In Part 1 of this post we explored the concept of grace. We identified grace as relationship with God despite our sin--access to His Presence. We saw that the metanarrative of Scripture, the very Gospel itself, is the story of mankind being restored to the Presence of God that we forfeited by our first parents' rebellion. We applied this concept to the sacraments, affirming that they are means of grace--God meets us at the Font and the Table. Here in Part 2 I want to spend a little more time exploring how we apply this liturgically, especially to our observation of the Lord's Supper, also known as the Eucharist, Communion, or the Lord's Table.
Historically, the Eucharist has been the center of Christian worship. This may seem odd for many Protestants who are accustomed to celebrating it monthly or quarterly (if ever), but Christians from the time of the Apostles met to break bread. The Early Church quickly developed a liturgy, complete with Scripture readings, ritual, set prayers, etc. There was always diversity, but the Table was universally paramount in the gathering of believers.
As we work out these ideas (grace as Presence and the sacraments as means of grace), we will use the phrase the Presence to refer generally to the presence of the Triune God (the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit).
1) The first question we need to address is, does our worship emphasize the Presence at all? What are we doing when we gather for worship? Are we being entertained, informed, or encouraged? Are we fulfilling a rote obligation? Are we gathering for a stimulating theological lecture? In other words, why do we gather with other embodied persons instead of watching a sermon on YouTube? What differentiates the corporate gathering of the Church from other gatherings?
We gather with the Body to worship our God. This worship should engage our heads, hearts, and hands, and all three aspects are truly worshipful. We draw into the Presence of God alongside our brethren to praise and acknowledge our God, to learn about Him and from Him, and to receive His blessing and empowerment.
Those leading a Christian worship service should continually cultivate an awareness of God's Presence. We are gathering, not simply to enjoy each other's presence or to be edified, but to experience God and to give Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. Every aspect of our worship service (song, prayer, Scripture readings, sermons, creedal recitation) should explicitly acknowledge and seek the Presence.
2) Next, we should consider, What does our worship service communicate about the Presence? Do we approach God's Presence carelessly? Are we too casual? Or are we overly cautious?
At a deeper level, what does our liturgy communicate about God's Presence? Even the least structured service has some sort of liturgy, intentional or otherwise. What does that liturgy communicate about how we experience and acknowledge the Presence? Some worship services ignore it. The focus is on men, whether on the stage or in the pew. Instead of a liturgy of worship to God, the worship service is an experience catered to the tastes of consumers. Whether God is present or not is immaterial.
Others sequester the Presence. Many formal liturgies, particularly those of higher church traditions (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, etc.), treat the Presence of God as something that is unapproachable. It is above and/or on the altar. The sanctuary is where the Eucharist is confected, not where the congregation gathers. The Presence is faced, gazed up, bowed to, and conjured. It enters visibly in the figure of a cross or the person of the priest.
The Reformed traditions self-consciously rejected this latter approach. God's presence is no longer to be kept behind a veil, but to be embraced and experienced. It is not to be mediated through a priest, but incarnated as the Body gathers. It is not beheld, but embodied. Our liturgy should not treat the Presence as something unapproachable or dangerous, but as something into which we, individually and as a Body, are joyously drawn up.
3) What about the Eucharist specifically? Is Christ present in the Eucharist? Both "if" and "how" have been debated for centuries. Christians have struggled over how best to take our Savior's language, how the spiritual and physical realms overlap, and what is actually being accomplished when the Eucharist is celebrated. I think it's much more and much less than most people think.
Is Jesus really present at the Eucharist? Absolutely!
Is the body and blood of Jesus really present (physically or spiritually) in the elements of bread and wine? That's a different, more complex question.
As we discussed in Part 1, I believe that the sacraments are relational. Where two or three are gathered, Christ is there. When we observe the sacraments, the spiritual and physical realms intersect. The Presence is not found in the bread and the wine, but in the Body gathered around the Table. The elements start out as bread and wine, and that is what they remain; they do not become or take on the Presence. It is, rather, in the observance of the rite that Christ meets us, not in the consecration, fraction, epiclesis, etc.
