I can always tell when I am at the altar whether or not people in the pews are really kneeling. If they are sort of slouched over and leaning forward a lot I know that they probably have their butt resting on the pew. Some people, of course, just refuse to kneel in church - it is easy to pick them out. They either can't or don't want to. But no matter who does what in that regard, I never get on anyone's case about it. Why? Because I think we have way too much kneeling in our services. I sympathize with most of these people. Plus, I refuse to play "liturgy police" with folk, and brow-beat parishioners into doing my bidding.
Excessive kneeling is the worst thing about continuing Anglicanism. I remember that I couldn't wait to be ordained in part because I got so sick of kneeling during the service. The idea that kneeling helps put one into an attitude of prayer... well, that may be true for some people but I have yet to meet anyone who that actually works for. Too much kneeling makes your knees and back hurt, and when you are in physical pain that is more distracting than helpful in worship. Plus, the constant "up and down, up and down, up and down" of the old Prayer Book service is confusing and just plain bothersome. The part where it is silliest is at the end of the mass. After everyone has taken communion, they sit. Then they kneel for the "Prayer of Thanksgiving"; then they stand for the "Gloria" (having the Gloria at the end of the mass is a whole different issue); and then they kneel again for the blessing. Then they stand for the recessional, and then (in some places) they kneel while the candles are extinguished. And on and on. It is really just too much. Besides the fact that it is painful, annoying, and confusing, kneeling was not the posture of ancient worship. People worshiped mostly standing.
The Roman Church did it right in their Novus Ordo where they have everyone stand for the mass except for the readings, where they sit, and the Canon of the Mass, where they kneel. That is what we need to do. I think that we do indeed do certain things better than the Romans, though. For instance, kneeling to receive the Body and Blood of Christ is non-negotiable; the ad orientum celebration of the rite; no girl "altar boys", etc. That is the sort of stuff that is great about our tradition. It is a very manly and solemn tradition. But kneeling as much as we do is over the top in my opinion. It has been my experience that it actually drives some people away from our parishes. At some point we need to ask ourselves what parts of our tradition limit our effectiveness and growth and should be done away with.
