6 It is time for the Lord to Act

In the Orthodox Church’s tradition, at the beginning of their Liturgy, the Deacon turns to the Priest or Bishop and says, “It is time for the Lord to act” it is a phrase in Psalm 119. It is a timely reminder that the Mass is not what we do, but what Christ our God does for us, as he comes to us in the service he gave to his Church.

Our Lord is not dependant on what we do for Him at the Mass, and in our Liturgy, when the Priest and the Ministers of the Altar begin their Prayers of Preparation during the singing of the first hymn, it concludes with this prayer,

Most gracious God, incline thy merciful ears unto our prayers,

and enlighten our hearts by the grace of the Holy Ghost:

that we may be found meet to serve thy Holy Mysteries;

and worthy to love thee with an eternal charity;

through Christ our Lord. Amen

This has the same intent as the simple phrase by the Orthodox Deacon

that we may be found meet to serve thy Holy Mysteries.

So we gather to serve our Lord as he comes to us, for which we ask,

the grace of the Holy Ghost.

Now, all of this is linked to our stance in how we worship – we all, Priest and People turn towards the Lord, and not each other. In the newer forms of worship, we face each other, and that can become a community gathering, with the danger that it becomes inward, and that we are the focus, it is us who do the Mass. Facing towards the East helps us maintain the sacred direction of our worship – toward our Lord and Saviour.

5 The Traditional Altar

As you can see by our images on this site, that when you enter our Parish Church the first thing that hits you is the Altar -  and that is right, as the Altar is to be (or should be) the most important furnishing in a church. The reason for this is because it is the focus of our worship, and for that purpose the church building exists for the Altar – not the Altar for the building – no Altar, no church - just an assembly room.

There is also another important point, because the Mass is where Christ Himself comes to us in the Eucharistic Sacrifice – for that is the central act of our worship. Again and again we are reminded that in the voluntary offering of Himself, Christ is the Priest, the Sacrificial Lamb, and the Altar. For that reason the Altar in our church, represents our Lord, and why it is reverenced. You see this reverence with the Priest and servers bowing to the Altar, every time they walk pass it, or when arriving and leaving, and that is done before and after the Mass, and also during the celebration. It is devout Anglican custom of worshippers as they arrive and leave the church. We are not reverencing a piece of furniture, an ordinary table, but Christ our Lord.

All Altars at their consecration are anointed with the oil of Holy Chrism on the five crosses carved into the top of the Altar, to signify the five wounds. of Christ. It is because of this understanding that the Altar is adorned in in beautiful brocades, according to the feast or season of the Church’s year. So, the Altar, representing Christ our King and Priest, who is robed in honour that is due to Him. It also is used to give visual prominence to the Altar in the building. This royal vesting is emphasised on Maundy Thursday when the Altar is dramatically stripped of all its vestments and linen, as Christ was stripped and laid bare on Good Friday. There is, however, an exception where churches have an Altar of fine marble with mosaic decoration or carving (like St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane). The custom then is to dress the altar bleached linen with simple Passion designs (as in Westminster Abbey). In addition the Crucifix is in a central position behind the Altar to remind us of our Priest, Sacrifice and Altar.

Christ is also the Light of the World.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness;

That was the true Light,

which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

We represent that in an array of candles, which echoes the vision in the first chapter of the Book of Revelation.

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstand  and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.

The candles are not there to help the Priest to read the order of the service..

There is another aspect of our celebration of the Mass, because the Altar is seen in its full splendour with singing of the order of service, the architectural structure of the church – ours is simple, but none-the-less helps to emphasize the centrality of the Sanctuary and the Altar. There is the ceremonial of the vested Priest and assistants. The censing of the Altar also adds emphasis – we are not trying to fumigate for silverfish and cockroaches – but honouring our Lord Himself. The words of blessing the incense make that clear, ‘May this incense be blessed by Him in whose honour it is burnt’.

We are fortunate in our church to have a church that maintains the tradition and the wisdom and reasoning of how to use an Altar.

4 Orientation - Facing East

In the third article I mentioned the various layers of involvement in celebrating the Sung Mass, that we are not all doing the same thing at the same time, but like a concerto various instrumental parts create the whole. This complexity creates the atmosphere of prayer and adoration. This fourth article is about orientation – facing east.

