Gloria in Excelsis (1928 BCP)

Gloria in Excelsis (1928 BCP) is the post-communion hymn of praise in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer order for Holy Communion. It follows the Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion and precedes the final blessing. In that position the hymn is not merely a musical ending: it gathers the communicants' thanksgiving into angelic praise, Christological adoration, petition for mercy, and Trinitarian doxology.

The Latin title means "Glory in the highest." The 1928 text begins from the angels' song at Christ's nativity, but it expands that biblical opening into direct worship of the Father, the only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost. Its placement after reception also gives the hymn a specifically eucharistic force: the Church has confessed sin, heard absolution and the Comfortable Words, received the Body and Blood of Christ, given thanks for sacramental feeding, and then stands to sing glory to God.

Text in the 1928 BCP

The 1928 Holy Communion office prints the Gloria after the post-communion thanksgiving:

Then shall be said Gloria in excelsis, all standing, or some proper Hymn.

GLORY be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.

O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.

For thou only art holy; thou only art the Lord; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

The rubric is the first interpretive clue. The people stand because the hymn is an act of praise, not a penitential devotion. The phrase "or some proper Hymn" gives lawful pastoral flexibility, but the printed norm is still the Gloria itself. When it is used, the service's final sung or said act before the blessing is not a recessional sentiment but a confession of God's glory and Christ's saving mercy.

Scriptural Foundations

The opening sentence receives the angels' praise at the birth of Christ:

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

In Holy Communion this nativity text is not used sentimentally. The angels' "peace" is heard after the sacramental remembrance and reception of Christ's saving death. The peace announced at Bethlehem is the peace accomplished by the Lamb of God and bestowed on communicants who have been taught to feed on Christ by faith with thanksgiving.

The hymn's central Christological title is drawn from St. John's witness:

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is why the Gloria can be both praise and supplication. "We praise thee" and "have mercy upon us" belong together because the one adored is the Lamb who bears away sin. The hymn therefore keeps eucharistic joy from becoming self-satisfied triumphalism. The Church praises Christ precisely as the merciful Son who has dealt with sin.

The final Christological clauses also echo the worship of the exalted Lamb:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

The 1928 Gloria's "Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father" places the communicants' prayer before the ascended Christ. The same Jesus who is Lamb of God is now seated in glory. The hymn therefore moves from Bethlehem's angelic praise, through the Lamb's atoning mercy, to the heavenly worship of the exalted Son.

Place in Holy Communion

The Gloria comes late in the 1928 rite. It is preceded by confession, absolution, Comfortable Words, Sursum Corda, Sanctus, Prayer of Consecration, Lord's Prayer, Prayer of Humble Access, reception, reverent care of the remaining consecrated elements, and thanksgiving. That order matters. The Gloria is praise after mercy received.

Its clauses move in a disciplined sequence. "Glory be to God on high" and "on earth peace" announce the cosmic scope of the Gospel. "We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee" gives the worship due to the Father. "O Lord, the only-begotten Son" shifts the address to Christ without lowering the worship offered. "Lamb of God" interprets Christ's glory through sacrifice. "Receive our prayer" makes the exalted Christ the hearer of the Church's petition. "With the Holy Ghost" completes the doxology in explicitly Trinitarian form.

The hymn's standing posture also fits the movement of the service. The people have knelt to receive Communion and will kneel for the blessing. Between those kneeling actions the Gloria lets the congregation rise for praise. The body follows the text: humble reception, grateful standing praise, and kneeling departure under God's blessing.

Anglican History

The first English Prayer Book placed the Gloria near the beginning of the Communion office, after the Introit and Kyrie:

Then the Prieste standyng at Goddes borde shall begin,

Glory be to God on high. The Clerkes. And in yearth peace, good will towardes men.

We praise thee, we blesse thee, we worship thee, we glorifie thee, wee geve thankes to thee for thy greate glory, O Lorde GOD, heavenly kyng, God the father almightie.

The same 1549 office allowed the Gloria to be omitted on weekdays or in private houses:

When the holy Communion is celebrate on the workeday, or in private howses: Then may be omitted, the Gloria in excelsis, the Crede, the Homily, and the exhortacion, beginning.

By 1662 the English book placed the Gloria at the close of the Communion service:

Then shall be said or sung, Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good will towards men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.

The 1928 American rite stands in that later Anglican line by keeping the Gloria after Communion and before the blessing. It also differs textually from 1662 in the Lamb of God paragraph: 1662 repeats the petition "have mercy upon us" after a second "Thou that takest away the sins of the world"; the 1928 form passes directly from the first "have mercy upon us" to "receive our prayer." That difference makes the 1928 text somewhat shorter while retaining the same doctrinal movement.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere identify the Gloria among the invariable elements of the historic liturgy and summarize its early history:

The Gloria in excelsis was originally a Greek hymn for Mattins, dating at least from the IVth century and possibly from the IInd and was translated into Latin at an early date.

