The history of the Advent Wreath is a bit clouded, but its popularity throughout Christendom today goes back to more recent times.

The Wreath itself can be traced back to pre-Christian Germanic tribes, who sought to break the bleakness of winter by lighting candles and invoking the sun god to return with the warmth and brightness of spring. In a symbolic fashion, they created a wreath of evergreen, in which they placed candles. The evergreen would remind them of life, and the round wreath would remind them of the circle of time, and that spring would indeed return.

In Scandinavia, there was a similar custom, with candles placed around a wheel and prayers offered to the god of light to turn the wheel of light toward the sun to lengthen the days and restore warmth.

This tradition of a circle with lighted candles was gradually adopted and adapted by Christians, so that by the Middle Ages, wreaths of evergreen and candles were being used as a spiritual preparation for Christmas.

But, it was not unto after the reformation that the custom caught on, and became quite popular in Germany.

Closely associated with Lutheranism, the custom involved placing four candles in a wreath of evergreen, and, as each candle was lit, Scripture was read, along with prayer, in a family devotion, especially using the custom to instruct children on the Coming of Christ.

Over time, as other denominations adopted the custom, particular Biblical meaning was placed on each candle, specifically pointing to Jesus Christ as the Light of the World, as we find in John 3: 17-21.

Today, we place five candles on the Advent Wreath: three purple, one rose (or pink), and one white.

In typical Anglican tradition, one candle is lit each Sunday of Advent, until all four candles are burning on the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Then, on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, the fifth candle (the white one) is lit.

Symbolically, the first purple candle lit represents Hope; the second, Love; the third candle, pink, signifies Joy; the fourth, purple, is for Peace; and, finally, the fifth, white candle stands for Christmas, the birth of our Saviour Who is the Light of the World.

The pink for the Third Sunday in Advent has its origin in a papal tradition around the fifth century,with the pope blessing roses to be sent to Catholic sovereigns on the Fifth Sunday in Lent. The effect was to break the solemnity of Lent, and this custom was passed over to Advent, where rose becomes the color of the Third Sunday, called Gaudete Sunday, taking its name from the Latin word Gaudete, meaning "Rejoice", the first word of the introit of this day's Mass, thus breaking the solemnity of Advent, and its solemn preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord, and the expectation of the Second Coming.

Regardless of the season of the year, everywhere one looks, there is beauty and tranquility, and the wonder of all of God's Creation. Here it is for us to enjoy and to preserve. And we are one of the great wonders of his Creation.

We are, creatures of God, creatures in His Image, set apart from the rest of living things because we are created in God's Image, endowed with a soul, a conscience, a will.

With our creation came also a responsibility and a duty: to worship our Creator for He is the source of all that we are. Indeed, we were created for that purpose out of love.

While as human beings, our purpose in life is to worship God, even so as Christians we have been given all the tools needed to carry out that duty and responsibility.

God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, revealed Himself to us in a way that we could see Him through His Son. And through that revelation, we can see God's presence more clearly in all of His Creation.

At the same time, It becomes more and more clear that we live in a sacramental world.

This clarity comes through the Sacrifice of His Son to rescue us from our rebellious nature, redeem us, and make us whole again as children of God, adopted by and joined to our Heavenly Father through infinite love.

The sacraments left to the Church are reflections, in a real sense, of all of God's Creation: the "outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace."

God used the familiar to bring to us the invisible, unfamiliar, and, in particular, His Grace through the operation of the Holy Spirit.

The familiar: just as the leaves and blooms of trees in the spring are an outward sign of the life within, so it is that the outward signs of the sacraments of the Church, as in the water of baptism, the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the Laying-On of Hands of Confirmation, and so forth, signify that "inward and spiritual Grace given unto us; ordained by Jesus Christ Himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof."

Of all God's creatures, we are set apart as rational beings, capable of discerning good from evil, and capable of truly loving and caring. We are even capable of accepting or denying our own Creator.

Thus, accepting God as our Creator, we come face-to-face with our duty and responsibility to worship Him, and to offer ourselves to Him in the spirit of that love by which we were created and are sustained.

