Now we acknowledge both God's goodness in providing this sacrament and our unworthiness to receive it. Balancing our sense of unworthiness with celebration of God's love is distinctly Anglican.
Although sometimes we recite the ancient "O Lord, I am not worthy that thou shoudst enter under my roof, but say the word only and my soul shall be healed," generally we recite the famous prayer written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer: The Prayer of Humble Access. This prayer embodies the magnificent and stately language for which the Anglican Reformation is so justly famed.
The Prayer of Humble Access balances realism with symbolism. It intends us to understand that God has changed both the bread and wine into something that we truly need: an actual bridge from this world to God. On the other hand, the prayer uses imagery and phrases that are poetic and suggestive rather than literal. In short, God blesses us in a spiritual way.
"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 are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under They 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 they dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen."