Look who failed Sacramental Theology....

This is from the Liturgical Officer of the Episcopal Church????? Where did this guy learn sacramental theology - from the back of a cereal box? This guy has been the liturgical officer for TEC since 1994. I think this explains a lot about the present state of liturgy in the church.

Since You Asked: Why do we celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday?
March 31, 2008
[Episcopal Life]
The Rev. Clayton Morris, liturgical officer for the Episcopal Church, responds:
The worship life of the Episcopal Church is ordered in a series of rhythms. The liturgical year is punctuated by seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost and Ordinary Time.
From Advent to Pentecost, the life and ministry of Jesus is the thematic focus, Sunday by Sunday. From Trinity Sunday until the last Sunday after Pentecost, the weekly gathering of the community reflects on how it can "seek and serve Christ in all persons and strive for justice and peace among all people," in the words of the Baptismal Covenant. The week has its own rhythm.
The Book of Common Prayer calls the church to daily prayer, providing offices for morning, noon, evening and night. The prayer book also calls the church to gather as a congregation once a week to celebrate Eucharist.
Why does the church gather around a table with food and drink in its primary act of worship? Because God calls the church to a ministry of reconciliation. The church is called to restore the dignity of creation. It is all about feeding and being fed. It is all about making certain that all God's children are safe, whole and nourished. The ritual breaking of bread in the midst of the assembly reminds us of our task while it embodies its reality.
In its early history, the church always celebrated the Eucharist on Sunday. For a host of historical and circumstantial reasons, weekly Communion fell out of fashion over time so that, by the time Anglicanism was transplanted to the North American continent, Sunday morning worship without Communion was common. The drafters of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer were very clear about restoring the Eucharist to Sunday morning as a way of underscoring the church's ministry in the world.
So, as faithful Christians, we use the Daily Office in some form, alone or in community, to say our daily prayers. On Sunday, we gather as the body of Christ in the eucharistic assembly. We take bread, bless it, break and share it. Then we take our nourished bodies and souls into the world to do the work God has given us to do.

Okay, there is so much wrong with this, I barely know where to begin. But first, I'd like to know when we started using "Ordinary Time". Is this something from the dreaded Revised Common Lectionary? I object to the whole concept of "ordinary" time; there is no "ordinary" time, it's all redeemed time. "Ordinary" takes it out of the cycle of the life of Jesus and his work in the Church.

Then there is this: " From Trinity Sunday until the last Sunday after Pentecost, the weekly gathering of the community reflects on how it can "seek and serve Christ in all persons and strive for justice and peace among all people," in the words of the Baptismal Covenant

Oh, good, I get to go to Church to be lectured on social work. I have really had it with this whole "Baptismal Covenant". Why do these people take the last question from the Baptismal vows as the entire meaning of the whole thing? Where do they ever refer to this part of the "Baptismal Covenant" - "Do you believe in God the Father?" Or how about "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?" How about "Will you proclaim the Good News of God in Christ?"

How about this?
Why do we celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday?
Because Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the first day of a new creation, that's why.
Because the Eucharist has been the central act of worship since the very beginning of the Church. Gathering for the Daily Office is a good and holy thing, but the Eucharist is the supreme sacrament. In case the Rev. Clayton Morris missed that class, a sacrament takes you into the very presence of God, out of, dare I say it, "ordinary time", chronos, into the karios of God.


The church does not gather around a table with food and drink in its primary act of worship "because God calls the church to a ministry of reconciliation." Yes we are called to reconciliation, but not before we confess our sins and are reconciled with God! We gather because Jesus told us to, because in this sacrament we are united with Christ, because we are fed with the very Body and Blood of our Lord. The Eucharist is not about making certain that "all God's children are safe, whole and nourished." It's about bringing our sinful, broken, un-whole selves to the foot of the cross, to the altar of the Lord and receiving forgiveness and healing.