There’s an old Latin saying that sums up the centrality of worship for Anglicans: 

Lex orandi, lex credendi – the law of praying is the law of belief. 

In other words, you are what you worship. Worship is the act of giving our whole selves to God, so that we live all of life “for the praise and glory of his name” (Ephesians 1:12). Worship shapes and forms us through word, song, action, and thought into followers of Jesus. For Anglicans, worship is where the rubber hits the road.

This is where our beliefs are worked out in practice, embodied theology rather than a list of doctrines. 

At the very core, Anglican worship is an enactment or realisation of the Christian gospel, the story of God. It is worship that is Christ-centred, thoroughly Biblical, and liturgically beautiful. This is intentional, so that everyone is led in reverence and devotion of God to live transformed lives.

Defining Anglican worship

Anglican worship pays attention to some key points:

• It is holistic in that it engages the heart, the mind, and the body.
• It contains a sense of mystery as we enter God’s presence and deepens our relationship with God through spiritual practices.
• It is both a gathering together (most often on Sunday), and our individual patterns of devotion. The two go together.
• It is framed in words that Christians have found helpful through history – our worship is historically rooted. This means we are part of a larger Body of Christ that began with Jesus and the early church. We belong to a timeless, universal church, and we are united together in a local gathering.

Anglican worship is also liturgical. Liturgy is the word used to describe the pattern of worship – the set forms of words, actions, and rituals.

We come together in worship through word and action to do one thing: to offer to the one true God our offerings of praise, thanksgiving, and our lives.

That is the work of God’s people, and it is God who is our audience. 

Anglican worship follows a four-fold pattern of gathering, hearing, feeding and sending.

• Gathering: We gather as whānau – God’s family.
• Hearing: We hear the story of God through Bible readings, preaching, statements of faith, prayers and confession and absolution
• Feeding: We gather around the Lord’s table to celebrate Holy Communion with bread and wine. This is a shared meal in which we remember all that Jesus has done for us and his coming again, and we receive God’s loving grace. 
• Sending: As the body of Christ, we come together to worship God and to be sent back into the world through God’s mission. We are blessed to be a blessing.

If we go back in history, we can see why Thomas Cranmer adopted this pattern to transform Anglican worship in the sixteenth century. For Cranmer, the form and order of worship are non-negotiable, as they not only mirrored and embodied the essence of the gospel, but also mirrored the worship practices of the early Church. Anglican worship is more than a sum of the parts. The pattern and direction matter. 

Of Word and Table

There is an even simpler pattern to Anglican worship, an ancient rhythm that traces its roots back to early Jewish worship practices. This rhythm consists of two main components: the Liturgy of the Word, which involves gathering and hearing, and the subsequent addition of Holy Communion, known as the Liturgy of the Table, which encompasses feeding and sending.

Through this pattern, the truth about Jesus is unveiled, with the revelation of the Word and the embodiment of the Table. It is this pattern that has nourished Christians since the beginning of the Church. 

In this pattern, we remember through hearing and enacting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and we anticipate his return. And, through the Holy Spirit, we acknowledge that God is active now – transforming individuals, communities and the world.