Some of the Reformers were keen on saying that the elements became for the believing participant the Body and Blood of Christ. It was in the eating with faith that the Presence became real. Even this, I think, misses the point. The Eucharist is the Table of our Lord. It is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It is the covenant meal. Christ, our Resurrected Lord, meets us when we gather at the Table that commemorates His sacrifice for us. He is not on the altar or table, but within and among us. As we remember Him and what He did for us, He is present with us.
Accordingly, the consecrated elements should not be adored, gazed upon, or venerated. We should not look for His Body in bread and wine. His physical, resurrected body, is in a locality somewhere (wherever that may be and however we might understand that). We are His spiritual Body. When we celebrate His meal, He meets us. When we utilize the means of grace, He is present in us, both corporately and individually.
4) One related, final question is, Is the Eucharist a sacrifice? While the term priest is really just a shortened form of the word presbyter, it gradually took on sacerdotal/sacrificial connotations. At risk of stereotyping, the Mass came to be viewed as a meritorious sacrifice offered by priests on behalf of laity. Is this how the New Testament envisions the covenant meal? Is the Eucharist a sacrifice?
Again, this is a complex question. The word sacrifice need not imply a bloody offering or an oblation of any kind. In one sense, the Eucharist is an offering of thanksgiving and praise (Eucharist literally means thanksgiving). Then again, the entire worship service--our entire lives--should be just such an offering. We gather together to offer ourselves up to God again and again every week--to rededicate ourselves to Him--and to receive power to go out into the world in His service.
The Eucharist should not, however, be viewed as a meritorious sacrifice, oblation, propitiation, etc. It should certainly not be viewed as a re-sacrifice of Christ (even our Roman Catholic brethren would agree), nor should it be viewed as a reconstitution of His once-for-all sacrifice on the Cross. The anamnesis, the re-membering, is not of Christ's sacrifice, but of His Body as we gather together.
Moreover, those who celebrate or officiate at the Table should not be viewed as sacerdotal priests, confecting or consecrating a sacrifice on an altar. The New Testament never uses sacerdotal language to describe the ministers of the New Covenant. They do not offer a sacrifice. We all offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. We are the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise!
We should be wary of liturgical practices that portray the priest or pastor as a mediator or go-between. This has implications not only for our Eucharistic theology and practice (what is happening in the Eucharist, who can officiate, etc.), but also for seemingly benign details like church architecture and our movements/positioning during worship. Liturgy communicates. It's not always intentional, but it is always communicating something. We need to be cautious against portraying the priest as mediating our worship or relationship to God. The priest does not go into the Presence for us. He is no Moses, going into the mountain on our behalf, bringing down the Word and Sacrament for us. We are all invited, no, encouraged and commanded, to ascend to the top of the mountain. We are all welcomed into the Presence. We, in a very real sense, become the Presence.
I have belabored my point long enough. The horse is dead. So let me close with one final thought. It's really, really easy to fall into one of two traps: 1) ignoring the Presence entirely, catering our worship to attract, entertain, or otherwise please the audience; and 2) highlighting the Presence in such a way that it is unapproachable, requiring a mediator. Both extremes flow from and end up the same place--a disconnected, disengaged congregation. Both encourage nominalism and clericalism.
It is so easy to show up, sit in the pew, and see you next week! Many people naturally incline towards letting the professionals handle church business. We want the priest, the go-between, to mediate our relationship with God and our worship of Him. We want to put our money in the plate and let the pastor do his thing! It's simpler. It's easier. It's safer. The Presence can be scary. It can be dangerous. It is demanding and exposes our shortcomings. Oh, but what we are losing when we do this! What we are sacrificing when we "sub out" our experience of the Presence of God!
This is, ultimately, what salvation is all about! This is the Gospel--we have been restored to the Presence of our Creator! We have access into the Presence of the Triune God! We need not sit at the base of the mountain, fearfully waiting to see a reflection of God's Presence in Moses's face. We are called up into the Presence of God. We are invited and enabled to participate in the love of the Triune God. We will fully experience this in eternity, but we get a foretaste every single time we gather with the Body to worship our God.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16)
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