Episcopal Eucharistic adoration?! 8^O

Tigger45

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Just kidding but I did think it might be an interesting topic particularly being postings have been few and far apart lately.

Anyway I am on our local Episcopal cathedral's email list and I just received this one from them and I thought I'd share it for conversation sake.

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A Virtual Vigil: Sign-up to Keep Watch at the Altar of Repose
This year we will keep watch on the night of Maundy Thursday to Good Friday by holding a "virtual vigil." Although our physical bodies cannot be present in the chapel with the reserved sacrament, we will be broadcasting a picture of the Altar of Repose and invite parishioners to sign up for a time to tune into this broadcast and “keep watch” with Jesus in the Garden from home. A person keeping watch can pray, ponder scripture, read devotional material, say a service from the Book of Common Prayer, or maintain a simple loving attentiveness to God. We will send a more detailed explanation of how this virtual vigil will work as the time grows closer. All you will need to participate is a device with an internet connection.

There should be at least one person signed up for each hour, though more are welcome. We're using SignUp.com to organize our sign up.
 

Albion

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I notice that you used the word adoration in the title, Tigger, but it appears nowhere in the text that you said is a reproduction of the official mailing that was sent out from the local cathedral.

In fact, just about every slant on the subject of what the participants would be doing was referred to, but not adoration.
 
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Tigger45

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I notice that you used the word adoration in the title, Tigger, but it appears nowhere in the text that you said is a reproduction of the official mailing that was sent out from the local cathedral.

In fact, just about every slant on the subject of what the participants would be doing was referred to, but not adoration.
I do agree with @Paidiske though as the old saying goes “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

As a full disclosure I don’t have a big problem with Eucharistic adoration. I don’t participate in it specifically but often stop by our local Catholic parishes that offer their sanctuaries for it and I’m able to enjoy some prayer time in a space reserved for His presence.
 
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Albion

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I do agree with @Paidiske though as the old saying goes “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

As a full disclosure I don’t have a big problem with Eucharistic adoration..
As a classical (?) Anglican who accepts the Articles, I'd never go for such a thing; but of course other people see that matter differently.

It was the choice of words used in the mailing that was the intriguing thing for me when I read them in your post. It looked like someone was verrrry carefully walking a certain line there. ;)
 
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Tigger45

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As a classical (?) Anglican who accepts the Articles, I'd never go for such a thing; but of course other people see that matter differently.

It was the choice of words used in the mailing that was the intriguing thing for me when I read them in your post. It looked like someone was verrrry carefully walking a certain line there. ;)
Ah, I did not know Eucharistic adoration was addressed in the 39 articles. So when you mentioned it I looked it up and sure enough it’s addressed in article #25.
 
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PloverWing

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Our parish has done an in-person vigil like this in years past, with parishioners signing up for one-hour slots between Maundy Thursday evening and Good Friday noon. A small chapel is set aside for the vigil, and the reserved sacrament is kept there through the vigil. The theology of it was left entirely ambiguous, just "Can you keep watch with me one hour?"

This year, of course, nothing is in person, and there's been no Communion for several weeks. Our priest is doing something this year that we've never done before: Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, as part of our Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday services. This is a devotional practice that I have not experienced before. In the past, I've thought of adoration of the Sacrament in this form as just a little too "Catholic" for me, just a little bit over the line of what I'm comfortable with. But this year, oh, it's perfect. I read the service booklet that our priest emailed out to us yesterday, and got tears in my eyes.

Our priest is very low-church, very Protestant, and I can't imagine how far out of his comfort zone he had to step to include this in the Holy Week services. But I am grateful to him for doing this for us, and I will tell him so when the week is done.
 
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Albion

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Our priest is very low-church, very Protestant, and I can't imagine how far out of his comfort zone he had to step to include this in the Holy Week services.
I'll say. :flushed:

But I am grateful to him for doing this for us, and I will tell him so when the week is done.
I can't help but wonder why everything there except for making the reserved sacrament the intended object of devotion wouldn't have been sufficient. (?)
 
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seeking.IAM

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Our parish has done an in-person vigil like this in years past, with parishioners signing up for one-hour slots between Maundy Thursday evening and Good Friday noon. A small chapel is set aside for the vigil, and the reserved sacrament is kept there through the vigil. The theology of it was left entirely ambiguous, just "Can you keep watch with me one hour?"...

