reason for skipping the confession: The confession in the Lord's prayer is enough. This is going to sound comical, but most probably true, that the confession was skipped because the service was celebrating ordination of two bishops. The coffee, tea, cakes, and snacks after such service were all prepared and people were hungry to begin the "party after the party." I say it's in an effort to make the service shorter and the "sit time" for the congregation easier. November 18, 2009
Informed Reformed "Neither Anglican tradition nor Biblical authority permit us to celebrate Holy Communion without public confession of sin." Please help me here as I do not undersatnd. At what point in either Gospel account, during the Lords administering of His Supper does it record the public confession of those present or its requirement? November 18, 2009
Hudson IR, By its nature, the Lord's Supper is not a private event but rather corporate. Remember also that there was a traitor at the Last Supper whose unconfessed evil intent toward Jesus himself while sharing bread and the common cup got him into a considerable amount of trouble. So its not to say that private confession is not a good thing, but it's no substitute. There's also the entire OT history of altar sacrifice and the importance of cleanness. November 18, 2009
H Lee Poteet The problem in both cases is that after thirty years of worshiping with an heretical rite, they barely have any idea of what Christianity is or is supposed to be. The Bible is still here, but they give almost no evidence that they have ever read it or thought to apply it to their own lives or their actions as Christians. I wish this were not so, but I am not willing to be self delusional. Akinola is a good man and the work of the Church in Nigeria is wonderful, but I also know that he hopes for the continued support of ACNA because of the immensity of his task and the poverty of his country. All in all it is simply so sad. But I rejoice that you recognized it and commented upon the same. January 30, 2010
Vincent Murphy The parts of a service which are dropped due to time constraints say a lot about the theological position of those responsible for the dropping, whether at a grand ordination to the Episcopacy or a parish mass that unavoidably starts late. Often, first to go is usually the Psalm and the Litany, so much so that they are often left out by default even when time allows. Next is that irrelevant OT reading that nobody knows the reason for. What is cut next is what interests me the most. Another reading? Intercession? The Creed? General confession? The Collect? Abbreviation of the Eucharistic prayer? The sermon? What does the decision on what to leave out say about what we feel is essential and important vs. what we feel is just pomp and empty words? February 03, 2010
Rebd david Haynes What is this shortening the service to allow time for fellowship.... and what is the business about not doing confession. The reason we are at and participating in our glorious Holy Eucharist is to worship the Lord. If you were to go back and read the Exhortations from the 1928 BCP, you would perhap? understand the importance of confession. A person who is not properly prepared and having mended fences with the Lord has no business approaching the Lord's Altar for that most Holy feast. I am shocked to say the least. March 11, 2010

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