A Holy Meal

I recently read A Holy Meal: The Lord’s Supper in the Life of the Church by Gordon T. Smith. This books reflects on the Lord’s Supper (or Holy Communion or the Eucharist, depending on your background). The author uses the seven motifs of remembrance, communion, forgiveness, covenant, nourishment, anticipation, and Eucharist to illuminate various truths concerning the Lord’s Supper.

The first couple chapters reflect on the significance of symbols and sacraments in the life of the Church. Gordon Smith artfully compares a symbol to a sign and a photograph. A sign communicates another reality, whereas a photograph reflects meaning.

“What makes a symbol unique and special is that while it points to another reality, as does a sign, it also allows us to participate in the reality, much as with a photograph.”

Gordon Smith points out that ritualistic practices are important, not only for what they symbolize and communicate, but that we as a community practice them together.

“A symbol has even more significance when it comes to communal ritual activity. What makes a ritual a significant symbol is that we participate in it together.”

“Ritual action enables us to be connected not only with the reality symbolized, but also with one another.”

The author goes into explaining the Lord’s supper through seven motifs:
1. Remembrance: The Lords Supper as a Memorial.
2. Communion: The Lord’s Supper as Fellowship with Christ and with one another.
3. Forgiveness: The Lord’s Supper as a Table of Mercy.
4. Covenant: The Lord’s Supper as a Renewal of our Baptismal Vows.
5. Nourishment: The Lord’s Supper as Bread from Heaven.
6. Anticipation: The Lord’s Supper as a Declaration of Hope.
7. Eucharist: The Lord’s Supper as a Joyous Thanksgiving Celebration.

Insights:
I like the way that Gordon Smith goes into the many facets of the Lord’s Super and its significance in the life of the Church. Growing up Catholic, the Eucharist was an important part of the Mass, if not the most important part. As a Catholic when you are receiving Holy Communion you are actually receiving Christ. Although communion was participated with the Church, it was more of an intimate moment between you and God. Although I like some aspects of the personal nature of communion from my Catholic background, I really liked how Gordon Smith explained the significance of Holy communion being a celebration together in the life of the Church, and how this celebration is a declaration of our hope in anticipation of Gods Kingdom to come. The celebration is a celebration of the present in light of the future.

I have often struggled with 1 Corinthians 11:27-29: “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in and unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

This was never a favorite scripture of mine because I viewed the table of God as the table of judgment. I would look at my life and see so many ways which I sinned or violated love. So it was always with fear and trepidation that I approached communion. Gordon Smith helped me to see that Paul wasn’t focusing on individual sins as a concern, but a lack of seeing the body of Christ through a paradigm of mutual fellowship. He says:

“There is no holiness without unity in the body of Christ. The irony is that the very text of Scripture that calls for an appreciation of this unity has been turned on its head and used to cultivate an individualized, often legalistic, perspective on holiness. What makes the observance of the Lord’s Supper unworthy is not so much moral failures as a lack of mutual fellowship and mutual regard. The great danger is that we are not at peace with one another.”

This helped me to see that “eating and drinking” without discerning the body isn’t so much about “personal holiness” as it is about being a “tenacious circle dweller”. Being a tenacious circle dweller means recognizing the body of Christ and being at peace and in unity with one another and not allowing unresolved conflict, prejudices, or unforgiveness to exist, but to work through the issues in order to maintain unity in all my relationships.

Reading this book has opened my eyes to seeing God’s gift of Himself and my brothers and sisters and what it means to partake of this wonderful meal together. God’s table is a table of forgiveness, hope, and redemption; something we participate in “not to get to heaven” but to help us understand a little bit of what “heaven is like”.

I highly recommend this book by Gordon T. Smith.

Surprised by Hope

I just finished reading, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by NT Wright. Wright is a New Testament theologian and currently serves as the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England.

