At the Breaking of the Bread, in our church we all recited this prayer: "We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies. Apart from your grace, we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table; but you are the same Lord, whose character is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us." But the 2019 BCP rubric leaves out the phrase, "Apart from your grace," and our rector has adjusted our own prayer to align with this; i.e., the phrase has been deleted. This really seems like a step backward insofar as accuracy and faithfulness to Scripture is concerned. And it bothers me that we now are reciting something that can lead to wrong thinking! For it is true that we would be unworthy apart from God's grace, but it is not true that we are unworthy. In fact, the grace of God makes us worthy; we who have been freely given grace by God through faith in Him have been deemed worthy and deserving (not in ourselves but in Christ). Were we not made worthy in His sight, we would not be counseled to enter boldly into God's Presence in our prayers and supplications: Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. As the rubric now reads, it seems like it would make one think that Christians, God's children, still are seen by Him as low-down, unworthy, dirty, disgusting sinners who can only ask and hope that God might have mercy on us. But previously, when we prefaced with "Apart from your grace," we were saying aloud that we would not be worthy were it not for His grace, but we do have His grace and therefore God sees and treats us differently. This is an ACNA church using the new 2019 BCP, so what about those of you who aren't in ACNA? How does yours read? And do you see this change as a mistake the way I do? I do believe that we should show proper reverence and respect toward God in our liturgy. But I don't think God wants His children, whose bodies He has deigned to make His temples on earth, to grovel or to confess that we are still filthy scuzzballs even though the Holy Spirit deigns to indwell us.
Surely you are not of the opinion that the Book of Common Prayer is deficient in some way? That would be inappropriately unAnglican. "We do not presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table. But thou art the same Lord , whose property is always to have mercy : Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us." New fangled tampering with and additions to the original have resulted in almost as much unintended, additional ambiguity as it has inadequately clarified it's meaning. I agree with everything you say about the redeemed no longer having to 'grovel to God' because of our 'unworthiness'. We are counted worthy to stand in God's presence and serve Him as we celebrate Christ's memorial of our redemption. It has always seemed incongruous to me therefore that AFTER celebrating that memorial of our redemption in the consecration of bread and wine, we are then expected to contradict the statement in the Eucharistic prayer by then stating our 'unworthiness' all over again, as if we didn't properly believe what was already said in the words of the Eucharistic Consecration. "As we offer you this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, we bring before you this bread and this cup and we thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you." Some of us even have to add to this further incongruity by stating: "Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed." (There are alternatives offered in the rubric, but my priest has never used any of them.) As if everything that has already been said by the priest in the Eucharistic Prayer and believed by the faithful disciple, simply has not sunk in to the befuddled believers mind, so we all still feel 'unworthy' in God's sight. The only truth about this is that, if we are really honest with ourselves, (which many are not), we all probably still feel 'unworthy' or should still feel it, because we still are. Worthiness is something that is EARNED not gifted and we have done nothing whatever to earn sufficient worthiness to be counted by God as being worthy, no matter how faithful any disciple we may be. We are unworthy servants, and nothing can change that, not even God's Grace. Luke 17:10. Some of us unworthy servants might like to remove all these ambiguities from the liturgy but I think that would be a serious mistake. Our human condition is full of contradiction and ambiguity when it comes into contact with God's Holiness. It is absolutely right that we should understand that about ourselves when we come this close to God's presence.
You're talking about the Prayer of Humble Access, and it does not traditionally include the phrase "apart from your grace." I don't know where or when it was added, or by whom. The 2019 BCP has a rubric allowing it to be added in, but I cannot fathom why I would want to tamper with the historic text. That phrase is added, however, in the Daily Office confession, much to the annoyance of many 'a traditionalist. See this article for why it's an unnecessary insertion in both cases: http://northamanglican.com/and-apart-from-your-grace-there-is-no-health-in-us/
Thank you for that article. Its reasoning is somewhat flawed, however. It implies that "apart from your grace" moves us further from Biblical truth, rather than nearer to it. But to reach this conclusion the author states, “And there is no health in us” is richly biblical language. This is misleading, for the author's supporting citations are exclusively pre-redemption and are therefore not really applicable to redeemed Christians! He quotes from such O.T. sources as Isaiah, Psalms and Daniel, and his sole N.T. support comes from the tax collector's statement, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13) which he uttered well before Jesus' death and resurrection. In other words, none of these passages take Jesus' redemptive act and God's grace into account. And this is exactly my point: removing "apart from your grace" takes away from the wholeness of the Gospel. It leaves us beating our breasts and thinking, "Woe is me, for I am hopelessly undone before God!" when nothing could be further from the truth for the redeemed child of God. By the time we pray that prayer, we already have prayed the Confession and Absolution, so why indeed are we talking, just a few minutes later, as if we still lack forgiveness because we are unworthy? Perhaps Tiffy is correct in pointing out that many people tend to still feel unworthy and unforgiven, but while this certainly may be true of Anglicans (and Romans, and some others) it is just as certainly untrue among those Protestants who have been taught the scriptures concerning God's justification of, and bestowal of the grace of righteousness upon, each of His children. In other words, perhaps some Christians feel unworthy because they speak words of unworthiness every week and so convince themselves? Tiffy, I agree with much of your post but I am inclined to think that worthiness before God cannot be earned, any more than righteousness or salvation can be earned. Rather, I think we should say that we can only be accounted as worthy (Luke 20:35) through Christ, just as we are accounted as righteous through Him now that He has recreated, rebirthed and renewed us spiritually (our old man is dead and we are now alive to God in Christ). God's grace has been 'shed abroad in our hearts,' and that is a very positive thing. It seems counterproductive to continually emphasize the negatives when we should be dwelling upon the positives.