 When you come for the first time to the traditional celebration of the Mass there is one thing that is immediately noticeable, which will raise the question, ‘Why does the priest have his back to the congregation.’ However, it can be correctly put that in another way, ‘Why do the priest and the congregation face the same way.’ That is the right question, and the answer is, ‘Facing the east to the place of revelation – the place where God manifested himself in Christ.’

This tradition orientation is not unusual, as it is still observed by Muslims who face Mecca and the Jews face Jerusalem, the place of the Temple for their community worship. For Christians facing east is focussed on the Mount of Olives, for that is where Our Lord entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to begin his Sacrificial Offering upon the Cross. It was also the place of his agony in garden, where he made the final free will choice to drink the chalice of his death. It was the place of the Ascension, and the place where he will return.

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.                Acts 1:9-11

 The Christian faith is about the Incarnation, about God the Word becoming flesh, and joining the human family, our history, and our world. And so the Church Incarnational in its worship, and faces towards the Christ. There is also another factor of the East being the place of the rising sun – a symbol of the Risen Son. For this reason, facing to the place of Christ’s manifestation goes back to the very beginning of the Church’s worship. 

The orientation celebration of the Mass has another dimension in facing beyond our here and now, to something that transcends all of that. Another factor is the Priest is not to be the centre of worship. In the newer forms of worship, when constantly facing towards the congregation that is unavoidable, and worship can be an inward gathering of a community – a self-enclosed circle, and the Priest predictably becomes the centre. In the worst case scenario – an entertainer: a Priest jumping down the aisle like a kangaroo on Australia Day. In North Queensland beginning worship with a joke about a parrot. Those are the very extreme, and it is possible for the traditional form of the Mass to be badly presented.

To aid the sense of facing to the Lord is the way the Sanctuary is adorned, and you can see that in the pictures of our Altar area on this website. It becomes the natural direction of prayer. Like an icon it becomes a window into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Last of all the Priest is not always facing east. There are the frequent blessing before a prayer, ‘The Lord be with you.’ The invitation to offer the Bread and Wine that it will be acceptable to God and for the benefit of the whole People of God.

Then there is the invitation to come to receive Holy Communion, as the Precious Body and Blood of Christ are shown to the congregation,

Behold the Lamb of God,

behold Him that taketh away the sins of the world.

Blessed are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb. 

Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof,

but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.

Lord, I am not worthy, Lord I am not worthy. 

There is also the final blessing, the readings of Sacred Scripture and the sermon. So, there is interaction, but it does not dominate the offering of adoration at the Sung Mass of facing the Lord and his chosen place to manifest himself.

3 The Entrance Rites

 A bell is rung to begin the service, the congregation stands, and the organ plays a processional for the entry of the Priest and assistants, from the door at the west end of the church. When they reach the sanctuary, they reverence the altar and commence their prayers of preparation to serve at the altar by making the sign of the Cross, and the prayers begin: I will go unto the altar of God. Even unto the God of my joy and gladness”. Psalm 43

The congregation is now singing the entrance hymn, and the priest blesses incense and censes the Altar. The hymn may conclude during the censing and the cantors sings the Introit verse from the Gradual, a set of four sentences used during the service, for each Sunday and major Festival. This is the Introit for Advent Sunday:

Introit Antiphon: Unto thee, O Lord, lift I up my soul: O my God, in thee have I trusted, let me not be confounded: neither let mine enemies triumph over me; for they that look for thee shall not be ashamed. Verse: Show me thy ways O Lord: and teach me thy paths. Doxology: Glory be to the Father… As it was in the beginning… The Introit antiphon is repeated.

 This is the beginning of the traditional form of the Mass, and we can see that it is different to the average Anglican parish service. The difference is in the distinct roles undertaken.

The Priest and assistants do not sing the hymns, that is for the congregation. The sanctuary team at that time are preparing for their ministry to celebrate at the Lord’s Altar. The congregation do not sing the parts of the Gradual, that is the responsibility of the Cantors.

So, different things are happening all at the same time. It is rather like an orchestra playing a concerto, each instrument is playing, but to give a combined sound. In the Mass that it is one of reverence, adoration, prayer, and worship. Participation in the service is not every one doing the same at the same time.

