Communion Frequency Rubric (1928 BCP)

Communion Frequency Rubric (1928 BCP) refers to the way the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer orders and exhorts participation in Holy Communion. Strictly speaking, the 1928 book does not print the older 1662 rule requiring every parishioner to communicate at least three times in the year. Instead, it keeps a pastoral pattern: advance warning of a celebration, exhortation to self-examination, a special exhortation when the people are negligent, and the catechetical doctrine that the Lord's Supper strengthens and refreshes faithful communicants.

The result is a deliberately Anglican balance. The Prayer Book does not turn Communion into an optional spectacle for non-communicating attendance, nor does it reduce worthy reception to a bare calendar minimum. It teaches regular reception by promise, warning, preparation, and pastoral appeal.

1928 Prayer Book Text

The immediate 1928 rubric concerns notice before a celebration. The minister is to warn the people on the preceding Sunday or holy day, and the exhortation itself gives the reason: communicants should come devoutly, thankfully, and with time for examination.

When the Minister giveth warning for the Celebration of the Holy Communion, (which he shall always do upon the Sunday, or some Holy-day, immediately preceding,) he shall read this Exhortation following, or so much thereof as, in his discretion, he may think convenient.

That rubric is not a bare administrative notice. The accompanying exhortation presents Communion as a gift to be received, and it defines the preparation expected of the parish.

Dearly beloved, on--day next I purpose, through God's assistance, to administer to all such as shall be religiously and devoutly disposed the most comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ; to be by them received in remembrance of his meritorious Cross and Passion; whereby alone we obtain remission of our sins, and are made partakers of the Kingdom of heaven.

The same exhortation explains why the warning comes before the service rather than only at the rail. It gives time for repentance, amendment, reconciliation, and pastoral counsel.

The way and means thereto is: First, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God's commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life.

When negligence is the pastoral problem, the 1928 office permits a stronger exhortation. This is the closest thing in the 1928 book to a "communion frequency" direction: the priest is not given a numerical quota to enforce, but he is given authorized words to call absent or reluctant communicants back to the Lord's Table.

Or, in case he shall see the People negligent to come to the Holy Communion, instead of the former, he may use this Exhortation.

The exhortation itself is direct. It interprets absence from Communion not as harmless liturgical preference but as refusal of a divine invitation, unless there is real impediment calling for repentance, amendment, or pastoral counsel.

Wherefore, according to mine office, I bid you in the Name of God, I call you in Christ's behalf, I exhort you, as ye love your own salvation, that ye will be partakers of this holy Communion. And as the Son of God did vouchsafe to yield up his soul by death upon the Cross for your salvation; so it is your duty to receive the Communion in remembrance of the sacrifice of his death, as he himself hath commanded.

Doctrinal Frame

The 1928 Catechism explains why the exhortations press the people to communicate. The Lord's Supper is not merely a memorial performance observed from a distance; it is a sacrament Christ ordained for reception.

Question. Why was the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ordained?
Answer. For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.

The catechism then names both the sacramental gift and the required disposition. This is the inner logic of Prayer Book frequency: repeated reception is desirable because Christ gives spiritual strengthening there, but the communicant comes with repentance, faith, remembrance, thanksgiving, and charity.

Question. What are the benefits whereof we are partakers thereby?

Answer. The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the Bread and Wine.
Question. What is required of those who come to the Lord's Supper?

Answer. To examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.

Saint Paul's institution narrative and warning stand behind both the catechism and the Communion exhortations. The 1928 propers appoint this passage as the Epistle for Maundy Thursday, so the Prayer Book itself places the command to remember and the warning to examine in the liturgical year.

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

The negligence exhortation also echoes the parable of the great supper, which the 1928 propers appoint as the Gospel for the Second Sunday after Trinity. The Prayer Book's warning about excuses is therefore not rhetorical excess; it is a direct pastoral use of Christ's own parable.

A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse.

Historical Development

The 1928 exhortation for negligent communicants stands in the Reformation Prayer Book tradition. The 1552 book already placed a special exhortation after the Prayer for the Church Militant when the curate saw that the people were negligent to come.

