Helping Schools Build Better Worship
www.worshipworkshop.org.uk
A Summary of the Eucharist
They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the
fellowship meals and the prayers. (Acts 2:42)
The fellowship meals that the first Christians shared have become the Eucharist (or Holy
Communion). The Eucharist is now part of the pattern of worship which plays a very important part
in the life of the church. It is at the centre of the ‘Eucharistic community’, the baptised community of
Christians; baptism is the mark of both entry and belonging to the Christian Faith.
Here is a simple summary of the Eucharist. There are a few extra stages in Worship Workshop which
are described after the summary.
We:
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greet each other in the Lord’s name
confess our sins and are assured of God’s forgiveness
keep silence and pray a Collect
proclaim and respond to the word of God
pray for the Church and the world
exchange the Peace
prepare the table
pray the Eucharistic Prayer
break the bread
receive communion
depart with God’s blessing
Some ideas about each of these sections:
(The stages of the Eucharist on the WorshipWorkshop website are noted in brackets, stages 4 and 7 are
optional and are noted at the end)
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greet each other in the Lord’s name (Stage 1 - Greeting)
We gather and welcome each other, and with special words and actions we show that we
have come together with God too.
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confess our sins and are assured of God’s forgiveness (Stage 2 - Confession)
To share honestly we must make sure that we do not have any thoughts or secrets that
might get in the way. Sometimes there might be things that we know we have done wrong –
sometimes called sins. We share these things with God in the confession and then the priest
speaks some words to remind us that God understands our concerns, forgives any wrongs
we may have done and loves us for who we are. Sometimes a special pattern of words called
the Kyrie is spoken or sung. The Kyrie is an ancient way of asking for forgiveness. Kyrie is
Greek for ‘Lord’. It is a word used many times in the New Testament. When people talk to
Jesus in the Gospels they often use ‘Kyrie’ instead of his name. At other times, and especially
when young children are present, keeping a period of silence for private reflection is a good
way to share a time of confession.
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keep silence and pray a Collect (Stage 3 - Collect)
The collect is a special prayer for the day. It ‘collects’ up some ideas for the service of the
day, sometimes to do with the Bible readings or with the Church Season. It is also a special
prayer for the people who are gathered together at the service. The Collect is written using
special rules – these can be found in the resources section.
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proclaim and respond to the word of God (Stages 5 - Reading, Stage 6 - Engagement)
We listen to the word of God from the Bible and engage with it so that we can learn
something. A Eucharist service must always include a reading from a gospel but there might
be other readings as well. The reading usually reflects the theme or season.
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pray for the Church and the world (Stage 8 – Prayer)
Intercession is a time of prayer. In these prayers we share our concerns with each other and
with God.
We pray about many things;
o Our families, our friends
o People who are ill or in danger
o People made homeless
o People who are starving
o Thanking God for our world
o Thanking God for our friends
o Thanking God for our families
o Can you add any more to this list?
Praying in a service of communion is special because it is part of a pattern of sharing our
values – such as care, thoughtfulness, love. Through our prayers we not only say that these
values are important but that we will work together to bring these values into the world.
Sometimes this work is raising money for charities, sometimes it is organising community
activities. What work is done in your parish? How does the church support this work with
prayer?
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exchange the Peace (Stage 9 – Peace)
In the Eucharist we move on to tell the story of why we have done these things.
We have shared in praise, prayer and our need for God’s help and now we all speak words of
peace to each other; through our touch and the shaking of hands we pass God’s peace
between us.
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prepare the table (Stage 10 – Offertory)
The bread and wine are brought to the table; any other offerings such as a collection of
money are also brought forward. We gather these gifts to give them (back!) to God so that
the work our prayers demand can be fulfilled. in a Eucharist service the bread and wine are
often offered at the same time as the collected gifts.
These acts are very important because they show us something of the way that God works.
Our world and all that is in it is a gift from God and it is our job to take what God has given to
us and then share these things with the other people of the world. When we do this it is
right that we should say thank you to God who gave us the things to share.
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pray the Eucharistic Prayer (Stage 11 – Eucharistic Prayer)
We share in a mixture of words and actions which
re-tell the events of the last supper,
remember the commands that went with it,
say thank you for both what Christ did and who he is; and
ask God to send the Holy Spirit.
Through this prayer we draw closer to the story so that we become part of it.
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break the bread
The priest breaks the bread, just as Jesus did. We say the Lord’s Prayer, as Christians have
done for the last 2000 years
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receive communion (Stage 12 – After Communion)
Finally we join in the sacred meal, again as disciples. Everyone is welcome at the table –
those who do not receive bread and wine have a special blessing from the priest. After the
communion we say a prayer of thanks. Often this prayer, like the Collect, will say something
about the season.
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depart with God’s blessing (Stage 13 – Sending)
In the dismissal we find that our worship does not end … we move on to follow another
command – to go out into the world taking our worship with us:
o The things we have learned,
o The things we have prayed about, and
o The power of the Holy Spirit which will keep us strong until we meet again.
The words ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord’, often found at the end of the Eucharist service
are an instruction to everyone, not just a nice wish that we all love each other. Ask yourself; ‘How do
I serve the Lord?’ Do we always remember the values of love and service when we are working and
playing?
A couple of the stages of worship are optional, or not always used. These are:
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we sing the Gloria (Stage 4 - Gloria)
The Gloria is a song of praise used on Sundays in Anglican churches. ‘Anglican’ is another
word for Church of England. Other churches like the Roman Catholic churches sing the Gloria
too. It is very old and was originally written in Greek. It copies some of the ways of writing
found in the Bible, such as Psalm 19 and the words of the angels to the shepherds in Luke 2:
14. Other verses were added to make a hymn which in the 4th century became part of
morning prayers, and is still sung or said today.
The Gloria is a ‘Trinitarian’ song about God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As you go through
the service look out for the times when the different members of the Trinity are mentioned.
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we say an affirmation of faith or creed together (Stage 7 – Creed/Affirmation)
In our Eucharist we do many things together such as sing, pray and take the bread and wine.
This stage gives us a chance to say and reflect on what we believe. There are various forms
of creed (a word from Latin meaning ‘I believe ‘or ‘belief’)