 Footnote - Incense. The first Christians were Jews, who are familiar with the use of incense in worship, both in the Temple and in the synagogues. Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice .

The Book of Revelation seems to take it for granted that incense is a part of worship.

Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.                                                                                                Revelation 8:2-3

The Altar represents our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we reverence to our Lord, who is our Temple, our Altar, our Lamb of Sacrifice – but it is also symbolic of our prayers ascending.

Now some early Anglican music by Thomas Tallis, Anthem “Hear the voice and prayer of thy servants, that they make before thee this day. That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, ever toward this place, of which thou hast said, ‘My Name shall be there.’ And when thou hearest have mercy on them.”’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ResN-bC5zg Cut and paste into your Google search

2 Singing the Mass.

 In the first article I mention the term ‘Sung Mass’, and I need explain that further.

Many Anglicans who go to church on Sunday, will follow and order of Holy Communion that is in one of three prayers books that form our Australian heritage: 1662 Book of Common Prayer, 1978 An Australian Prayer Book, and 1995 A Prayer Book for Australia. The main service that day would be three to five hymns, with the priest and assistants leading the service. A Sung Mass is different. There will be hymns sung, but the actual order of the service is also sung. That is: the Kyrie, Glory be to God on high, the Creed, Holy, holy, holy, Blessed is he that comes of the Lord, and Jesus Lamb of God. However, it also includes the Collect (Prayer of the Day), the readings, and the final blessing.

 This tradition of singing goes back to the time of our Lord and the Apostles. The temple and synagogue services were sung or chanted. The temple had a large choir and musicians of Levites. Singing a service was normal and expected. The word ‘psalm’, comes from the Greek psalmoi, meaning music, as the  psalms make clear.

Psalm 81:1-2

Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.  Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

The Letter to the Colossians 3:16, suggests that singing should be a normal part of our personal prayers. 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

 For the first Christians, singing was a normal part of community and family worship. Jewish people today, at their family Passover celebrations, sing the key moments of that order of service.

 Singing the Mass on Sundays and festivals was a normal practice of the Church. Even at the Reformation, when Archbishop Cranmer published his first Prayer Book in 1549, the music composed for Holy Communion by John Merbecke was also published for ordinary congregations. This set the standard for Anglican sung services. Thomas Tallis also set many other parts of the Prayer Book to music.

So, with this information it becomes clear that not singing the Mass is to be considered unusual.

At Morningside we use the Merbecke setting. In addition, four other parts of the traditional service there are sentences of scripture which are sung to Gregorian chant.

For parishes not singing the Sunday service, there are plenty of modern settings for the newer orders of service.

It is worth finishing with the words of the great Bishop and theologian Saint Augustine of Hippo. ‘The one who sings prays twice’.

And in his greatest work – five volumes of commentary on the Psalms he mentions about Psalm 72: ‘In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving.’

1 Introduction to the Explanation of the Mass/Eucharist/Holy Communion

This explanation will be the first of articles on the traditional form of the Mass that we use at Morningside, and I will use the term ‘Mass’ as that is our Parish usage.

The traditional form, goes back to the work of St Gregory the Great in the 6th Century, and is the basic shape used by Cranmer in his first Book of Common Prayer (BCP) in 1549. He radically changed that in 1662, but since 1900 there has been a return to the traditional shape. 

Archbishop Reginald Halse, in his 1946 booklet Adoremus for parish worship in the Diocese of Brisbane for Sundays, mentions that as three hundred years have passed since the 1662 BCP it cannot be used as it stands. The reality was that many modifications had already become common practice, but were not in the BCP. 

A great Anglican authority is Dom Gregory Dix, an Anglican Benedictine monk, in his unparalleled book The Shape of the Liturgy which in 1945 awakened proper liturgical scholarship – and as the title suggest, there is a basic structure and form to the Mass, which we need to understand. Other conclusions to Dix’s findings have now caused a new edition of this classic work, 

So, this explanation will certainly help anyone in coming to the Anglican Parish of Morningside for the first time, and to see how the traditional form is offered. However, anyone interested in Christian worship will find it helpful. The explanation will follow the celebration of the Sunday Sung Mass, for that is the basic form. The celebrations of a said service derive from that fuller sung Sunday celebration.

Father Martyn Hope