Fraction and elevation

I have been inundated with an e-mail asking for an explanation of fraction and elevation. As any member of parliament will tell you, this means 10 puzzled people. So here we go:

Essentially fraction and elevation means that at the Lord's supper the presiding pastor holds the bread up as high as he can, says something like "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?", then breaks it by moving his arms outwards in a wide and demonstrative arc. He then uses a similar statement while lifting up the cup.

Many moons ago, when I was a child (yes, that far back!), I was a communicant member of the Church in Wales - low church, but the bread used to be elevated, and we used to do a curt nod, feeling that we ought to do something but that to genuflect or to cross oneself was not protestant. You can understand my surprise, then, to see the bread elevated at the weekend.

Especially since in Edward's prayer book of 1549, strongly influenced by the continental reformers, you have this instruction:

These wordes before rehersed are to be saied, turning still to the Altar, without any elevacion, or shewing the Sacrament to the people.

Here's a lovely pdf of the page in the prayer book:
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1549/Communion3_1549.jpg

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