In His Church, we come together in communion with all the Saints, joining together with the Angels and Archangels, and the whole company of Heaven to worship and glorify God in the form and manner given to us, wherein, we are fed and nourished with the Bread of Heaven, the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

To worship God: our human duty and responsibility from which all else flows.

Feria: it appears on the Parish Calendar from time-to-time, but what is it? Simply put, a Feria is a day, other than Saturdays and Sundays, when no other feast falls. It is derived from classical Latin, and originally meant "feast day or holiday," but somewhere along the way, the meaning was changed, and now it means the opposite.

In ecclesiastical use, Ferias are broken down into three classes: Privileged, Greater, and Ordinary. From here it becomes a bit complicated, with the Privileged Ferias being Ash Wednesday, and the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Holy Week. Greater Ferias are the weekdays in Advent and Lent, Rogation Monday, and September Ember Days. The Ordinary Ferias are the days outside Advent and Lent on which no other feast falls.

This is, perhaps, the simplest way to look at Ferias. Fortunately, there is the Ordo Calendar to tell us which days are Ferias, and the Missal to provide additional liturgical guidance.

What we mean by Three-fold Ministry is the clerical orders of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon. Each one of the three orders of clergy has its Apostolic origin, indeed, the Apostles were the first Bishops of the Church. Jesus Christ chose them from among His Disciples and committed the Church to their care. It was to them that He gave all authority over the Church, with the expectation that they, in turn, would appoint successors to continue the Church in their absence.

This delegation of authority, we call Apostolic Succession, and through the Laying On of Hands, that authority has continued unbroken from our Lord Himself. It is that authority which validates the Sacraments of the Church, of which the Sacred Orders of Clergy is one.

We may recall that there are Seven Sacraments: Baptism, Holy Eucharist (or Lord's Supper), Confirmation, Penance, Holy Orders, Holy Matrimony, and Holy Unction.

Clearly, the Bishop is the successor to the Apostles, and a shepherd of Christ's flock. Only the bishop can confer Holy Orders and administer Confirmation. It is said that "where the bishop is, there also is the Church."

The subordinate orders of Priest and Deacon exist as extensions of the Bishop, their functions defined and limited.

Though a Priest may be indelibly marked through ordination, his authority is dependent upon the Bishop, without whom he cannot function. He ministers to the people committed to his care, celebrating the Holy Eucharist, spreading the Word of God through teaching and preaching, and pronouncing God's Absolution and Blessing. He is often referred to as the Bishop's right arm.

Deacons normally assist Priests under the direction of the Bishop. They have limited sacramental authority, and are excluded from celebrating the Holy Eucharist, and pronouncing God's Absolution and Blessing.

When a Deacon assigned to a Parish with a Priest resident, the supervision of the Deacon is delegated to the Priest-in-Charge (or the Rector, as the case may be) by the Bishop, who retains ultimate authority over both Deacon and Priest.

Scripturally, we find reference to Deacons in the Acts of the Apostles, when seven were appointed to wait tables and carry the Lord's Supper to the sick. One of the most notable Deacons was St. Stephen, who was also the first Christian Martyr.

Over time, especially with the necessity of having a Priest (or Presbyter, as they were first called), the role of the Deacon was expanded, but still with certain restrictions as we have noted.

Deacons are permitted to baptize, officiate at marriages, preach, carry Communion to the sick and shut-ins, and, in the absence of the Priest, they may celebrate what is often called a Deacon's Mass, that is, to administer the Holy Communion from the Reserve Sacrament. Deacons do other things as well to assist the Priest, such as reading the Gospel, and administering the Cup during Communion, but are restricted from pronouncing the Absolution or giving Blessings. Of course, Grace before meals is not a restriction!

Our worship invokes the senses of sight, sound, and smell, each contributing to the beauty of worship, and the offering up of ourselves entirely to God, in ritual that transcends our own Christian heritage, and draws upon our Jewish roots, from vestments to bells to incense; the Cross, statues, and candles.

