Easter 3, Year A | How Our Service Speaks
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
April 23, 2023
the Rev. Jonathan Hanneman
To watch the full service, please visit this page.
Due to the illness of our expected preacher, I put together this outline shortly before our April 23 service began. The video and audio more or less follow it:
Service Structure (ideal): Liturgy of the Word | Liturgy of the Font | Liturgy of the Table
Liturgy of the Word:
Coming together to praise God (songs/Gloria) and learn what God has to say
After hearing God’s word, we:
respond with Nicene Creed (commitment to faithfulness)
pray to the One to whom we are faithful
confess our sin & receive absolution (generally excluded during Christmas and Easter—also Rite I prayer of Humble Access)
Having committed ourselves, confessed, and received forgiveness, first act of repentance is resolving our differences and actively forgiving one another through the Peace.
Liturgy of the Table:
Offertory: not about collecting money but focus is on “offering” the bread and the wine, items drawn from what God has created and re-crafted through human ingenuity
Great Thanksgiving: greeting and authorization of priest to speak on behalf of the people
No “and with thy spirit” means no eucharist
Designed to teach Anglican theology: ensure that uneducated priests would explain the Gospel to their people correctly
Our sacrifice is thanksgiving, not Jesus himself
Sacrifice as a party/bbq
Closing of that section is “the Great AMEN”—should be loudest part of the service!
Receiving Communion: joining in unity, becoming “little Christs”
Entire service:
One big prayer:
Invocation (addressing Deity)
Petition (statement of desire)
Exchange (what we offer in return)
Response (praise; closing; etc.)
The End of the World (collapsed metaphor)
Bells reflect God’s trumpets
All the faithful rise and join
Last Judgment
Marriage Supper of the Lamb
Sent out/reborn as New Creation (collective and individual)/God’s messengers/agents of reconciliation