This is the first in a series exploring the spirituality and practice of the Eucharist with particular reference to the traditions and styles of the Church of England. The proposed readership is the ordinary worshipper, and seekers who wish to gain insight into the Eucharist.

Five clear, succinct and readable chapters make up the text. Stephen Burns opens with a discussion of the Eucharist’s shape, and an introduction to the following chapters, which are built around the liturgical forms of gathering, word, sacrament and sending.

Richard Giles serves ‘gathering’ well, with a comprehensive introduction to the many levels of meaning in the act of assembling, concluding with the way our gathering is God’s initiative.

Nicola Slee guides the reader through the layers of hearing the word, attentive to the tension between holy writ and the Word who stands behind it. She keenly discusses proclamation, sermon, creed and intercession. I am not sure I can agree that the word can be easily rendered using multiple media (p. 46), but she opens an important question and sets up the criterion of authentic engagement.

The chapter on ‘sacrament’ strays from the structure of the others: Ann Loades speaks more broadly of sacramentality and less of the liturgical rite. Her material is interesting and challenging, yet something more direct on the implications of the Eucharist would help readers to worship using the rite.

The concluding chapter by Mark Ireland on ‘sending’ is broad-ranging, mission-oriented and replete with options, without losing sight of who comprises the contemporary worshipping community.

This is the sort of text that successfully informs and enlightens the laity, allows for an ecumenical readership and makes sense of the liturgy to those seekers in our midst.