They also explain the 1552 change that shaped later English and American placement:

Besides the redistribution and remodelling of the Canon and the transposition of the devotions for communicants, other changes were made: by (I) The omission of the Introit-Psalms, Agnus Dei and Postcommunion anthems, (2) The insertion of the Commandments and alteration of the Kyrie: (3) The transference of the exhortation from the sermon time to the beginning of the new 'Mass of the Faithful' to use the old formula, or after the 'Ante-communion Service' to use a more modern description: (4) The transference of the Gloria in Excelsis from the opening to the close of the service.

Percy Dearmer gives a broader Anglican interpretation of this inheritance:

the great hymn of praise at Holy Communion, Glory be to God on high, or Gloria in Excelsis, comes from the Eastern Church in the period between the first and the fourth centuries.

Dearmer also links the Gloria to the old eucharistic structure rather than to decorative hymnody:

From the Sarum Missal is also the part that is sung from Sursum Corda ("Lift up your hearts") to the Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy"), as well as the Gloria in Excelsis ("Glory be to God on High"); but these are found also in all the old Liturgies or Communion Services, both those in Greek and those in Latin, and take us back perhaps to Apostolic times.

These historical witnesses show why the Gloria belongs naturally in a classical Anglican Communion office. It is ancient hymnody, received through the Western liturgical tradition, translated into English, repositioned by the Reformation Prayer Books, and retained in the American 1928 rite as the final act of praise before departure.

Theological Meaning

The Gloria is deeply Trinitarian. It begins with praise to God the Father, turns to the Son as only-begotten Lord and Lamb of God, and concludes by confessing Christ "with the Holy Ghost" in the glory of the Father. M. F. Sadler's catechetical manual treats the hymn in exactly this way:

How do we worship and glorify the Trinity in Unity in the services of the Church? In the Gloria Patri; in the Gloria in Excelsis ("Glory be to God on high"); in the Litany; in the confession of the Creeds, especially the Creed of St. Athanasius.

The hymn is also eucharistic praise. Sadler connects the Gloria with the Church's sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in Holy Communion:

Do any acts of praise and thanksgiving accompany this? Yes: the deepest and greatest we offer to God. Mention one of these? The Hymn of the Seraphim, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Mention another. The Gloria in Excelsis (Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, &c.).

This is a useful guardrail for Anglican interpretation. The Gloria does not make Holy Communion a sacrifice by adding human merit to Christ's work. It is the Church's sacrifice of praise, offered because Christ's once-for-all sacrifice has been proclaimed, pleaded in prayer, and received sacramentally. The Gloria therefore belongs with the eucharistic name itself: thanksgiving.

Clause by clause, the hymn teaches worship in the right order. "Glory be to God on high" is doxology before it is request. "On earth peace" is Gospel peace, not merely social calm. "We give thanks to thee for thy great glory" means that God's own majesty is itself a gift for which the Church gives thanks. "Only-begotten Son" confesses the Son's eternal relation to the Father. "Lamb of God" names the saving work by which sinners have mercy. "Receive our prayer" turns praise into intercession through the exalted Christ. "Thou only art holy" excludes rival saviours. "With the Holy Ghost" prevents Christological devotion from becoming detached from the full doctrine of the Trinity.

Pastoral and Catechetical Use

For parish teaching, the Gloria is a compact catechism after Communion. It teaches that the Eucharist ends in praise because the communicants have received mercy, not because they have performed a religious achievement. It also teaches that Christian praise is doctrinal: the Church sings of the Father Almighty, the only-begotten Son, the Lamb of God, Christ at the Father's right hand, and the Holy Ghost.

The 1928 option of "some proper Hymn" should be read under that doctrinal standard. A substitute hymn is not simply any favorite song. It should be proper to the occasion and capable of carrying the service's final movement: glory to God, thanksgiving for Christ, mercy through the Lamb, and Trinitarian praise before the blessing.

The Gloria also helps connect Christmas and Holy Communion. The angelic song at Bethlehem is fulfilled in the whole economy of Christ: incarnation, atoning death, resurrection, ascension, heavenly intercession, and sacramental communion. When the congregation stands to say or sing the Gloria after receiving Communion, it joins the heavenly host in praise of the same Christ who has just fed his people with the benefits of his passion.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion (1928 BCP)
• Blessing in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Sanctus (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Consecration (1928 BCP)
• Articles of Religion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Holy Communion PDF facsimile - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• The Communion (1549)
• The Lord's Supper or Holy Communion - Church of England
• Procter and Frere: The Communion Service
• Percy Dearmer: The Prayer Book
• M. F. Sadler: The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction