by Jesse Hove » April 13th, 2007, 7:16 am
Adam,
I wish for the Eucharist to be the centre of every worship service not under the premise that more is better, but under the premise that it encompasses everything Christ is. I am tired of the lutheran as compared to roman catholic as compared to the modern evangelical arguement. I think the Eucharist is what I have stated, and what you have stated as well. The Eucharist is most definetely spiritualy relational as it is I believe magical. Not in the sense that is some kind of potion we take, our this kind of non sense, but in the sense that it is sacramental by definition: "something regarded as possessing a sacred character or mysterious significance." I am sorry if I came of harsh towards symbolism or remeberance, it is out of my concern towards it value and importance in the Church that I reacted. The time travel idea is a nice metaphor for what is desired in the Eucharist -It is the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. I yearn for the Eucharist to become more Ecumenical among all Christianity, because I think it is so vital to what Christianity is. I have a quote here from a good freind of mine, that explains just why exacly I think it is so terrifyling beautiful, important, and should be the centre of worship.
The Eucharist brings us heaven on earth. We commune with Christ. In fact our entire story of salvation ties past and future events together. Paul often uses metaphors of Christ's life, which is our past,then connects them with our life in the present, and proclaims their meaning for the future. How can our baptism make us buried with Christ if he was buried so long ago? Our faith unites us to Christ whereby we recieve his blessings, yet our faith requires things of us now in the present("We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"), and means something in the future. The Eucharist in a similar manner ties us with Christ and is the celebration of the Gospel - namely that Christ came to save sinful man, he is saving sinful man, and he will save sinful man. A manifestation is a good description of the eucharist - We return to the Upper room with Christ, who washes feet and tells us to love one another, we commune with each other and pledge to make known to the world, what is apparent to us in Christ (forgivness, newness of life, and the promise of heaven) and we celebrate with Angels and Archangels and the Saints, who we are united to in the Eucharist, as well as through our own bodies for in the Eucharist, we partake in what we already are,the body of Christ. It is a celebration of Christ and his arms reach in everydirection, including time. This is the Kingdom of God that Christ brought tomankind. This is the world in which C.S. Lewis begs us to move "further up and further in". The eucharist celebrates Salvation in all of its aspects, and it neednot be put in a box, but rather it needs to be released to give life to a world that desperately needs it. Eucharist isn't merely eating and drinking, (although itincludes this) it is adventure, love, hope, and faith put together in a story that has been told, is unfolding and is still hidden..., they cannot be summed up in the philosophical metaphysics,
nor dry biblical dogmatics. They are alive and fresh, as the Holy Spirit is too. Can we ever know if the Eucharist works objectively on one who has no faith, probably not, we may be able to speculate, which is healthy, but its not something that should be imposed on people. The Church never imposes, she preposes. She proposes that we all need to be loved by Christ, and acts as a means by which we can belong to this love. All sacramental understanding of the church must be in line with the gospel, and all dogmatics must as well.
-Jesse