I want to do some interactive thinking this morning about the meaning and power of the eucharist. Since this is at the heart of our life together as Christians it makes sense once in a while to consider what we receive and what we put into Sunday worship.
The Eucharist is the HOUR OF JESUS. We come as the Lord's people to the Lord's house on the Lord's day around the Lord's table - to be impressed by Jesus!
The Eucharist is Jesus' embrace - like a mother consoling a hurting child...
It is the place that builds the COMMUNION which is the church.
The Eucharist is Christ's SACRIFICE and ours. It is the memorial of his once for all redemption.
The Eucharist is Christ's PRESENCE at the table of his word and the altar of the sacrament.
The Eucharist is a great PROMISE, the pledge of glory, like the cinema advertisement, a preview of forthcoming attractions.
I’ve got those four headings for us to look at and hopefully to engage your thinking aloud including any questions you might have:
COMMUNION - SACRIFICE - PRESENCE - PROMISE
We could go for these one by one but since they are stated poetically in the refrain for Corpus Christi on the pew sheet let’s start by looking at and reading the refrain together and see what thinking emerges.
Have a look through the antiphon. It was written by St Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century from a scripture base and has a noble simplicity.
You might recognise the four themes of COMMUNION - SACRIFICE - PRESENCE – PROMISE
Have a think about the phrase that most speaks to you. Or of what’s missing from your understanding of the eucharist?
O Sacred feast in which we partake of Christ, his sufferings are remembered, our minds are filled with his grace, and we receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours.
Let’s look more closely under the four headings I spoke of.
O Sacred feast in which we partake of Christ...
The Eucharist is the place that builds the COMMUNION which is the church.
What makes us one?
We are made one not by having the same feelings but by sharing one bread in penitence, not trusting in our own righteousness but in God's manifold and great mercies.
We become what we are - the body of Christ - more fully.
We are made one with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.
O Sacred feast in which we partake of Christ...His sufferings are remembered...
The Eucharist is Christ's SACRIFICE and ours. It is the memorial of his once for all redemption.
When you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11.26).
We stand at the Cross.
How do you understand the link between what Jesus did for us on Calvary and what you’re doing every Sunday at this service?
We recall Jesus - to use a law court analogy, not just as a witness recalls what he saw but in the sense of the recalling of the witness.
We see the gift of Jesus to the Father and to us.
Taking, blessing, breaking, sharing. This is our grand invitation to enter into the movement of his self-offering.
Paschal Lamb thine offering finished once for all when thou wast slain in its fullness undiminished shall forever more remain cleansing souls from every stain.
The eucharist has a strong intercessory aspect: coming before the Lord with people on our hearts.
Let's share any experience of the eucharist as a privileged place of prayer.
Our minds are filled with his grace...
The Eucharist is Christ's PRESENCE at the table of his word and the altar of the sacrament.
How do you see Christ’s presence in the eucharist?
How else can people come close to Jesus in this world other than through word and sacrament?
The Eucharist is a place of empowerment. People who recive Holy Communion receive power.
We receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours...
The Eucharist is a great PROMISE, the pledge of glory, like the cinema advertisement, a preview of forthcoming attractions.
The use of material objects reminds us that God is transforming the whole universe.
What difference do you think what we do here makes to the world?
The Eucharist serves the building up of a new creation in which the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.(Revelation 11.15)
To summarise the Eucharist is: THE HOUR OF JESUS - COMMUNION - SACRIFICE - PRESENCE -PROMISE
O Sacred feast in which we partake of Christ, his sufferings are remembered, our minds are filled with his grace, and we receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours.
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