It communicates that he who has magical hands and words, and not God, is the consecrator of the bread and wine in Holy Communion. I love this liturgical message that dates back to the 1552 Book of Common Prayer, but I've sometimes thought that those who insist on calling an altar a "table," and who preside at Holy Communion on the north side of the table are fussy, legalistic liturgical Protestants.

My friends Andrew Pearson and David Browder are studious and thoughtful, but not pretentious, about this. Then this morning another friend, Daniel Stoddart, sent me the concluding chapter of Arthur Bennett's book, Table and Minister, that states what I believe is the heart and mind of Thomas Cranmer and the original intent of the Prayer Book worship: "When the position of the celebrant is under revision, the leading question is whether his stance truly expounds the doctrine of justification by faith. If it obscures it, or teaches something other, it must be condemned."

I am overwhelmed thinking about how modern-day Anglicans have imported all sorts of Roman Catholic, Tractarian, and ritualist ideas and practices that betray the original intention of our Anglican fathers.

END