Invitations
Book of Common Prayer Invitation
If you truly and earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from this point forward in his holy ways; draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God.
A Meal for the Repentant and Baptized
If you have answered the call of Christ to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to walk from this point forward in all God’s holy ways; draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God.
Prefaces
These prefaces may be used before the invitations above to transition from the Service of the Word to the Service of the Lord’s Supper.
The Word Incarnate
Brothers and sisters, we have heard the Word of the Lord—read, preached, sung, and confessed. Now our God invites us to feed on his Word incarnate in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.
Joy and Reverence
As a sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, these signs are to be received with joy and thanksgiving, but also with reverence and great humility, for Saint Paul says that “whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
To the Foot of the Cross
As we come now to the Lord’s Supper, it is as if we come to the very foot of the cross. Let us with earnest sorrow confess and lament all our sins, which were the nails and spears that pierced our Savior. (Adapted from Daniel Brevint)
An Invitation to His Sacrifice
As we come now to the Lord’s Table, we come to remember the great sacrifice which Christ has made for our salvation. But as Saint Paul says, we come not merely to remember, but to participate—to partake in Christ’s body and blood. “The main intention of Christ [in the Lord’s Supper] was not the bare remembrance of his Passion; but over and above, to invite us to his sacrifice, not as done and gone many years since, but, as to grace and mercy, still lasting, still new, still the same as when it was first offered for us” (Daniel Brevint).
Seeking Jesus Himself in the Sacrament
Jesus has promised to be with us whenever we gather in his name, and never more closely than when we feed on Christ in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, of which he said, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood.” Daniel Brevint said, “I want and seek my Savior himself, and I hurry to this Sacrament for the same purpose that St. Peter and John hasted to his tomb; because I hope to find Him there.” As we come now to the Lord’s Table, come in faith, and seek Jesus himself in the sacrament.
The Savor of Life
As we come now to the Lord’s Table, we remember that this Supper is not merely a symbol, but a means of grace—a channel through which God gives his invisible, spiritual gifts. Many have been warned not to drink unworthily, lest they drink condemnation to themselves—and it is certainly important to examine ourselves, repent, and come in faith. But Daniel Brevint explains that this warning also points us to the great blessing of partaking worthily: “That the Lord’s Supper conveys grace and blessing to the true believer is evident from its conveying a curse to the profane. ‘Whoever eats unworthily,’ said St. Paul, ‘eats judgment to himself.” And how can we think that it is thus really hurtful when abused, but not really blissful in its right use? Or that this bread should be effectual to procure death, but not effectual to procure salvation? God forbid that the body of Christ, who came to save, not to destroy, should not shed as much of its ‘savor of life’ to the devout soul, as it doth of its ‘savor of death’ to the wicked and impenitent.”
Three Purposes
Daniel Brevint explains that there are three purposes of the Lord’s Supper. “The first is to set before us, as new and fresh, the holy sufferings which have purchased our title to eternal happiness. The second is both to represent and to convey to our souls all necessary graces to qualify us for it. And the third is to assure us, that when we are qualified for it, God will faithfully render to us the purchase. And these three make up the proper sense of those words, ‘take, eat; this is my body:’ for the consecrated bread does not only represent his body, and bring the virtue of it into our souls on earth; but as to our happiness in heaven, bought with that price, it is the most solemn instrument to assure our title to it.” Simply put, the Lord’s Supper shows us the sacrifice of Christ; gives us the benefits of that sacrifice, when received in faith; and assures us of heaven with God because of that sacrifice.
More coming soon