My church does likewise, except 'tis not so much of a stretch for us or our Rector.
 
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tampasteve

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I find it interesting how many people, myself included, find great value in the Catholic churches having a space reserved that is always (or almost always) open to come and pray. Generally this is the Adoration chapel, sometimes it is just the main sanctuary. I have stopped multiple times at a local RCC to pray in their Adoration chapel.

None of the Lutheran or Episcopal churches in the area offer this - I have reached out to them. My church will open the sanctuary for me during the day when staff are at the office, but that is not the same. I wish more churches would offer this to the community, clearly there is a desire for it among Episcopal/Anglican/Lutheran church members.
 
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JM

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Our parish has done an in-person vigil like this in years past, with parishioners signing up for one-hour slots between Maundy Thursday evening and Good Friday noon. A small chapel is set aside for the vigil, and the reserved sacrament is kept there through the vigil. The theology of it was left entirely ambiguous, just "Can you keep watch with me one hour?"

When I attended Holy Trinity Anglican in 2018 this was their practice for Maundy Thursday but without the reserved sacrament.

Yours in the Lord,

jm
 
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Albion

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I find it interesting how many people, myself included, find great value in the Catholic churches having a space reserved that is always (or almost always) open to come and pray. Generally this is the Adoration chapel, sometimes it is just the main sanctuary. I have stopped multiple times at a local RCC to pray in their Adoration chapel.

None of the Lutheran or Episcopal churches in the area offer this - I have reached out to them. My church will open the sanctuary for me during the day when staff are at the office, but that is not the same. I wish more churches would offer this to the community, clearly there is a desire for it among Episcopal/Anglican/Lutheran church members.
Is there indeed much interest in having a consecrated host on display for the visitors to "adore?" Having a space that's always "open to come and pray" is a different proposition, one that almost any member of a liturgical church would favor, I'd think.
 
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Paidiske

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My parish - when not in the middle of a pandemic - keeps the church doors open every day (we do lock up at night). We know that many people who aren't parish members value having that quiet space to come and pray, light a candle, etc.

But Eucharistic adoration? I think for most people now that would be quite a foreign idea.
 
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tampasteve

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Is there indeed much interest in having a consecrated host on display for the visitors to "adore?" Having a space that's always "open to come and pray" is a different proposition, one that almost any member of a liturgical church would favor, I'd think.
The space, not so much the consecrated host. As you note, the Protestant people that are interested are more interested in the space than the consecrated host to adore. I am in the middle. Coming from the RCC I still hold a view closer to them and do not mind, and even enjoy adoration.
 
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Albion

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The space, not so much the consecrated host. As you note, the Protestant people that are interested are more interested in the space than the consecrated host to adore. I am in the middle.
Coming from the RCC I still hold a view closer to them and do not mind, and even enjoy adoration.
How much of that feeling would you lose if everything were kept the same except that an exposed, consecrated host (such as in a monstrance a la the RCC) were not included?

How about instead having a lovely crucifix that reminds us even more effectively of the sacrifice Christ endured for all of us???? It is Holy Week, after all.
 
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tampasteve

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How much of that feeling would you lose if everything were kept the same except that an exposed, consecrated host (such as in a monstrance a la the RCC) were not included?

How about instead having a lovely crucifix that reminds us even more effectively of the sacrifice Christ endured for all of us???? It is Holy Week, after all.
Sounds perfect. The exposed host is not a requirement for me, but the sacred space is what I am looking for.
 
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JM

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Let's face it, modern church architecture is overly plain and purely functional. There's a very old Presbyterian Church across from where I work that is just as conducive to quiet prayer as a chapel. It looks a lot like this Calvinistic Baptist Church below.

jsbc-3.jpg
 
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seeking.IAM

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I did one of these vigils for my church with the reserved host in a monstrance in our chapel. I must say that being there was more significant due to "cannot your stay with me one hour?" than the fact that the reserved host was before me. But then I'm a 50-year Methodist on his way to developing a serious case of Anglo-Catholicism. Apparently, I'm not totally there yet, eh? :scratch:
 
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