Ecclesial Theology Within the Eucharist

During the Last Supper, Jesus performed a monumental act of prophetic symbolism. Using the simple elements of grain, olive oil, and grape, the essential and common exports of the region, Christ presupposed his crucifixion on the cross. As Christ initiated this sacramental act, he both accepted and interpreted his imminent death. His crucifixion was a willing self-offering to God that created a new relationship between God and his people. It was this sacrificial act that was being foreshadowed during the Last Supper. By allowing his disciples to share in the bread and the cup, Christ was giving them an opportunity to share in all that his death would achieve. It is in this meal that the Christian Eucharist is rooted. For every follower of Christ is called to partake in this sacrament in order to remember the redeeming sacrifice of Christ and much more.[1]

The very act of the Eucharist is a communal act where individuals come together at one table and partake of the shared elements as an act of worship. While this act is very much about the acts of Christ in the past and the future acts of Christ to come, the Eucharist is also the opportunity to take part in community both with Christ himself and all Christ followers throughout the ages. As one comes to the table, Christ meets them there in love and in fellowship. The very act of the Eucharist is where the church becomes one. It is the full expression of the unity of the Body of Christ.[2]

It is at the table where the fellowship of God’s children assembles and worships. The Eucharistic table is where the individual bonds with Christ and with the community of believers, expressing the true form of koinonia. For in the “eating and drinking at the [Eucharistic table], individuals are linked to the community in which is visible in these acts.”[3] The Eucharist is the sign of the life of the Church because it is the sign of the one who is the life, Jesus Christ. This is why throughout Church history; the Eucharist has been used as a public sign of one’s profession of faith. It is this act of worship that points to Christ, the great Redeemer and Savior of the world.[4]

The bread and wine within the Eucharist is not just a source of nourishment, but is the disclosure of the whole story of God, where one can see creation, incarnation, and recreation. This resides within the elements as the body of Christ consumes them. As the church participates in this symbolic act, a reality is present.

[The present reality is] the divine action of God redeeming his world through Jesus Christ; the call for us to see that our union with God, and indeed the union of all heaven and earth is accomplished by God alone in Jesus Christ. In eating and drinking we experience a foretaste of the supper of the Lamb in the kingdom of Christ’s rule over heaven and earth (Revelation 19). We become what we eat – living witnesses to Christ who lives in us.[5]

As the church partakes the body of Christ, the church becomes the body of Christ moving into the world, surpassing ritual and moving into action. The Eucharist is the very point where the gospel enters reality. Theory and theology become experiential reality where Christ is experienced and lives are transformed.[6]

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[1]Hugh Wybrew, The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite (Crestwood: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989), 13.

[2]James F. White, The Sacraments in Protestant Practice and Faith (Nashville:

Abingdon Press, 1999), 107-110.

[3]Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology, trans. Margaret Kohl (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1977), 243.

[4]Ibid.

[5]Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 146.

[6]Dr. Robert J. Stamps of Asbury Theological Seminary, interview by author, 12 April 2011, Wilmore, personal interview, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore.

Painting by Dr. He Qi found at http://www.heqigallery.com/index.html

I Stand at the Door

As I am in the middle of the milieu of the seminary experience sometimes I wonder why I am here. The struggles and stress of juggling class work, the requirements of working a part time job in which there is no future for me, and the desire to spend time with my wife cause me to wonder if this stress is really worth it. Then I encounter God and experience that the peace that only God provides. It is in this moment that I know that the presence of God is with me and my call is to go through this stretching and growing experience to become the tool and person that God is calling me to be, so that I might be able to better perform the ministries that I know and feel God calling me to do.

I came across a poem that Sam Shoemaker wrote. Shoemaker was an Episcopal priest and was one of the founding Fathers of Alcoholics Anonymous. The way in which he talks about the door keeper in this poem gives me the motivation and the strength to keep pressing on even when times become stressful. Please take a couple of minutes and read this inspiring poem!

I Stand at the Door

By Sam Shoemaker

I stand by the door.
I neither go to far in, nor stay to far out.
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands
And put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man's own touch.

Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it - live because they have not found it.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So I stand by the door.

Go in great saints; go all the way in -
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in.
Sometimes venture in a little farther,
But my place seems closer to the opening.
So I stand by the door.

There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia
And want to get out. 'Let me out!' they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled.
For the old life, they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door
But would like to run away. So for them too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door.
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.

Where? Outside the door -
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But - more important for me -
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.

'I had rather be a door-keeper
So I stand by the door.

St. Patrick

Today is a day that people all across the world are celebrating. Christian and Non-Christian alike look forward to this day. Many of these people have no idea who St Patrick, the apostle to the Celts, really is.

This blog is not intended to give you a history lesson but to encourage you to educate yourself about this amazing man of God who brought Christ to the entire Island of Ireland in only 100 years. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

The Prayer of St. Patrick

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Lent 2011

This year Ashley and I are living the liturgical calendar for the first time. We are using a calendar that we found @ Salt of the Earth. This calendar is not laid out in the normal fashion of weeks within months of the year, but is laid out in a way that you have weeks within the liturgical seasons. Through this experience it has allowed us to not just notice that changing of the months and the changing of the seasons from winter to spring, but to also see how God moves among us throughout the year.

As we have recently moved from Epiphany to Lent through the celebration of Ash Wednesday and the remembrance of the temptation of Jesus, we are encouraged to become more selfless by denying one's self and to turn that attention to God. Lent is not about giving up Facebook or twitter just to suffer, but it is to deny yourself of something that will allow you to become closer to God.

Lent is a time to remind us all that we, the human race, will eventually return to the dust from which we originally came. This is a hard concept for our post-Christendom secular society that has the tendency to deny that they will die. Alexander Schmemann touches on this issue in his book Great Lent: Journey of Pascha. Schmemann teaches us that the Lenten season is meant to kindle a "bright sadness" within our hearts. Its aim is precisely the remembrance of Christ, a longing for a relationship with God that has been lost. Lent offers the time and place for recovery of this relationship. The darkness of Lent allows the flame of the Holy Spirit to burn within our hearts until we are led to the brilliance of the Resurrection.

As Ashley and I move further into the Lenten season we have been able to focus on this painting by Linda K. McCray "Dust to Dust."

Please join Ashley and me in our journey of selflessness and self denial through this Lenten season to remember that without Christ we are nothing and that one day we will become dust again!