The Eucharistic worship service, as revised for the current Book of Common Prayer in 1979, recaptures the structure of the primitive worship of those early Christian communities. And while the service as we experience it on a Sunday today feels like a "unitary whole", in a sense it was experienced by attendees in the 1st-4th centuries as a service with two distinct parts −and that was intentional.

The first part was the ministry of the word and was open to convicted believers as well as to converts who were in the process of becoming members of the Church. These people were known as "catechumens," so named because, for security and safety reasons, they often met in caves (catacombs). This more "public" first part consisted of prayer and praise, biblical story and reflection. A very early development was the use of a three year lectionary cycle of gospel readings, modeled on the practice of the Jewish synagogue of reading through the Torah (the five books of Moses) over the course of three years. Over three years, an attendee at Episcopal worship will hear all the principle stories from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; Hebrew Bible selections which thematically relate to the gospel stories and some of the teaching of the Early Church from the collected letters (the Epistles). In addition to Bible lessons, the presiding minister would typically offer a reflection on the lessons read, applying them to community life.

This first part also contained times of praise with the chanting of the psalms and other spiritual songs and hymns and time for prayer and confession.

The first part of the service ended with a "holy kiss." ("Greet one another with a holy kiss…" Romans 16:16). In this expression, the people were mindful that they had been, as a community, absolved of their sins, and thus acknowledged their oneness − their equal status in the eyes of the Lord − by exchanging a greeting which symbolized the bond of unity and peace within the community of Christ.

Much more than a simple social "hello," the Peace profoundly calls us to be reconciled with one another before we can enter into the eucharistic meal.

Indeed, one of the bible verses the prayer book provides to be read is this one: "If you are offering your gifts at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24. BCP pg. 376)

Perhaps you have had the experience of being at enmity with another member of the church and, unable to avoid him or her at the Peace, found yourself, in exchanging the kiss of peace, unexpectedly reconciled by being drawn again into a larger vision. I certainly have and it is always a humbling experience.

For this reason, the Peace blessing should not be trivialized as a time to check calendars or to chat about your kids' school etc. Such inappropriate behavior has the downside of preventing the person you may be gossiping with from being confronted by the Holy Spirit with the need to offer forgiveness and reconciliation to another − or to receive it. Conversely, it is most appropriate that you intentionally seek out those you may need to forgive or to be forgiven by so that our community finds healing and wholeness as we enter into the communion meal.

Interestingly enough, because the Peace Blessing is joyous and marked by people moving about the sanctuary; visitors often leave at the Peace, mistakenly thinking that the service is over. That's unfortunate but not surprising for in the ancient Church, the unbaptized were unambiguously dismissed from the assembly after the Peace. In other words, the catechumens were allowed to hear the teaching and to enter into the praise and prayer but they were not allowed to participate in the Holy Communion because they were not yet fully a part of the Body of Christ through baptism. The peace then was, in effect, a hinge between the first part, the Ministry of the Word, and the second part: the Ministry of the Table, which we turn to now.

The second part begins with the offering. In these early times, all members brought something to the Eucharistic Feast. Vineyard workmen would bring wine, the women would bring bread and the poorest members of the community, the widows and orphans, would bring a bit of water to be mixed with the wine. At the end of the worship, leftover unconsecrated bread and wine would be distributed to the poor, while those who were sick or imprisoned would have a fragment of the blessed bread brought to them at home or in jail.

This second part was characterized by the prayer of consecration. Samples were eventually written down to aid less articulate ministers but originally the presider offered an extemporaneous simple summary of salvation history. Eucharistic Prayer D, which is virtually never used because of its great length, seeks to recreate the style of these early consecration prayers (see BCP pg. 372-376).

After the prayer, the people would receive their communion and then notice, the service ends very abruptly, almost shockingly so. After everyone has communicated, there is a short closing prayer and a blessing, a closing hymn and then we are quickly sent back into the world (dismissed) with this instruction: "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord." Having received Christ, we are to go forth and be Christ. As one of my early mentors use to say at the dismissal in his parish: "The service has ended, now the serving begins. Go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit!"

An aspect of the Ministry of the Table which has grown more obscure through inattention is the "Great Amen." If you thumb through the communion service in the Prayer Book, you will notice that, unlike every other iteration of the word "amen", the amen at the end of all the consecration prayers is printed in all capital letters. This singular use of all capital letters is to remind us that this use of the word means more than that which we modern Christians think of the word (as meaning, in effect, "the end".) The Great Amen at the end of the prayer of consecration is our assent to all that has been articulated for us by the celebrant.

The Episcopal Dictionary of the Church says this: "Great Amen. The response of assent by the congregation at the conclusion of the eucharistic prayer. As the eucharistic celebration is shared by the congregation and the presider, the Great Amen emphasizes the assent of the people to the words spoken on their behalf by the presider. The Great Amen is the "people's prayer" that concludes the eucharistic prayer. The Great Amen is printed in all capital letters in the BCP to emphasize the importance of this moment in the liturgy. Historically, the "moment of consecration" at the eucharist was considered to be the institution narrative in the western church. Some eastern churches understood the epiclesis (invocation of the Holy Spirit) to be the moment of consecration. However, the Eucharistic prayer (including narrative and epiclesis) is now understood to be a single text, with the consecration completed as the eucharistic prayer concludes with the people's Great Amen." (pg. 226)

As your minister, I have been remiss in not emphasizing this aspect of our communal drama and hence the subtitle of this article for Ebb and Flow ("say it loud!"). For far too long, far too many of us have mumbled our AMEN rather than to proclaim it boldly. As the "director", I call upon you as "actors" (not just the audience in the eucharistic drama), to stop blowing your best line.

In this third age of the church (the "post-Christian" age), although the structure of our worship comes from the first Christian Age, we no longer dismiss anyone at the Peace. Indeed, our ushers awkwardly try to encourage visitors, who may be confused, to stick around for the second act! Our theology, in some progressive churches, has undergone a paradigm shift in which all people, regardless of where they are on the spiritual journey, are welcome at the Lord's Table in the assumption that if they have come to Church (a counter cultural choice in this age), it's because the Spirit of Christ invited them here. Some would argue that this attempt at radical hospitality is more appropriate at coffee hour than at worship. Fine. But what we see of Jesus' ministry in those gospel stories we hear week by week, is the story of a man who ate with the despised and rejected, the scorned and the sinners and who invited all to "Come and follow me." In very truth, none of us −the sophisticated or the simple, the young or the older, newly churched or lifelong member − none of us fully understands this mystery called the Holy Communion. All we know with any certainty is that Jesus said to his friends: when you do this, you will be re-membered to me.