Sight

Our place of worship, and our ritual depend very much on sight. We have the ornaments of the Church that include the Cross, the candles, the Altar, the flowers, the hangings with their colors for the various seasons, and so forth. We also have stained glass windows and statuary. And, then, the vestments. Each has a purpose and a history. They all direct our attention to the worship of God. They all add beauty to our worship.

Central in our Church is the Cross on the Altar. It focuses our attention on the loving sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross that we may be rescued from sin. On either side are candles symbolizing that Christ is the true light, and reminding us that in the beginning the world was in darkness, and God said, "Let there be light, and there was light and God saw that the light was good."

As we look around, we see the hangings with the colors of the Church season, the Altar prepared with a white cloth, and the Eucharistic vessels covered with a veil the color of the season.

When the clergy enter, the priest is vested in a white garment called an alb, to which is added a stole, maniple, and chasuble in the color of the season. Each has a meaning, and the use of vestments can be traced back, according to the Rev. Wm. Arthur Darby, in his book Church Vestments, published in 1856, to the Book of Exodus, perhaps even to Genesis, each giving meaning and symbolism to our public worship of God.

There is, of coursse, much more that we see in our Church. Whether it be a Cross or candle, a statue or a hanging, the Altar itself, each has a special meaning fulfilling the purpose of stimulating our sense of sight as we worship God in a place where we can feel his presence with all our senses.

Sound

While we may take music for granted, bells are another story. Generally, the church has three sets of bells: tower bells, Sanctus bells, and sacristy bells.

Tower bells are rung before the beginning of a service and also traditionally tolled solemnly for funerals, and joyfully after weddings, and on other joyous liturgical or public occasions.

The Sanctus Bell is so called because it is rung at the beginning of the Sanctus during the Eucharist. It may be a small silver bell, a group of bells, perhaps a gong, or even a switch connected to the tower bell. The Sanctus Bells are rung during the liturgy to call attention to important moments. This was especially important in the earlier days, when the liturgy was difficult to hear, or was said by the priest in a language not understood by most of the congregation. The bells are often used, even when the liturgy is in English, because people's attention does tend to wander.

During the Eucharist, the bells are rung: three times at the beginning of the Sanctus; during the consecration when the Host and chalice are elevated; when the priest says "Lord, I am not worthy" before his own communion; and when the priest says, "Behold, the Lamb of God," as a signal for the communicants to come to the altar rail.

The sacristy bell is rung as a signal that the priest is about to enter the sanctuary from the sacristy at the beginning of a service, signaling the congregation to stand.

Not the least of our sounds is the music by which we are lifted up, and our powers of meditation enhanced. It is the sound of music before, during, and after the service, not just the hymns, but often the parts of the service that are sung or chanted by the priest or the choir, or, on occasions, a cantor. Music itself can inspire us and heighten our senses.

Smell

When we think about the sense of smell, and how it might be stimulated in worship, there is a moment of pause, and the thought "what are we talking about?"

What we're talking about is "incense". It has been used in liturgical worship from early Old Testament times through the early Church, until today. It is widely mentioned in Holy Scripture, and not just the Old Testament. We find many references in the New Testament.

In St. Matthew, we read of the Magi bringing frankincense as a gift to the Christ child, and we might also remember the words of the Christmas carol, "We three kings": "Incense owns a Deity nigh" mean that incense is a sign of our belief in the Real Presence of Christ, the Son of God.

In the Book of Revelation, in chapter 5 verse 8, we read of "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints".

It is not an innovation of some later period of the Church, and its use is not confined to the Eastern Church, or Roman. Indeed, in the Church of England, the use of incense in was prevalent until the mid 1600s, when it fell into disuse generally, and subsequently became illegal. Even though, it was illegal, it continued to be used in worship in isolated instances, such as in York Minster, and since the mid 19th century , its use has spread and increased. It is used throughout the ACC, and on special occasions at All Saints'.

Incense can heighten our participation in the liturgy by stimulating the sense of smell. It also provides colour, movement and sound as the thurible is swung, and its chain "chinks" and "tinkles".

