Anglican Worship: The Object of Our Worship
Anglican Worship of the Holy Trinity
Like other Christian churches, we worship God. This God is identified clearly and consistently in our liturgy as the Trinitarian Godhead taught in the Christian creeds. We gather to pray about, to sing about, and to meditate upon his character and attributes. We speak to him, thanking him,
for the goodness and love which [he has] made known to us in creation; in the calling of Israel to be [his] people; in [his] Word spoken through the prophets; and above all in the Word made flesh, Jesus, [his]Son.
1979 Book of Common Prayer, Eucharistic Prayer B
We gather, organize, and live our lives in worship of him, and when we maintain this focus, we are joining the tradition of Christian worship.
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Click here to read more concerning what Anglicans say about the creeds.
Holy Trinity: The Centrality of Worship
The Trinitarian aspect of worship is central. Everywhere you turn, the Holy Trinity is invoked. We are initiated into the Church under the name of the Trinity. The persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are mentioned often, and the specific actions of the persons are extolled. It’s not easy to be around an Anglican parish for too long without the reality of the Trinity presenting itself from many perspectives and various devotional approaches. And since the Trinity is called a Christian mystery, we believe it is in worship and adoration that this mystery is best revealed and understood. No sermon or teaching, no book or scholarship, however helpful and important, will impress this vision into our souls and minds better than simply gathering to praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This liturgical focus assumes that the audience for whom our worship is presented is God himself. The people are not watching a performance. They are not properly called an audience but instead are a congregation of ministers. Everything about the liturgy and music points to this fact, including the positioning of the altar at the center and the use of symbols. We are facing him, we speak to and about him; we remember his acts and seek his grace. Stirred up by the Holy Spirit, we offer our entirety to him. We are pre-creating what the new heaven and new earth will be like, with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered around the throne of God.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4.14-16
Worship: For God, Not Men
There is much to commend in an approach that recognizes that humans need to find ways of worshipping diffusing meaning in our own culture and time. Worship is, in a sense, the people’s offering to God. If the people don’t understand or can’t truly and authentically express themselves, then they aren’t worshiping. People must express worship in their own language and cultural categories.
For some, this is a different approach. Oddly, this Godward approach sometimes appears novel. One might assume Christian worship would be about God and that people that to be the case. A shift has occurred in North American Christianity, fostering an assumption that the worship service is focused on the worshipper’s experience. It is, of course, assumed that God is the object; the service marches in tune with that emphasis. The service, too revolves around when the people might arrive at church, assuming the felt needs of those gathered, especially those who may be seekers.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority
Colossians 2.8-10
Worship is Rooted in Fidelity
Nevertheless, Anglican worship has successfully remained within the catholic tradition—a heritage encompassing diverse cultures and eras. We view our participation in the One Church of Christ as a commitment to uphold this legacy and trust in its inherent wisdom that will ultimately lead us to Christ. In this process, we discover that this worship tradition resonates with our contemporary society, although it might not fully address our modern cultural and social blind spots.
This voice consistently points us back to the fact that the awesome and merciful God who made us is the ultimate object and audience of worship. You will notice, therefore, that Anglican worship tends to be shaped first by the history of Christian worship, second by the language of the actual Christian worshippers who are regularly present, and then and only then by the outside community whom we are trying to reach.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.
1 Corinthians 11.1-2
Putting Worship in its Proper Place
Let me dwell on this point: does this traditional focus mean we ignore seekers? No! It simply means that the worship services aren’t evangelistic. They are the source of evangelism; however, when we gather to worship, we properly order our lives by first sitting at Jesus’ feet and then going out to do His work. We are putting first things first; by doing so, we will become changed into witnesses. Nevertheless, worship must come before the mission, and our liturgy, despite our occasional attempts to suppress it, keeps us moving in and trusting this direction.
Knowing What We Worship
With all this understood, while we do not shape our worship according to the expectations of seekers, everyone seems to agree that what seekers really want to see it authenticity. If Christians worship the way Christians worship and not the way a non-Christian would worship, then is that not an attractional model that, in the end, presents our communities in authentic and open ways? In a kind of reverse psychology, deciding to plant our worship in the history of Christian worship and the language of Christian worshippers, we find that many seekers are able to observe us as we really are without having to peel away layers of marketing.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4.21-24
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The Standard of Prayer Book Worship (Jerusalem Declaration 6)
We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.
Why Anglicans Bow in Worship: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Bodily gestures like bowing cultivate inward devotion. Reverence shown externally helps train reverence internally. Our liturgical rituals are modes of teaching ourselves—bodily habits shape the soul.
