Worship, Revised and Expanded Edition: Reformed according to Scripture

by Hughes Oliphant Old

For the Reformers of classical Protestantism—Martin Luther (1483–1546), Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560), Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531), Martin Bucer (1491–1551), and John Calvin (1509–64)—there was agreement about the most pressing liturgical reforms needed in the celebration of the Communion service. The first thing was to translate the Communion prayers into the language of the people and for the celebrant to speak them in a loud and distinct voice. The second was to remove from the liturgy the sacrificial elements both in regard to the offertory prayers that were said when the bread and the wine were brought to the table and those prayers in the canon of the Mass in which the consecrated bread and wine were offered to God as a sacrifice. Third, the Reformers were agreed that when Communion was celebrated, all the faithful had to both eat the bread and drink the cup. It was not sufficient for the priest alone to commune, nor was it enough for the congregation to receive only the bread. No more was the Communion to be a show for worshipers who simply watched but did not participate. The first stage of the liturgical reform, then, was to translate the text, remove the prayers of sacrifice, and to emphasize the actual communing of the faithful.