Ceremonies of the Eucharist: A guide to Celebration

by Howard E. Gally

“Unlike liturgical manuals of the past, which were intended specifically for the use of the clergy, this book is directed to a wider audience―to members of parish worship committees, priests, organists and directors of music, lectors, deacons, cantors and other singers, bishops, altar guild members, acolytes―in short, to all who bear responsability for the planning and conduct of public worship.”
―from the Preface

So begins Howard Galley's classic guide to the Eucharistic liturgy, The Ceremonies of the Eucharist . Galley opens his formidable liturgical learning and veteran ecclesial experience for all worshippers to access. Throughout, he enhances his suggestions for practice with “the rationale and historical background” for his recommendations.

Genres: Religion, Reference, Christianity, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 1989

Reviews

[Justin Robinson]

Aimed at providing guidance for a medium-sized parish, this book is a great resource for all parishes. Moore provides practical and pastoral guidance to the celebrating of Eucharist worship services, while guiding the reader through the historical developments of actions and rubrics. Post-liturgical-movement, the author bridges the low and high church practices, giving any new celebrant a plan for balanced worship leading.

[Jack Mullins]

First post-liturgical-movement ceremonial book I've read. Interesting to read the liturgical ideals of one of the men who shaped the current Prayer Book. Thirty-five years later, many of his rubrics are now taken for granted, but others are being more and more commonly ignored. I come from a parish church which uses the modern liturgy but dabbles in Tridentine "extras." Interesting to read the modern liturgical ideals coming from that background.

[Steven]

pretty good overview. Some opinions about how things should be done don't reflect what I've seen in the 10 years of participating in the Episcopal Church in Utah, but they are good food for thought. I think that the time between publication and the present has caused further evolution of the service (not beyond the rubrics, but not in the ways recommended by Galley in all points).

[Eugene]

a must have for Episcopal clergy and lay people serving at that altar.

[Kate]

This is a really great book! It not only gives the history of the eucharist, but gives fantastic detail about everything a deacon or priest should know about - from setting the table to clearing it.

[Ross]

Being clergy in a denomination that is generally non-liturgical, I have had to seek out sources for liturgical practice, beyond just the BCP. This book provides not only a guide to practice, but also the reasoning and intention behind such practice. This is exactly what I needed and was looking for. This resources has helped to determine what practices are useful in my context, but also what values should be expressed, even if in different ways than the Anglican liturgy provides. While it is Anglican in focus, that works for me as my denomination is "downstream" of Anglicanism and so there is theological relation. Others outside of that context may have a different opinion, but should still find its explanations and historical accounts useful. I will be recommending this book to others.