We do not presume to come to this thy Table (O merciful Lord) trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We be not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, in these holy Mysteries, that we may continually dwell in him, and he in us, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his Body, and our souls washed through his most precious Blood. Amen.
In 1547, Henry VIII died, and the following year it was agreed that both the bread and the wine should be distributed at Holy Communion. At the same time, Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote a lengthy order to prepare the people for this: an exhortation, a confession, readings from scripture (the "Comfortable Words"), and the prayer quoted, in its original 1548 form, above.
Originally these prayers, readings and exhortations came after the celebrant had himself received communion, and broke up the flow of the service. This did not matter much, because most of the service was in Latin. When, the next year, the first English Book of Common Prayer was produced, the various bits were moved to more appropriate places. Our prayer above, however, remained as a form of preparation immediately before communion.
Not for long, though. Three years later, its words were tidied up slightly and it was moved to a place after the Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy,... heaven and earth are full of thy glory) and before the Prayer of Consecration. It stayed in this place for the next 400 years. The Alternative Service Book of 1980, the basis of our old, blue service books, moved it even further back, to before the Peace, and now, in the new book of Common Worship, it has returned to its original place, just before communion.
Does its position matter? If we use the prayer at all, we should use it to prepare ourselves to receive communion, and although, like many of Cranmer's prayers, its wording is open to different interpretations, it is good to keep it as near to our own "eating and drinking" as possible, and in any case not to let it interfere with our joyful thanksgiving for our Lord's gift of a new relationship through his death and resurrection.
What about the prayer itself? Some see it as too penitential. We have already been assured of God's forgiveness, and the Eucharist, by its name and nature, is a service of thanksgiving. The key perhaps lies in the name given to it in the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637. It is not a confession of utter unworthiness, but a Prayer of Humble Access.
Cranmer based the prayer on mediæval devotions, and on the Greek liturgy of St Basil, which he had studied closely. But above all he based the prayer on scripture.
The prayer is about God's mercy, and recalls two acts of mercy, both to Gentiles - the healing of the centurion's servant (Mt. 8:5-13) and of the Canaanite woman's daughter (Mt. 15:21-8): Jesus giving without reserve. Then, in its petition (the part of the prayer that begins "Grant us"), the prayer recalls Jesus' teaching that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53), and echoes the striking image from Rev 7:14 of our being "washed white in the blood of the Lamb."
There is a modern alternative, which we sometimes use. Perhaps it speaks more directly to you, with its message that our God is a God of surprises, one who turns on its head the Old Testament ritual echoed in Psalm 24:4. For in communion with Christ, unworthy though we may be, we all have access to the Kingdom.
Most merciful Lord, your love compels us to come in. Our hands were unclean, our hearts were unprepared; we were not fit even to eat the crumbs from under your table. But you, Lord, are the God of our salvation, and share your bread with sinners. So cleanse and feed us with the precious body and blood of your Son, that he may live in us and we in him; and that we, with the whole company of Christ, may sit and eat in your kingdom. Amen.
HD