(7) The Breaking of the Bread and the Communion

The priest breaks the bread and says,

We who are many are one body, (1 Cor 12.27)

for we all share in the one bread. 

(Prayer Book has various options.)

 Come let us take this holy sacrament
 of the body and blood of Christ

in remembrance that he died for us,
and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

The sacrament is given to individuals with the following words,

 The body of Christ keep you

in eternal life.

The blood of Christ keep you

in eternal life.

 and the communicant replies, AMEN.

The Anglican Church typically uses a common cup but provides an alternative if that is required. (Some dip their wafer into the communion cup rather than drinking from it directly.)

What does it all mean? 

Anglicanism is influenced by Martin Luther and by John Calvin without being fully Lutheran or Calvinian. Both regarded the Communion as a sacrament but there the unity ends.  Calling it a sacrament emphasises the work God is doing; calling it an ordinance emphasises the work the believer is doing. Communion could be regarded as both a sacrament and an ordinance (something commanded).

While all branches of the Anglican Church would regard Communion as a sacrament wide differences exist among Anglo-Catholic, Broad and Low Church as to the nature of the sacrament.

However, the Articles of Religion (the official standard of the Church of England)(1562) states:

XXVIII OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
"The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death: insomuch that to rightly, worthily and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation (or the change of the substances of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean[s] whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped."

Hence, as an Evangelical Anglican my belief about the sacrament is in accord with  Article XXVIII. The big danger is either to lapse into seeing the Communion as consisting of mere tokens to remind us of what Christ did for us or locating Christ's body and blood in some specific place (i.e., in the elements). The latter has all the dangers of falling into the 'many superstitions' that the Article speaks about.

This quote from Richard Hooker, one of the Anglican greats during the latter part of Elizabeth the First's reign (1558-1603) is an important way to regard the sacrament and the receivers of the sacrament: 'the real presence of Christ's most blessed body and blood is not therefore to be sought for in this sacrament, but in the worthy receiver of the sacrament'. See here for a short and helpful blog post on this position.