way of referring to these differences was High Church, Low Church (see song above), and Broad Church—or churchmanship.
This word still has not really changed. Although Episcopalians are more aware of inclusive language than ever, “churchpersonship” is a mouthful!
One way of looking at Episcopalians is along a spectrum with Protestant on one end and Roman Catholic on the other. Such a spectrum has nothing to do with a conservative/liberal range but is a spiritual orientation. As a matter of fact, the Anglican Church is the only church to claim to be both Protestant and Catholic at the same time, since it is a product of an (English) Reformation (a “Protestant” is one who protests) as surely as are our Lutheran brothers and sisters. On the other hand, we use the term “Catholic” in much the same way as the “Roman Catholic” church originally used it starting in the fifteenth century—to mean “universal.”
Along that spectrum from High Church to Low Church is a middle ground often referred to as Broad Church. Episcopalians are famous for taking the via media, or middle way, the gift of being able to seek a balance of views instead of seeing black and white or right and wrong. So a great many of our congregations are what we call Broad Church.
Congregations that are High Church are closer to the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox end of the spectrum. They use icons and “smells and bells” (incense and sanctus bells) in chanted liturgies. Their vestments and other trappings can be breathtaking, and some lucky laypersons (subdeacons) get to wear and use them! Some of these Episcopal churches even add historical elements to services, such as the Angelus. This High Church orientation is also known as Anglo-Catholic.
Broad Church is in the middle and combines elements of High and Low churches. These congregations might use incense on festive occasions such as Christmas and Easter and maybe some feast days; yet priestly vestments usually are minimal and hymns tend to be a mixture of “old” and “new” and sometimes from supplemental Episcopal hymnals.
Low Church congregations come out of a distinctly Protestant Evangelical orientation. In fact, except for the cadences of The Book of Common Prayer, a worshipper might think he is in a United Methodist Church. (After all, members of the Wesley family were devoted members of the Church of England!) These parishes often are plain inside, they do not usually reserve the sacrament, and their liturgies are less formal. They might be more inclined to have what we call today “contemporary services.” The music might include many hymns from the renewal movement.
But all these churches—High, Broad, and Low—are Episcopalian! Pick the style that speaks to your heart. This is one of the great things about being a part of The Episcopal Church! By no means are we cookie-cutter congregations.
Episcopalians believe that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Theologians have debated for centuries just how that happens and what it means.
The Episcopal Church’s official position on this is called the Doctrine of the Real Presence. The following definition is by Thomas Aquinas: “The whole Christ is present under every part or quantity of each species. As a loaf of bread is bread, and a slice of bread is bread, and a crumb of bread is bread, so, the Eucharistic species, in whatever quantity, is Christ.”10
Each crumb of bread contains the whole of Christ, like each piece of a fractal pattern contains the whole of the pattern, no matter how small.
St. Cyril cautions:
… for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?11
Thus, we treat the consecrated bread and wine as we would Christ himself: with reverence for his holiness. This means many Episcopal clergy and laity believe that crumbs from the bread are considered to be the body, and like the entire wafer, not to be scattered or stepped on but quickly retrieved if they are dropped. Anglo-Catholic clergy are particularly aware of this. One of the reasons it is difficult to serve loaf bread is that it has a lot more crumbs than wafers. The same care is taken with wine that spills.
WHY I LIKE COMMUNION WAFERS …
1. Do not have to be chewed
2. Few if any crumbs
3. Easier to count when setting up for eucharist
4. Easier to estimate how many if I don’t count them
5. Never distribute too big a piece for someone to swallow
6. Easier to consume if I over count
7. Can usually consume extras without wine
8. Don’t usually have to break them as I distribute them
9. If we have the right kind, those with celiac disease can receive them
10. Fit better on a paten
11. Easier to pick up from the paten
12. More sanitary
13. Easier to pick up off the floor if dropped
14. Easier to fish out of a chalice if dropped in it
15. Communion doesn’t take as long
16. Don’t spoil when reserved in aumbry or tabernacle
Oh yes, Episcopalians differ in their theology, usually as a part of their “churchpersonship.” Our ability to include people of such widely divergent views has long been the strength of Anglicanism.
WHY I DON’T LIKE COMMUNION WAFERS …
1. Don’t taste as good as loaf bread
2. Probably weren’t used at the Last Supper
3. Probably not made by someone I know who has prayed over it as she kneaded and baked it and gave it as a gift for our eucharist
4. Slide off of a flat paten
5. Blow off a flat paten
