What does the C of E believe the laity are for?
I have been contributing to the Church's Renewal and Reform stream on developing lay leadership, and 1 of the questions that has come up is: 'What does the Church of England actually believe near the laity and lay leadership?' I am not referring here to what some have called 'ecclesial lay leadership', that is, the leadership of lay people within the gathered church at services, such as being a Reader, leading the intercessions, leading small-scale groups and then on, important though these are. I am referring to the vision (if any) that the church every bit a whole has of the leadership that Christians exercise in their daily occupations by virtue of being baptised followers of Jesus in an unbaptised world. (This is rightly called 'leadership', since a leader is anyone that others are following, and we exercise leadership when we influence others and gild around us to modify in the lite of our religion in Jesus.)
To know what 'the Church of England believes' officially (rather than asking what the collection of people who happen to place every bit Anglican call back at any particular fourth dimension), you need to look at the canons and at the liturgy, since this is where the C of E articulates its doctrine. This would include looking at canons and liturgy relating to ordination, exploring what light that sheds on the whole people of God. But a primal part of the liturgy is the Communion service, and particularly the final movement (following Gathering, Liturgy of the Give-and-take, and Liturgy of the Sacrament) of the Dismissal. The Latin for dismissal is the origin of the Roman Catholic term 'Mass', so this is non an insignificant part of the service; the goal of gathering together, hearing God'south word to us and receiving the tokens of his grace in the breadstuff and wine are that we might be sent out into the earth, equipped and transformed.
The end of the service in the Book of Common Prayer consists of the Lord'south Prayer, 1 of ii quite long thanksgiving prayers said by the government minister, the Gloria (deliberately placed here so that we practice non offer anything to God before nosotros have received from him), and the blessing. The ASB significantly revised this: the Gloria moved earlier; the Lord's Prayer came before administration; and two new thanksgivings were introduced, a shorter one starting time 'Almighty God, we cheers…' said together, and a longer one 'Father of all, we requite y'all thanks…' said by the president. Common Worship tweaked this by offer both prayers to be said congregationally, with the outcome that the second prayer is at present used very much more oft. If we want to know what the liturgy thinks Communion has done for us, and what we are now prepared to do as we go out the service, then nosotros need to reflect on this prayer.
Father of all…
The prayer starts by addressing God as 'male parent', the distinctive Christian address following Jesus' ain distinctive exercise, so striking that it is preserved in the NT in hisipsissimum verbum 'Abba' from Aramaic. Our feel of God equally begetter is obtained for the states by Jesus' death and resurrection and delivered to u.s. past the presence of the Spirit in our lives.
The qualified 'of all' draws on some of the 'universalist' linguistic communication nosotros find in places like ane Cor fifteen.22: 'For equally in Adam all die, then in Christ volition all exist made alive.' Only this can only be understood every bit referring to universal salvation by detaching it from all Paul's other language nigh judgement and the need for a response to Jesus and reception of the Spirit of God. We should then read this equally 'Nosotros have experienced God as Father through Jesus past the Spirit…and that this feel is offered to all.'
Some would fence that, at this bespeak, we demand to accept seriously the writer's intention. David Frost, who wrote the prayer, probably intended the phrase 'Father of all' to imply that all humanity are God's children, whether they themselves believe it or non. But in the end, this phrase is derived from Scripture, and for the C of East, information technology is its scriptural context which needs to determine its meaning. God is, in principle, Father of all—but that fatherhood is not realised until people come to organized religion in Jesus and share his agreement of God as begetter.
…we give you thanks and praise, that when we were nevertheless far off you met us in your Son and brought the states home.
This is a fascinating expression for several reasons. The first thing to note is that, where the first, shorter prayer makes explicit reference to Communion itself ('we thanks for feeding u.s.a. with the body and blood of your Son…'), this prayer moves straight by what we have actually been doing and focusses simply on its theological significance—we have experienced coming together God.
Just, even more than interesting, information technology expresses this theology in terms parallel to the shape of the Eucharistic Prayer, using our agreement of salvation history. The 'we' who 'were all the same far off' is not the congregation gathered hither, nor the particular people maxim the prayer—after all, many of united states had church building backgrounds and might have had little sense of being 'far off' at any time in our lives. No, the 'we' hither is the whole of humanity, and this is the story of God'southward dearest for and action towards his globe.
And this salvation story is expressed by borrowing the language from the parable of the prodigal son and the loving male parent in Luke xv.
But while he was still a long way off, his male parent saw him and was filled with pity for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him (Luke 15.20).
In receiving Communion, we accept feel the running father, filled with compassion, throwing his arms around u.s.a. and kissing united states. And this is expressed in the kind of implicit Trinitarianism we find in all the gospels, but specially in John: in meeting Jesus, we meet God the Father, since Jesus is the presence of God tabernacled amidst united states of america. (This sense of a theological narrative applyingtheologically to humanity, rather thanbiographically to individuals, also occurs in Paul's account of sin in Romans one and his account of life without Christ in Romans vii.)