And, when we burn incense, we are reminded that our prayers, like the incense, ascend to the throne of God, and mingle with the prayers of the Saints in heaven.

We have looked at hearing, sight, and smell and though it has been only a cursory look, it does give us some idea of their contribution to the beauty of worship, and the offering up of ourselves in ritual that transcends our own Christian heritage, even drawing upon our Jewish roots.

The beauty associated with the Church itself in its furnishings and lighting, especially the candles; in its music, in all the sounds, whether musical instruments, bells, or voices; in the smells, whether emanating from incense or flowers: all lead to a heightening of our senses, and draws us into a special spiritual posture for the worship of God.

All these things, that some may regard as "trappings," tell us that we are in a special place, a place of dignity and beauty, set aside for the particular purpose of the glory and worship of God. Here, because of that specialness, we find ourselves closer to God, as if in his very Presence.

During and following the Protestant Reformation, many churches were stripped of their furnishings, the candles, the crosses, statues, and even, in some instances, music. What was left was a cold structure, hardly befitting the joyful worship that we should be offering up to our Creator.

Fortunately, not all the churches in England were stripped completely of their beauty, and with time, most were restored to their pre-Reformation glory.

So, we may conclude that the beauty and dignity of our worship of God incorporates more than words, more than actions; indeed, it incorporates the totality of what and who we are, by affecting all our senses, drawing us into a special place, posture, and attitude, where we are able to give over our whole selves to God in worship.

In a word, "yes"! What the Book of Common Prayer refers to as the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion may be called by many names, including those above, as well as Holy Mysteries, Sacrifice of the Altar, and Blessed Sacrament.

Each provides a meaningful description of what we are celebrating and receiving, for example:

Holy Eucharist: a service of Praise and Thanksgiving.

Holy Mysteries: above our understanding.

Sacrifice of the Altar: showing our Lord's Death til He come Himself.

Holy Communion: that we receive our Lord in His Body and Blood.

Blessed Sacrament: the holiest of all Spiritual joys.

Moreover, as the Holy Eucharist is both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament, it is offered for both the Living and the Dead. It is an ancient custom, Scripturally based, that we remember the faithful departed through prayer during the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist; in particular, we do so, here, through the Priest's Intentions, stated before the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ's Church.

Perhaps, we can best understand and accept this service as a Holy Communion or Eucharistic Sacrifice when we remember that it is Christ Himself Who offers, consecrates, and gives His Body and Blood unto Everlasting Life. He does this through the Priest here on earth, while presenting the same Sacrifice in Heaven, which He pleads in Glory before the Throne of God.

Truly, it is a Holy Mystery, beyond our human comprehension; yet, through this Holy Mystery, we are united to our Lord, in Communion with Him, through His Body and Blood, which we receive under the consecrated Bread and Wine. We are fed and spiritually nourished through this Heavenly Banquet.

By this Offering, not only of bread and wine, but also of ourselves, our souls and bodies, as living sacrifices, we commemorate and show forth our Lord's Sacrifice on the Cross, that One, Full, Perfect, and Sufficient Sacrifice, Oblation and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.

It is often a custom in a Parish for the Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament to be used for the Communion of the sick and, in times of necessity, for Communion from the Reserved Sacrament, at such times as when the priest is ill, or otherwise unavailable to Celebrate the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and wine.

This is a universally accepted custom in the Church, going back many centuries, though, for a while in the English Church, during the Reformation era, it was disallowed.

The procedure for Reservation of the Sacrament is essentially the same throughout Catholic Christendom.

Following the Eucharist, the remaining Sacrament to be reserved is placed in suitable vessels.

The Consecrated Bread or Hosts are placed in a Pyx, a small metal box of silver, or a Ciborium, a silver container similar to a chalice with a lid.

The Consecrated Wine is placed in a glass cruet with an airtight stopper.

These are then placed in the Tabernacle, which sits on the Altar, or in an Ambry, which is attached to or inside a wall near the Altar.

