On Sunday, August 24 we are going to take time to explain the liturgy as we go through it. (Don’t worry, it won’t be longer than normal!) If you wonder why we might want to do that, perhaps the old story about a young bride cooking a roast will help. A young bride tries her hand at her mother’s brisket recipe, cutting off the ends of the roast just the way her mother did. When her husband asks why she cut off the ends, she says, “Because that’s the way my mother did it.” Then she begins to wonder why, so she asks her mother, who says that her mother had always done it that way. (See how this goes?) Together they call the grandmother, who says simply, “I had to fit it in my pan!” Our liturgy is steeped in tradition; but we don’t do things “because that’s the way it’s always been done.” There is purpose and deep intent in the liturgy, even if we have no idea what it is. An Instructed Eucharist is intended to make plain what might otherwise be hidden and to help us gain a deeper appreciation for what we do when we gather to worship.