Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion (1928 BCP)

Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion (1928 BCP) is the post-communion thanksgiving in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer within Holy Communion. It follows the Administration of Communion, after the priest has reverently placed the remaining consecrated elements on the Lord's Table, and it precedes the Gloria in excelsis or a proper hymn and the final blessing. The prayer interprets Communion as spiritual feeding on Christ, assurance of God's favour, incorporation into Christ's mystical body, hope of the kingdom, and grace-enabled perseverance in good works.

Text in the 1928 Rite

The 1928 rite directs the priest to return to the Lord's Table after all have communicated, cover what remains of the consecrated elements with a fair linen cloth, and then say "Let us pray." The appointed thanksgiving is:

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us who have duly received these holy mysteries with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of his most precious death and passion. And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

The prayer is thanksgiving before it is petition. It first thanks God for feeding those who have "duly received" the mysteries, then prays that grace will continue the communion that has just been given. Its order is important: sacramental gift, divine assurance, ecclesial incorporation, eschatological hope, perseverance, good works, and Trinitarian doxology.

Scriptural Foundations

The prayer's "spiritual food" language reflects Saint Paul's account of Eucharistic communion as participation in Christ's Body and Blood and as the making visible of one body:

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

This is why the thanksgiving does not treat Communion as a private religious moment. The communicant receives personally, but the fruit is corporate: "very members incorporate in the mystical body" and part of "the blessed company of all faithful people."

The same ecclesial logic appears later in 1 Corinthians:

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

The prayer's final petition also echoes Ephesians. It does not ask that good works might justify the communicants, but that grace might sustain the works for which God has created them in Christ:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The clause "all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in" therefore belongs to a doctrine of grace. Communion gives assurance and fellowship; the response is holy living supplied by the same grace that saves.

Anglican Doctrine

Article XXVIII sets the doctrinal boundary for the prayer's claim that communicants are fed with the Body and Blood of Christ. The Prayer Book thanksgiving is not bare memorialism, but neither is it transubstantiation:

The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is Faith.

Within that boundary, the post-communion prayer can speak strongly: God has fed the faithful with spiritual food; he has assured them of favour and goodness; he has made them members of Christ's mystical body. The adverb "spiritual" does not mean unreal. It identifies the manner of reception as heavenly and by faith, in the language of the Articles.

Article XII supplies the matching doctrine of good works. The thanksgiving's petition for fruitful obedience is the expected fruit of lively faith:

Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.

The prayer therefore avoids two reductions. It does not make Communion an isolated rite detached from moral renewal, and it does not make moral renewal the basis of acceptance before God. The faithful give thanks for mercy already received, then ask for grace to continue in the fellowship into which they have been incorporated.

Historical Development

The post-communion thanksgiving reaches back to the first English Prayer Book. The 1549 Communion office gave a thanksgiving after reception that already contained the main clauses later retained in the Anglican tradition:

ALMIGHTYE and everlyvyng GOD, we moste hartely thanke thee, for that thou hast vouchsafed to feede us in these holy Misteries, with the spirituall foode of the moste precious body and bloud of thy sonne, our saviour Jesus Christ, and haste assured us (duely receiving the same) of thy favour and goodnes toward us, and that we be very membres incorporate in thy Misticall bodye, whiche is the blessed companye of all faythfull people, and heyres through hope of thy everlasting kingdome, by the merites of the most precious death and passion, of thy deare sonne. We therfore most humbly beseche thee, O heavenly father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy felowship, and doe all suche good woorkes, as thou hast prepared for us to walke in: through Jesus Christe our Lorde, to whome with thee and the holy gost, bee all honour and glory, world without ende.

The 1552 Prayer Book rearranged the post-communion material. After the Lord's Prayer it offered the Prayer of Oblation or, alternatively, the thanksgiving form:

O LORDE and heavenly father, we thy humble servaunts entierly desire thy fatherly goodnes, mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of prayse and thanksgeving: most humbly beseching thee to graunt, that by the merites and death of thy sonne Jesus Christe, and through fayth in his bloud, we and al thy whole church may obtayne remission of oure synnes, and all other benefytes of his Passion. And here we offre and presente unto thee, O lord, our selfes, our soules, and bodies, to be a reasonable holy, and lively Sacrifice unto thee...