The Tabernacle, or in the case of an Ambry, is lined with silk and has a lock.

In close proximity to where the Reserved Sacrament is kept, there is a light referred to as a Sanctuary Lamp, which burns continuously when the Reserved Sacrament is present.

Though traditionally the Sanctuary Lamp should contain olive oil, at All Saints' we use, instead, bees wax candles, as we do for our Altar candles, except for the two large ones which do burn oil.

While the Sanctuary Lamp traditionally is a white light, we use red as is frequently the custom in many Parishes.

The Reserved Sacrament is used primarily for the Communion of the Sick, and on Good Friday for the Mass of the Presanctified; however, at All Saints', we keep sufficient Sacrament in Reserve in the necessity of a Deacon's Mass, should only a deacon be available for a scheduled service.

We also have an Ambry as well as a Tabernacle. In the Ambry are kept the Consecrated Oils to use for Anointing the Sick, or for anointing a person at the point of death (often referred to as Last Rites), for anointing a person during Baptism, and for anointing a person at Confirmation.

There is hardly a time at All Saints' when the Sacrament is not present in the Tabernacle, and, thus, we all should be aware and pay proper respect to Its presence, the presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord.

As we go through the Church Year, we recognize and pray for various saints of the Church: the Apostles, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and many of those who have been specially recognized by the Church for their unique contributions to Christianity.

While these prayers for saints are just for a limited few, or more specifically, those canonized by the Church, we should and do offer our prayers for all the saints in heaven; for indeed, those who die steadfast in the Faith become saints in heaven as the final blessed state of the faithful. This we affirm in the Apostles Creed and find so eloquently expressed in the final paragraph of the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ's Church.

And, as we pray for the saints in heaven, all those who have gone before us, they, in turn, also pray for us: mutually, we pray that we may grow in the knowledge and love of God; that we may receive the abundance of his Grace; that we may persevere in the Faith; and that we may all in the end be united to Him in life eternal.

We pray, during each celebration of the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, for the faithful departed of our Parish Family, as well as we pray for the living in their time of need or adversity.

While Protestants in general are reluctant to invoke the prayers of the saints, Catholic Christians, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, are more readily accepting of this aspect of the Communion of the Saints. It is Scripturally based and sound practice.

However, we must always keep a distinction between asking for prayers, and worship, or adoration. We must keep in the forefront of our minds that while invocation of the saints is important, it also is subsidiary in our worship and in the life of our Family in Christ.

It is through prayer that God's power and love, his blessings and succour are sought and found, both for us in this world and in the world to come.

Our 1928 Prayer Book is actually a number of books combined into one. In fact, there are five distinct parts of the Prayer Book,representing the five distinct books from which it is derived.

The first, The Book of Common Prayer, covers pages 1 thru 64, in which we find the Daily Offices or Services of Morning and Evening Prayer. These two offices were derived from the Breviary of the Middle Ages, and pared down from the seven daily monastic offices to our present day two. There are additional prayers and thanksgivings in this part of the Prayer Book, as well as the Litany and Penitential Office.

The second book is The Book for the Holy Communion, pages 65 thru 270. A successor to the medieval Missal, it contains the service of Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, along with the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels to be used throughout the Church Year.

Third, The Book of Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, pages 271 thru 342. Interestingly arranged to follow the Christian throughout his life, this part of the Prayer Book reflects the special services of the old Manual: Baptism, Office of Instruction, Order of Confirmation, Solemnization of Matrimony, the Churching of Women; then, the Visitation of the Sick with provisions for the Anointing of the Sick, and Communion of the Sick; and finally the Burial Offices.

Then, we have the fourth book, The Book of Psalms, or Psalter, pages 343 to 526. In addition to being arranged in numerical order, the Psalms are also grouped for us in daily Morning and Evening Prayer so that over a month's time, the entire Psalter is read.

Finally, book five, The Bishop's Book, or The Ordinal, beginning on page 527. In medieval times this would have been the Pontifical, containing the rites and ceremonies pertaining to the function of the Bishop, and include the Consecration of Bishops, the Ordination of Priests and Deacons, Consecration of Churches, and the Institution of Rectors into parishes.