Then shal folowe this exhortacion at certaine tymes when the Curate shal see the people negligent to come to the holy Communion.

The older English form could be sharper than the 1928 American text, especially because it addressed the problem of people present at the service but refusing to communicate. This shows that Anglican pastoral concern about Communion frequency is older than modern weekly-Communion debates.

I bidde you in the name of God, I call you in Christ's behalf, I exhort you, as you love your owne salvacion, that ye wilbe partakers of thys holy Communion. And as the sonne of God did vouchesafe to yelde up hys soule by death upon the Crosse for youre health: even so it is youre duetie to receyve the Communion together in the remembraunce of hys death, as he himself commaunded.

The 1662 English Prayer Book retained the exhortations and also printed a definite minimum rule at the end of the Communion office.

And note, that every Parishioner shall communicate at the least three times in the year, of which Easter to be one.

That 1662 rubric is historically important precisely because the 1928 American book does not print it. E. Clowes Chorley, historiographer of the Protestant Episcopal Church and a near-contemporary interpreter of the revision, records that such a proposal was considered and rejected.

The proposal to require members of the Church to communicate at least three times a year, Easter being one, was not approved by the Convention.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere give the broader historical interpretation. They treat the Communion exhortations as a "special feature" of the reformed offices, and they describe how their arrangement changed across 1552 and 1662.

The Exhortations are a special feature of the reformed offices. They have passed through many changes, not so much in language as in arrangement.

Procter and Frere also explain why minimum rules appeared in Christian history. Their account helps distinguish the older canonical minimum from the positive pastoral aim of frequent Communion.

As time went on it was necessary to prescribe a minimum rule for all professing Christians, and at first three times a year was specified; this rule existed as early as the VIth century, and became general and was enacted in England in the IXth century.

Interpreting the 1928 Rubric

The 1928 book therefore should not be read as if it simply imported the 1662 minimum. It kept the warning and negligence exhortations, retained the catechism's doctrine of sacramental benefit and self-examination, but declined to impose the proposed three-times rule. That omission matters. It leaves pastoral judgment with the Church's ordinary ministry while still refusing to normalize communicant neglect.

Clause by clause, the 1928 warning rubric first establishes public notice: the congregation is not surprised at the altar, but called beforehand. Its phrase "shall always do" makes the warning regular when Communion is to be celebrated. The minister may read the whole exhortation or as much as is convenient, which gives pastoral discretion without deleting the duty to prepare.

The negligence rubric then gives the priest another authorized form when absence from Communion has become visible. The phrase "in case he shall see" implies pastoral observation rather than mechanical enforcement. The phrase "negligent to come" names the problem as spiritual neglect, not merely scheduling. The exhortation answers that neglect by calling the people in God's name, grounding Communion in Christ's death, and treating faithful reception as obedience to Christ's command.

Pastoral Use

In parish teaching, this article is best used to correct two opposite mistakes. One mistake is to say that the 1928 book contains no serious expectation of Communion because it lacks the 1662 "three times" rubric. The other is to say that the 1928 book simply mandates the 1662 minimum. The actual 1928 text does neither. It forms communicants through notice, examination, repentance, faith, charity, and strong pastoral exhortation.

This makes the rubric especially useful where Morning Prayer remained common and celebrations of Holy Communion were less frequent than in later parish practice. The 1928 office can accommodate local schedules, but it never treats non-communicating attendance as the goal of eucharistic worship. The communicant is called to the feast, warned against careless reception, and taught to come for the strengthening and refreshing of the soul by the Body and Blood of Christ.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Exhortations in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Administration of Communion (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Humble Access (1928 BCP)
• Sacraments in the 1928 BCP
• Catechism (1928 BCP)

External Links

• Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Catechism - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• The Communion (1552)
• The Lord's Supper or Holy Communion - The Church of England
• E. Clowes Chorley: The New American Prayer Book, Chapter VII
• Procter and Frere: Holy Communion