While at church, Washington was "always serious and attentive," reported William White, the minister at Christ Church in Philadelphia during and after the revolution – but he never kneeled. More significant, Washington did not generally take communion, perhaps the most deeply spiritual act in the Anglican Church. In fact, he would generally leave services before his wife Martha, who often did take the sacrament. Dr. James Abercrombie, assistant rector of Christ Church acknowledged that Washington was "a professing Christian" who attended regularly but added, "I cannot consider any man as a real Christian who uniformly disregards an ordinance so solemnly enjoined by the divine Author of our holy religion, and considered as a channel of divine grace." So disappointed was Abercrombie that he made a not-so-veiled reference to Washington's behavior in a sermon.
When Washington learned of the sermon he dug in his heels. He explained that if he were to suddenly switch to taking communion, after years of not doing so, it would be viewed as "an ostentatious display of religious zeal." Significantly, Washington's solution, then, was not to start taking communion – but rather to avoid church on the Sundays when communion was being offered.
And please remember, sir, that the First Great Awakening had little effect on the Anglicans.
MAJOR BTTT!!