And tucked in at the end of the Prayer Book are the Catechism, Family Prayer, and Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. 611 pages in all, not including the Roman numeral pages at the beginning which cover the lectionary, preface, table of contents, calendar, and so forth, and two pages Concerning the Service of the Church. All very interesting reading.

Our Prayer Book was not born in 1928 -- 1928 was the year that it became of age. Its real beginnings were in the early Church itself, when custom and tradition served to order the freely composed prayers and hymns. Indeed, by the end of the 2nd century, less than a hundred years after the last Apostle's death, short manuals, known as Church Orders, were in use, the most notable being the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hyppolytis of Rome, composed before the year 200.

Gradually over the centuries, texts were ordered representing the usages of principal Sees or jurisdictions. Then, during the middle ages, liturgical books were put together containing the formularies used in the services. The difficulty here was that each officiant in the service had a different book that contained only his parts of the service. To keep the service together and in proper order, a separate officiant was needed who had the Directory, or Ordinary, that contained all the cues and rules of liturgical procedure. In England, this was commonly called the Pie.

By the ninth century, the difficulty of such a cumbersome system led to codifying the different parts of a single type of service into one collection, such as the Missal that contained all the parts necessary for the Holy Eucharist; the Breviary for the Daily Offices; the Manual, or Ritual, with the Occasional Offices; and the Pontifical, with the services reserved to the Bishop.

Over the centuries, these Prayer Books or Sacramentaries evolved, until, to make a long story short, we reach the Reformation, and Archbishop Cranmer, who produced the first Prayer Book of 1549. Other revisions followed until 1662. It was the Prayer Book of 1662 that was in use in the Colonies at the time of the American Revolution, and was the basis, along with the Scottish Communion Office of 1764, for the first truly American Book of Common Prayer in 1789. And then, we come to 1928 and a final revision that drew from the English Proposed Book of 1928 and the 1911 Scottish Prayer Book.

Thus, the Prayer Book we have today has a very complex history and we owe a great debt to Archbishop Cranmer for his phenomenal effort in compiling such a magnificent expression of our faith. It remains the finest example of liturgical worship in existence, the best expression of Christian Catholic Theology, a masterpiece of the English language, and a definitive statement of Anglican theology.

Many Christians today pretty much take for granted the worship of the Church, and assume that what they do in their own denomination is just what the early Christians did.

But, what did early Christians do? How did they worship? How did worship evolve in the Church to what it is today?

Though the Apostles first acts were to spread the Gospel by preaching and teaching, it was re-enforced by worship. Essentially, those early believers in Christ continued in their Jewish traditions, worshiping in the Temple and the Synagogues.

However, to this Jewish tradition, they added what were distinctly Christian components, primarily Baptism and the Eucharist.

Though Baptism was also a part of Jewish religious practice as a personal repentance for sin, it took on a greater meaning in Christian practice to become, not only a repentance for one's sins, but also an assurance of forgiveness and the incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church. It was and is the once and for all initiatory rite, whereby one receives the Holy Spirit, and comes into the Church.

The Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper, for a time, was celebrated at the close of the Agape or fellowship meal, which was an extension of the Passover meal.

With these two essential elements which transformed their understanding of Judaism itself, early Christians faced a very practical problem: how to conduct worship?

Wanting to carry on with their old Jewish worship practices, while incorporating the new meaning and content, they found that they could not do both together.

Their immediate solution was to do both in parallel: they kept their normal hours of prayer in the Temple, and continued their Synagogue worship; then, on Sunday, following the Sabbath, they celebrated the Lord's Supper as Jesus had commanded.

To comply with our Lord's command, while keeping their Jewish traditions, the early Christians connected the Eucharist with the Resurrection.

Thus, as Jesus had been crucified on Friday, the day before the Jewish Sabbath, and had risen on Sunday, the third day, or day after the Sabbath, that "third day" (or Sunday) was deemed to be the Lord's Day, and His presence was experienced in the consecrated gifts of bread and wine. This parousia, as it was called, was the encounter of the people with Christ's new life in His Resurrection and, thus, it became natural that the Lord's Supper or Eucharist should be celebrated each Sunday, or Resurrection Day.