Dying and living, he declared your love, gave us grace, and opened the gate of celebrity.
The first phrase here is a reference less to Jesus' earthly ministry building (for which the prayer would say 'living and dying') and more than a reference to his expiry and resurrection, equally a complete human activity, something reflected in both Paul's preaching in Acts and his theology in his letters. The triple phrase that follows combines the annunciation of good news, its significance, and its constructive commitment to united states. The linguistic communication of 'glory' reflects the style John's gospel talks of the cross, as the identify of glorification of Jesus which reveals the glory of the Father.
May we who share Christ's body live his risen life;
There is an ambiguity here about 'sharing the body'; does it mean the physical sharing of the breadstuff we have just washed, or does information technology (as most scholars at present think nearly one Cor 11.29) refer to the participation in the body of Christ by all those who believe? The 'living his risen life' has echoes of Romans six, where Paul argues that the movement into the water in baptism signifies our participation in Jesus' death by the expiry of our 'old' self, and the movement out of the h2o signifies our participation in Jesus' resurrection ('from the waters of decease') so that the life we at present live is that resurrection life of Jesus, in anticipation of the age to come. The movement from 'sharing' to 'living' has a parallel in Gal v.25; if we have been given life by the Spirit/Jesus, let us walk by the Spirit/live Jesus' resurrection life.
nosotros who drink his cup bring life to others;
The parallel of the 'cup' to the 'bread' might suggest that both are references to Communion. But in the NT, to 'drink a cup' means to undergo an feel, particularly of suffering, as in Marking 10.38. Then as we endure considering of our obedience to God, later on the pattern of Jesus' faithful testimony, nosotros withal offering the discussion of life to others.
nosotros whom the Spirit lights requite lite to the world.
This third saying within this group brings the work of the Spirit in parallel with all that has happened, in line with Anglican understanding of the 'epiclesis', the invitation of the Spirit in the Eucharistic Prayer, which is on the people and not the elements, and so that we might empathise and receive aright. 'Giving low-cal to the world' picks up on Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount that we are a lite, but the implication is that the calorie-free shines in the darkness, which is expressed in powerful binary contrasts throughout John's gospel.
Keep us firm in the hope yous accept prepare earlier us, and then nosotros and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Following the pattern of the Eucharistic Prayers, nosotros motion from the past (what God has done in Christ for us and our reception of that), the present (what we face in the world as we exit) to the future—the ultimate time to come of the promise of Jesus' return, and the universal elements we find throughout Scripture that the whole earth will, in some sense, be redeemed and transformed.
This, then, is what the Church of England believes about the role of the 'laity', the people of God in the world. We have experienced the unique grace of the Fatherhood of God in Jesus by the Spirit, and nosotros are to offer that to all. We live distinctive lives which proclaim not our goodness, only the grace of God, bringing light into dark places, demonstrating a shared life in a broken world. And nosotros live in hope that God volition complete his purposes, and that one day 'the kingdom of the earth has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for e'er and always' (Rev 11.15).
This is a high calling, and one that our exercise has not always reflected. But is it ane we actually understand? I was discussing this with a (lay) friend, who has been a lifelong Christian and a member of the C of E for 25 years. 'Have y'all e'er reflected on this prayer, or been taught almost its meaning?' I asked. 'Non once' was the reply. As Stanley Hauerwas argues, nosotros exercise non demand to invent new initiatives, or grasp new strategies, so much as acquire to exist what we are. This challenges each of our traditions—for evangelicals to employ this liturgy, for Catholics to teach this liturgy (and not just assume it volition practice its work), and for liberals to believe this liturgy. And so, perhaps, the whole people of God might notice what they need to be faithful witnesses in the world.
Begetter of all,
we give you thanks and praise,
that when nosotros were nevertheless far off
you met united states of america in your Son and brought us home.
Dying and living, he declared your love,
gave us grace, and opened the gate of glory.
May we who share Christ'due south body live his risen life;
we who drink his cup bring life to others;
we whom the Spirit lights give low-cal to the world.
Keep us firm in the hope you have ready earlier us,
so we and all your children shall be gratis,
and the whole earth live to praise your proper noun;
through Christ our Lord.
This sense of the Church as the laity, dispersed in their diverse roles, is captured rather wonderfully by Dave Walker at cartoonchurch.com. I would add together, though, that this is not a particularly distinctive view of the Church of England; I recollect near other denominations would share this understanding of who and what the church building (and the laity) really are. Only it is overnice to confirm that this is the C of E's actual view!
(This article was published in a shorter version in May 2016)
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