The alternative thanksgiving in the same 1552 position is visibly close to the 1928 text:

ALMIGHTIE and everliving God, we most hartely thank thee, for that thou dooest vouchsafe to fede us, whiche have duely receyved these holye misteries, with the spirituall foode of the most precious body and bloud of thy sonne our saviour Jesus Christ, and doest assure us thereby of thy favoure and goodnes towarde us, and that we bee verye membres incorporate in thy mistical body, which is the blessed companie of all faythfull people, and be also heyrs, through hope, of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merites of the most precious death and Passion of thy deare sonne. We now most humbly beseche thee, O heavenly father, so to assiste us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy felowship, and do al such good workes, as thou hast prepared for us to walk in: through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the holy ghost, be all honour and glorye, world without ende. Amen.

The 1662 Church of England rite retained the same thanksgiving as the second of the two post-communion alternatives:

Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of the most precious death and passion of thy dear Son. And we most humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

E. Clowes Chorley's account of the 1928 revision helps locate the prayer beside the rubrics about remaining consecrated elements. The adopted 1928 office first directs the priest to return what remains to the Lord's Table before the thanksgiving; later it keeps the traditional rule that the remaining consecrated elements are not to be carried out of church. Chorley notes that the Joint Commission considered, but did not secure, a limited reservation rubric for Communion of the Sick:

The Joint Commission sought to amend the rubric directing that any remaining portion of the consecrated bread and wine should be reverently consumed and not carried out of church, by a provision that, when allowed by the bishop, there might be reserved so much as might be required that day for the communion of the sick. The recommendation was not adopted.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere give a concise historical interpretation of this material. They identify the 1552 post-communion structure and distinguish the thanksgiving from the oblation form:

At the same time the post-Communion service came, as has been shown, to consist of the Lord's Prayer, a Prayer of Oblation or of Thanksgiving, the Great Doxology, and the Blessing.

They also explain the theological character of the thanksgiving itself:

The second form is one of Thanksgiving, consisting more entirely of praise for the mercies which are assured to us in this Sacrament; yet it also includes a very earnest prayer for perseverance and fruitfulness in good works.

This interpretation matches the 1928 use. The American book does not print the post-communion oblation as an alternative at this point, because its eucharistic oblation has already been restored within the Prayer of Consecration. The remaining prayer is therefore clearly a thanksgiving: praise for sacramental mercies already received, followed by petition for perseverance and fruitful obedience.

Clause-by-Clause Reading

"We most heartily thank thee" names the whole prayer as eucharistic gratitude. The communicants do not leave the altar with self-congratulation or anxiety; they begin with thanks to God for what he has given.

"Thou dost vouchsafe to feed us" makes the action gracious. The verb points to divine condescension: God has not merely reminded the faithful of Christ but has fed those who have duly received the holy mysteries.

"With the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood" joins the prayer to Article XXVIII. The feeding is real, but its manner is heavenly and spiritual, received by faith.

"Dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness" treats Communion as a sign and seal of grace. The prayer speaks pastorally: those who have confessed, heard absolution and Comfortable Words, and received worthily are taught to give thanks for divine favour rather than to remain uncertain about God's goodness.

"Very members incorporate in the mystical body" gives the ecclesial fruit of Communion. The communicant is not simply strengthened as an individual. The sacrament manifests and deepens membership in Christ and in "the blessed company of all faithful people."

"Heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom" directs the thanksgiving forward. Communion is received in the present, but its assurance reaches toward the final inheritance secured by Christ's death and passion.

"So to assist us with thy grace" marks the transition from thanksgiving to petition. The life after Communion remains dependent on grace. The prayer asks not for independent moral ability but for divine assistance in continuing in holy fellowship.

"All such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in" completes the movement from altar to life. The good works are not meritorious payment for the sacrament; they are the fruit of communion with Christ, the work of grace in those who have been fed by him.

Pastoral and Catechetical Use

The prayer is a compact catechism of Anglican eucharistic theology. It teaches that faithful communicants receive Christ spiritually, are assured of God's favour, belong to Christ's body, hope for the kingdom, and are sent into a life of grace-enabled obedience.

In parish instruction, this prayer is especially useful after teaching the words of administration. The administration says, "feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving"; this prayer shows what that thanksgiving includes. It is not only a feeling of gratitude but a doctrinal confession: Christ has fed his people, joined them to his body, and prepared them for holy living.

The prayer also helps keep eucharistic devotion proportionate. It avoids treating Communion as bare remembrance because it gives thanks for spiritual feeding with Christ's Body and Blood. It avoids treating Communion as mechanical benefit because it speaks of duly receiving and asks for continuing grace. It avoids individualism because it names the mystical body. It avoids moralism because good works follow the sacramental gift and the assisting grace of God.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Administration of Communion (1928 BCP)
• Gloria in Excelsis (1928 BCP)
• Blessing in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Consecration (1928 BCP)
• Articles of Religion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Articles of Religion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• The Communion (1549)
• 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