Within a very short time, a typical pattern for early believers had evolved: Synagogue worship on the Sabbath, followed by gathering after sundown for the Lord's Supper on the Lord's Resurrection Day. (Jewish custom was that the next day began at sundown.)

However, these early Christians soon came under persecution from their fellow Jews, and were forced out of the Temple and synagogues. Hence, the Church was faced with: how to structure its own form of worship?

They borrowed from the structure of synagogue worship, which consisted of prayers, a confession, eulogies, readings from the Scriptures, a homily, and a benediction. To this structure the celebration of the Lord's Supper was added and a form of worship, that was specifically Christian, evolved.

Though the worship of the Church would to continue to evolve in its structure, by the end of the first century, the core, or the synagogue structure, had developed into what is commonly referred to as the Liturgy of the Word. To the core had been added the Eucharist, inserted prior to the benediction. Finally, included in this now Christian Form of Worship was the use of sung or chanted Psalms, which had also been part of Jewish worship, and of which St. Paul had encouraged their use as in the singing of "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs".

So often, we have discussed the importance of the worship of God; it is the purpose of human beings to worship their Creator. Indeed, we were created both to love and to worship God.

From the advent of the Church until the Protestant Reformation, despite its shortcomings, the Church was committed first and foremost to the worship of God.

With the Protestant Reformation, that changed. Worship was relegated to the back seat, and preaching and teaching were put behind the wheel.

Certainly, the Reformation was needed to purge the Church of many of the evil practices that had crept in over the centuries, under the administration of us human beings.

But, sometimes, the pendulum swings too far in the other direction, and, in the case of reform, it was a very wide swing away from Church's basic purpose of worship, and the administration of the Sacraments that incorporate its members fully into Christ's Living Body.

Truly, the commission of the Church includes preaching and teaching the Good News, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We Christians, corporately and individually, are charged with spreading the Word of God to the ends of the earth.

BUT, in order to do this, we must first offer ourselves to God in prayer and thanksgiving, giving Him the worship He is due as our Creator and Heavenly Father; we are to praise and adore Him, and above all else, to offer ourselves in His service.

The emphasis on preaching, teaching, and petition which was a result of the Reformation redirected our focus from God to ourselves. Our attention was now on listening to a sermon, and then asking God for what we thought we needed or wanted.

That is not what God has purposed for us. In the words of the Rev. Archibald Campbell Knowles, in his book The Belief and Worship of the Anglican Church:

God wants worship; He wants praise; He wants thanksgiving; He wants love -- deep, fervent, adoring love, not the watered down love that seeks Him for what it can get, but that soul-absorbing devotion that seeks Him for what it can give, the love that besides making the possessor consecrate his life to God, urges him to attend every service as a blessed opportunity of rendering God meet praise, worship and thanksgiving.

Without a doubt, Anglicanism meets God's requirements, providing that wonderful balance of preaching, teaching, and worshipping where the worship of God is first and foremost, where we truly offer ourselves to Him as "living sacrifices," and where we ask what can we do for Him, acknowledging that He will do always do for us what is best in His Sight.

In our sacramental form of worship, our focus is directed to God; yes, we do hear His Word, and are taught its meaning, and we do offer our petitions, but our focus is always God-ward, towards heaven; our attention is fixed on the Body and Blood of Christ; in both simple and elaborate liturgical fashion, we are drawn to God's Holy Table, as all of our senses are stimulated in his worship.

Our 1928 Book of Common Prayer is most extraordinary in that it has retained the heart of Christian worship and theology, what we call our "catholicity," maintaining our focus on our sole purpose, which is the worship of our Creator.

Fr. Knowles also has two extraordinary books which should be a basic necessity, in addition to Archbishop Haverland's book, for every churchman's personal library. They are: The Practice of Religion and The Belief and Worship of the Anglican Church.