2nd after Epiphany Morning After thoughts...

Unfortunately this is a week late in getting posted, but I wanted to get it up here anyway.

Every time I read that passage from John’s gospel about Jesus being the “Lamb of God,” I can’t help but think of the “Agnus Dei” (Latin, for “Lamb of God”) in our liturgy. This formula, whether spoken or chanted, has a long and varied use in the liturgies of both East and West. In our Lutheran usage, it is important to note its location in the liturgy—it comes after the Words of Institution. In that sense, when we sing the Agnus Dei, we’re not simply singing a short hymn to Christ our Savior, more importantly, we’re singing a short hymn to Christ our Savior as we now understand him to be really, and truly present in the consecrated bread and wine.

What makes this detail interesting is that the Lutheran faith tradition is a Reformation faith tradition—and one detail of the ancient faith that is lost in so many Reformation faith traditions is any sacramental understanding that Jesus comes to his people in ordinary elements like water, bread and wine. In addition, it became very important to churches of the various Reformation traditions that their church orders and liturgies reflect the beliefs that marked them as different from Rome.

Take the Church of England for instance. In the first Book of Common Prayer of 1549, the liturgy was Reformed in the early (Lutheran-ish) sense of the word. One can easily detect a sacramental, real presence, understanding within the liturgy. In the case of the Agnus Dei, it is appointed to be sung as a distribution hymn during the communion.

This was not to be the case in the second Book of Common Prayer, 1552. The Reformation in England was developing along more ‘symbolic’ lines when it came to the question of sacraments—a point clearly seen in the difference of the new distribution formula. Where the old 1549 formula—with Agnus Dei being sung in the background had said:

"The body of our Lorde Jesus Christe whiche was geven for thee, preserve thy bodye and soule unto everlasting lyfe….The bloud of our Lorde Jesus Christe which was shed for thee, preserve thy bodye and soule unto everlastyng lyfe."

The new formula (don’t you love the ‘olde English’) now said:

"Take and eate this, in remembraunce that Christ dyed for thee, and feede on him in thy hearte by faythe, with thankesgeving…..Drinke this in remembraunce that Christ's bloude was shed for thee, and be thankefull."

…and the Agnus Dei is GONE! It seemed very intentional that whereas the first prayer book emphasized a real sacramental presence, the second prayer book emphasized a symbolic remembrance.

The Agnus Dei remains absent from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England to this day. Having said that, there is one or two interesting details with which to close out this story. In the mid 1800s that church experienced a strong movement, at least in some quarters, to restore a more ancient understanding of the religion. Ceremony and ritual were very important, as was a strong sacramental understanding of the Holy Communion. On occasion Priests or Bishops would land in hot water for doing things that were not allowed—or were expressly forbidden in the Prayer Book—which, after all, was the law of the land. One example of this concerned the case of the Bishop of Lincoln, Edward King. It seems that in his cathedral during a communion service in 1887, the Bishop, among other things, used the Agnus Dei in his liturgy. An ecclesiastical suit was brought against him and he stood trial. In 1980 the Agnus Dei appeared in an authorized service book known as the ASB, and it is also found in the Church of England’s current service book “Common Worship.”

So, the next time you sing the Agnus Dei in our communion liturgy, bring to mind that this is more than just “bumper music” to sing while people are communing. This is an intentional confession of our belief that Jesus is really, and truly present in the bread and wine……FOR US!