Anglicans Have a Full Gospel Church

One of the false assumptions that is usually made about churches with formal liturgical worship is that somehow they’re short on scripture. The error or “urban legend” that some wish to spread is that because Anglicans (you can also insert Roman Catholics, or Orthodox) have a structured worship that always includes a lot of written prayers and Holy Communion we are somehow not focused on scripture as a central point of our experience as Christians. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact our worship is not only structured to focus on scripture itself, just about everything we do and say in the Eucharist or Choral Offices comes directly from scripture.

Take the Eucharist for example. The Eucharist is divided into two basic sections: The Liturgy of the Word and The Liturgy of the Sacrament. The first half of our liturgy is devoted exclusively to scripture. There are readings from the Epistles and Gospels and sometimes readings from the Old Testament as well. The readings are set on a schedule called a lectionary which provides the worshipper with a guided lesson plan on the faith based upon the liturgical or church year. If you read the prescribed readings for Morning and Evening Prayer every day and attend the Eucharist on Sundays you will have read almost the entire Bible in one year. That doesn’t count any Bible study groups you might belong to during the week. That just assumes you’re following the church year and reading the designated scriptures for that day.

Many of the churches that consider themselves “Bible churches” don’t have that detailed of a scripture study program as part of their normal worship. A pastor can pick whatever passage of scripture he wants to preach on and cut loose. However, we Anglican priests aren’t normally encouraged to do that. Oh, I can preach on anything I want on any Sunday, but actually why would I want to do that regularly when I've got such a rich offering of readings from which to choose? Especially when the prescribed readings are so perfectly connected with the various events in the life of Jesus and his ministry.

Of course it does no good to have Bible readings if we’re not paying attention to them. If we let our minds wander rather than pay attention to what is being read we aren’t respecting the presence of Christ in the Word. In the third century the great Christian scholar Origin said:

“You who are accustomed to take part in the divine mysteries know, when you receive the body of the Lord, how you protect it with all caution and veneration…if you are so careful to preserve His body, and rightly so, how do you think that there is less guilt to have neglected God’s word than to have neglected His body?”

I suspect you may not have thought of our scripture readings as Origin did, but you should. Whenever we as Christians hear the Word of God we must affirm our belief in its truth and power. We must stand in awe of it just as we do at the Body and Blood of Christ on the altar. You see the separation of the liturgy into two parts is somewhat misleading because the Word of God permeates everything, including the Liturgy of the Sacrament. The Word was in the beginning with God and is without end. When God’s Word is proclaimed we should be attentive as well as meditative. We should allow His Word to wash over us and fill us because it is only by the Word becoming flesh, living with us, and dying for us that we are saved.

So if you happen to be an Anglican like me, the next time you hear someone suggest we Anglicans need to get more into scripture, invite them to church. Show them what being into scripture is all about.