Bishop’s Note: Prayer of Consecration Part Two

 Bishop Eric Menees

Last week in the Bishop’s Note we looked at the first part of the Prayer of Consecration known as the Words of Institution. We were reminded how in that mystical moment when the People of God gather with the priest around the Lord ’s Table, Christ is “remembered.” In that moment what was the past becomes the present and we both join Christ in the Upper Room and Christ joins us in our house of worship.

Today we look at the second part of the Prayer of Consecration, in which the priest, speaking for the people, recalls the gospel, the “Good News,” of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension and his promise to return as King and Judge.

“Therefore, O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the institution of your dearly beloved Son our Savior Jesus Christ, we your humble servants celebrate and make here before your divine Majesty, with these holy gifts, the memorial your Son commanded us to make; remembering his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and his promise to come again.”

In the following paragraph our sacrifice – our time, our praises and our thanksgivings – are offered to the Lord as we proclaim our faith in the forgiveness we find in Jesus Christ!

And we earnestly desire your fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; asking you to grant that by the merits and death of your Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his Blood, we and your whole Church may obtain forgiveness of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.

We continue with this act of faith by presenting our whole selves, hearts, souls, and bodies as reasonable sacrifices to the Lord and by asking that in our reception of this bread and wine, Christ’s Body and Blood, we may be filled with God’s grace.

And here we offer and present to you, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice. We humbly pray that all who partake of this Holy Communion may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of your Son Jesus Christ, be filled with your grace and heavenly benediction, and be made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him.

In this penultimate statement, we recognize and acknowledge our sinful state, both asking and proclaiming God’s mercy. It is always the case that at the same time we are cognizant of our sinfulness and we remember our righteousness in Christ Jesus.

And although we are unworthy, because of our many sins, to offer you any sacrifice, yet we ask you to accept this duty and service we owe, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offenses, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And all of this is said in unity with the Holy Trinity – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!

By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. Amen.

I pray you every blessing in this week’s worship!