Low church and high church

[R.J.S]

What is the difference between Low Church Anglicans and High Church Anglicans?

[gitlance]

Primarily the style of liturgy. High church Anglicans love the "smells and bells," while low church Anglicans tend to be more scripture/sermon oriented with very little ceremony.

[PaladinValer]

High church is more akin to a Vatican Catholic service, with primary emphasis on Communion time.

Low church is more akin to a Calvinist service, with primary emphasis on the sermon. Some recognize that Communion time however is the more important element in worship; others do not.

Broad church is more akin to a Lutheran service, with no specific emphasis at all, though recognizing the primary aspect of Communion time.

[gtsecc]

I would say high Church might be closer to a Vatican Catholic doing a Tridentine Mass.
The Novus Ordum Mass is closer to a Rite II (Low Church) Mass.

[R.J.S]

So would the High-Church Anglicans be almost Anglo-Catholic/Tractarian?

[PaladinValer]

No; it refers to the style of worship, not doctrine.

[R.J.S]

No; it refers to the style of worship, not doctrine.

Ahhh...:thumbsup:

[pmcleanj]

What is the difference between Low Church Anglicans and High Church Anglicans?
There really isn't any difference between Low Church Anglicans, and High Church Anglicans. Within the Anglican Communion we all belong to the same church organization and structure; but we have differences in our worship practices from one congregation to another. Most summaries of what the differences are tend to be simplistic. The fact is, that if you worship as an Anglican for a couple decades experiencing different churches, you begin to get a feel for the range of differences, and know what someone means when they describe a congregations worship as "Low Church".

Nor is it a simple spectrum from "Low" to "High", since factors like traditionalism/liturgical-reform, conformant/innovative, Anglo-catholic/Evangelical, secular-orientation/ecclesial-orientation, clericalism/lay-empowerment and so on all come into play.

To understand the "High-Church/Low-Church" distinction, think in terms of industrial-revolution era Britain with the class distinctions between "upstairs" and "downstairs". In High Church worship, the emphasis is on appropriate attention to detail in the accoutrements of worship. The "fine linen cloth" on the altar must be fine linen -- not cotton, no matter how fine. The Bishop must vest differently from the Dean, the Dean must vest differently from a common rector, the rector differently from his deacon. The paraments must be the right colour for the right season; and no expense is spared in ensuring that they display the community's commitment to giving God their best . Incense if used must be used correctly. Processions are lined up with great care to ensure that everyone is in his or her correct place. Wardens and vergers carry maces that distinguish their positions so that no-one accidentally mistakes the People's Warden for the Verger. Choirs are composed of four different voices and sing the canticles to settings that the laity in the pew would struggle to acheive. This is the worship style of the "dress for dinner" crowd; this is the church of the big city, where many different classes come together and distinctions are maintained with care.

Low Church worship is characterized much more by considerations of core function. Why do we have a cloth on the Lord's Table? Why, to protect the crumbs of the Eucharist, of course. Fine batiste will do as well as linen lawn -- with all due respect to God, of course, but without hubris. The bishop when he comes to visit, the rector, and the deacon can all wear black cassocks and white surplice, because that is the appropriate dress for clergy, and they are all clergy -- what matters is the functions they perform. Processions are for getting into and out of the church; you line up in the right order so that you can process, rather than having a procession so that you can demonstrate what the right order is. The canticles are sung in unison chant by the congregation, and the choir if there is one serves only to lead and keep everyone in the same key. This is the church of the village, where agricultural reality is a present awareness for everyone from squire to peasant, and practical facts of life prevail.

To sum up Low Church worship as "more scripture/sermon oriented with very little ceremony" under-represents the care and thought that goes into Low Church worship, and in addition suggests differences that don't exist. Low Church worship follows the same liturgical pattern as High-church worship. In both styles we open with the Lord's Prayer and the Collect for Purity; rehearse the commandments and the Kyrie, hear the readings, recite the creed, hear a sermon, pray the intercessions, receive the offertory, consecrate and share the Eucharist, recite Sanctus, Agnus Dei and the Gloria. The scripture readings are the same readings, so the same amount of time is spent on scripture in both High and Low church. The sermon is similar in length, as is constrained by all the other elements of the Lord's Supper.

The bigger difference will be in terms of aesthetics. The ultimate Low Church aesthetic is "form follows function". In a Low Church service, the priest will recite the opening Lord's Prayer silently because its function is to prepare him to lead worship, whereas in a High Church service it may be beautifully sung by the choir in four-part harmony. The Low Church service will have the kyrie sung or said by the congregation in English, because it functions as the people's informed consent to God's commandments. The High Church service will have the three-fold Kyrie in Greek. A Low Church service will have no candles on the altar to avoid any suggestion of worshipping the Eucharistic elements; a high-church service will have gold or silver cnadlesticks with ornate drip-guards and use Sanctus bells as well. A Low Church service will have the people singing the Psalm and Gloria in unison Anglican chant, and the Sanctus and Agnus Dei in Sarum Plainsong; with the chant tunes fixed and unchanging from year to year so that there is no bar to the full participation of every long-term member of the congregation. A High Church service may have a cantor lead using novel newly-written or newly-restored tunes, with a harmony response sung by the trained choir. And so on.

Within any parish, the minimalist "Low Church" approach may be used for some elements of the service, with a more baroque "High Church" approach for other elements. And some Low Church services are more minimalist than others, while some High Church services are more decorative than others. All of which is PURELY a liturgical choice, and has nothing to do with the parishes theological bent. You can have High Church parishes that lean toward Geneva and Low Church parishes that lean toward Rome as easily as the other way around.

[R.J.S]

Thankyou for the explanation :)