Simply Anglican: An Ancient Faith for Today's World

by Winfield Bevins

The presider stands at the Communion Table, which has been set with a cup of wine and a plate of bread or wafers, and greets the congregation by saying, “The Lord be with you,” and the congregation responds, “And with your spirit.” The presider then prays the Eucharistic Prayer, which retells the story of our faith from Creation to the coming of Jesus Christ. The presider then blesses the bread and wine, and the congregation recites the Lord’s Prayer together. Finally, the presider breaks the bread and offers it to the congregation as the “gifts of God for the People of God.” The congregation then comes forward to the Table at the front of the worship space and partakes of the consecrated bread and the wine. After receiving Holy Communion, the congregation is blessed and sent back into the world on mission with the benediction and dismissal.