The Episcopal Church over the Years by Peter Schaaphok

Part One

Despite the many, and sometimes radical, changes that have come to the Episcopal Church over the past twenty five or so years, many Episcopalians still regard our church a bastion of stability and tradition. We sense that the Episcopal Church has always been there for us. From the solid beauty that defines many of our grand old houses of worship to a standard liturgy that many know by heart, we are comforted by belonging to what we regard as an enduring entity.

Yet change, even radical change, has been part of the Episcopal Church from its very beginnings. From the appearance of our churches to the vestments worn by our priests to the form and practice of the liturgy, change has always been with us. Perhaps that is one of the enduring strengths of the Episcopal Church, that we can change so much but still be the same.

We should probably begin with a look at our church at the eve of the American Revolution. At that time we were part of the Church of England with all the congregations in the thirteen colonies being under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London.

In a typical church of the 1700’s there were no grand processions at the beginning of a worship service. The priest (more commonly called the minister) simply walked to the pulpit and began the service. He wore a plain black cassock covered with a white linen surplice. The elaborate vestments of today would have been considered outlandishly Papist.
The altar, then known as the “holy table” was just that, a table without cross or ornate candlesticks. Like other Protestant denominations, the entire service centered instead around the pulpit.

While modern Episcopalians are accustomed to celebrating Holy Communion every week, this was certainly not the case in the 18th C. Indeed Holy Communion occurred only infrequently, perhaps as few as four times a year. Even then many parishioners did not partake of it. Indeed it is said that George Washington never received Holy Communion during his entire adult life! Yet all during the War of Independence he regularly led his officers in Morning and Evening Prayer.

The usual Sunday worship service started with Morning Prayer then proceeded to the Litany, then into the first part of the Holy Communion and ending with the Gospel reading, the sermon and closing prayers. The second part of the liturgy where the wine and bread is consecrated and administered was simply left out, except of course on those rare Communion Sundays.

Like the Congregationalists, Anglicans did not sing hymns in the modern sense but instead sang from the Psalms which were written in meter and printed at the back of the prayer book. Most Anglicans who had been exposed to the Book of Common Prayer since childhood probably knew most of these psalms as well as the rest of the service by heart.

Continue to Part Two