The underlying point about the phrase "without your grace", as far as I'm concerned, is that it undermines the seriousness of sin. Plenty of biblical examples give us confessions of unworthiness without that gospel caveat, and especially in this libertine day and age I don't think we need to soften that language. That said, it sounds like another trap that is being fallen into here is treating the Prayer of Humble Access as penitential. That is not its purpose - https://saint-aelfric-customary.org/2019/11/07/the-prayer-of-humble-access/ Rather, it is a prayer of preparation for reception of Holy Communion, its focus is on the Body and Blood of Christ. That prayer isn't the "right time" to start mucking about with how best to express our doctrine of justification.
When it comes to self examination though, there are generally fewer 'positives' than 'negatives', if we are being really honest with ourselves and God. At least, St Paul seemed to think so about himself. My objection to it being there is merely that is an interpolation into the original text without permission of the author, and without due regard for the rest of the text, it's meaning or it's purpose. The article seemed to aptly justify my opinion. I profoundly agree with you on the fact that we are justified entirely by God's Grace and in no way deserving of it. However, “And there is no health in us” is richly biblical language and is not misleading if it is understood by a properly informed mind. If we are permitted to interpolate every text of the founders of the Anglican church in order to convey what we think we understand it should be saying, what new fangled and perhaps theologically questionable innovations might we unleash upon Anglican congregations? On the subject of 'questionable' I come to your statement as follows: The author's citations are entirely Biblical, scriptural and valid. To suggest that Old Testament passages cannot be used to elucidate New Testament concepts is to fly in the face of the practice and example of many New Testament authors. Must be half a dozen if not dozens if we include the Church Fathers. Even a cursory reading of The Letter to the Hebrews should suffice to convince us of that. The Old Testament is just as 'inspired' as the New and the New is often even better comprehended through the lens of the Old. The temporal position, of the death and resurrection of Christ and the full effect, upon the creation, of that 'redemptive act' are not sequential or dependant on historical time. Christ was slain for his elect, 'before the foundation of the world'. Eph.1:4, 1 Pet.1:20, Revelation 13:8. The General Confession takes nothing 'away from the Gospel'. The phrase you are claiming, 'puts back the missing Gospel', so to speak is an unnecessary interpolation. Any 'breast beating' that goes on should immediately have ceased by the time the speaker gets to "According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord." (If they actually believe that to have been declared unto ALL mankind, as stated, i.e. the promise applies to everyone who confess their faults). The prayer is not an unbelievers plea to God for redemption, it is a preparation of the believer for communion with their maker and confessed redeemer. As such, the believer should already know full well their unworthiness, be following Christ's advice on the issue and avowing the fact, stated in faith "But thou O Lord have mercy on us, miserable offenders . ." It is not a grovelling request, it is a statement of confidence and FAITH in God's Character. God always has mercy on repentant offenders who confess their faults. It's those who don't who 'beat their breasts and remain miserable'. Anyhow the general confession before communion is not the same as the General Confession before Morning or Evening Prayer. Nothing about miserable sinners, only about our misdoings that have justly provoked God's wrath against us. That may sound even worse to some though. Maybe so, but the Church of England is not 'Protestant' and it may be better to approach the Lord's table feeling unworthy than being unprepared. I though that was what I wrote. The reason we cannot earn it is because we are incapable of doing what would be required of us. It is still earned though, not awarded for valliant but ineffective effort. We are merely deigned worthy by God, through Christ, not deservedly awarded worthiness ourselves, by right. But there is a battle going on inside each one of us, (or do you feel less conflicted within after regeneration than did St Paul), Rom.7:14-25. We are still in The Militant Church on Earth and wretched until we find our rest in God. Rom.7:18-19. THUS: "And grant, O most merciful Father, for HIS sake; that we may hereafter, (from this moment on), live a godly, righteous and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name". My 'interpolation' was to obviate the sometimes mistaken notion that 'hereafter' refers to the afterlife, rather than this present existence. I will admit though it was probably as unnecessary as the addition of the bit of text that 'put the gospel back' in the General confession right where Cranmer had so carelessly left it out. .
We cannot earn worthiness before God, but we do earn it? That sounds contradictory, and confusing. You're saying we are so hopelessly ineffective, God gives us 'brownie points' just for trying hard?
We get nothing for 'trying hard'. If sin is 'falling short of the mark', and it is, then we never really get a bullseye, even in 'a righteous and sober life'. If there is any 'sin' in us, (as there always is in the flesh, meaning those factors of our psyche that are still in opposition to the will of God, and deaf to the advice of The Holy Spirit, in thought and word and deed, through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault, so we are truly in a sorry state), then we do not deserve to be counted 'worthy' to stand in God's presence. Through our faith in Christ's atonement, and our intention to be obedient to Him, we are allowed by God to petition Him directly, because He, Christ, IS worthy and HE has taken responsibility for HIS elect. Relelation 4:11, Revelation 5:2, Revelation 5:9, Revelation 5:12, Revelation 5:3 tells us whether any could be found anywhere on earth, in heaven or in sheol. NONE. All, either unworthy servants or just plain unworthy. Revelation 16:4-6 is interesting since it gives us the exact meaning of the word 'worthy'. It means deserving of. "And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy." Revelation 16:4-6. The deserving in that case meant guilty as sin. Jesus Christ is WORTHY but worthy of our worship and deserving of it. This is why we have a Saviour, why we need The Holy Spirit, why we should be thankful and why we can rejoice in our salvation. And incidentally why we shouldn't come down hard on those who sin against us. .