What I appreciate about his writing is his ability to “get into the shoes” of first century Christians to gain fresh perspectives concerning the Christian faith. He apprehends complex theological issues, makes them understandable for the reader, then shows its relevance and application for Christians today. Often times this “new perspective” results in a paradigm shift that opens new opportunities and ways of thinking.

I used to think it really doesn’t matter what you believe concerning heaven. Whatever heaven may be like, I’m sure its good, but the important thing is how you live your life now so that you can “get to heaven.” After reading NT Wright’s book I understand more concretely how our view of heaven and the resurrection has direct consequences on how we live our lives and make choices today.

Reading this book revolutionized my view on two levels:

Firstly, the fact that Jesus has entered into our world, died, and was resurrected means that God’s new creation has already begun in this world. What we do on earth really matters for eternity, not to “get to heaven,” but to co-labor with God to bring about God’s new Kingdom. Whenever I promote forgiveness, pray for my enemies, or reach out to a stranger I participate in bringing God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” The world isn’t going to be “burned up” but it is going to be completely and gloriously renewed and I am invited to participate in this renewal process.

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s prayer means.”

The second point is similar in the idea that ALL of Gods creation is good. There is no “bad” part of creation. Bad comes when I worship the created instead of the creator. The fact that I am created or human does not make me evil, bad or sinful. But when I decide to worship elements of this world instead of the creator, this is evil, bad and sinful; I only participate in my own dehumanization and contribute to the corruption of the world as it is. But when I honor God as creator, I affirm my own humanity and God’s good creation. I am free to be wonderfully and fully human and to enjoy God as he has created me. These thoughts have helped me to become less judgmental and more accepting of others.

“How will God’s new creation come? and then, How will we humans contribute to the renewal of creation and to the fresh projects that the creator God will launch in his new world? The choice before humans would then be framed differently: are you going to worship the creator God and discover thereby what it means to become fully and gloriously human, reflecting his powerful, healing, transformative love into the world? Or are you going to worship the world as it is, boosting your corruptible humanness by gaining power or pleasure from forces within the world but merely contributing thereby to your own dehumanization and the further corruption of the world itself?”

This book is rich with new perspectives concerning heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the Church. It has given me fresh hope, understanding and excitement concerning how I live my life today as a Christian in the 21st century.

Death on a Friday Afternoon

 

One of the books I have been enjoying on my journey through Lent is, Death on a Friday Afternoon by Richard John Neuhaus. This book is a meditation on the last words of Jesus from the cross.  Mr. Neuhaus provoked me to think on the concept of Adam and Eve “reaching” for the tree of knowledge, reaching for autonomy, reaching to be like God. But they find that by trying to be “like God” they lose him. Contrasting this with the One…. 

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped…” Philippinas 2:6 NIV 

Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden. 

After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:2 NIV

Adam and Eve could not go back and partake of the tree of life once they partook of the tree of knowledge. There was no simple solution. There never is when we turn away from the community of love in the Godhead. Our vision, our seeing, our paradigm, our course had been permanently and irrevocably altered. Only through the cross of Christ can we get our vision back because the cross was always the vision.  

In the New Testament we are reintroduced to the tree of life. With our damaged glasses and our broken humanity this seems to us to be the tree of death.  

“…..but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in humane likeness. And being found as an appearance man humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:7-8 

We reached for autonomy. We reached to be like God, only to find out that who God is, is not at all who we thought he was. God is the crucified one, he is the one that lays down his life for the brethren, he is the one who is a servant of all.  

“….whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43-45 

At the cross, the new tree of life, our vision becomes starkly clear. The tree of life is the tree of love poured out through servanthood. It is the tree of life that Adam and Eve forsook in the Garden.  

 I never understood the scripture that said, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” I always thought I should be last so really I can be “first.” Or thinking to myself I want to be “great” in Gods Kingdom so I better serve to achieve this.  Servanthood was a means to be “great,” and being “last” was a means to be “first.”  I finally understand, though dimly, that Jesus was not saying there is some heavenly ranking system of “greatness” or “first-ness.” This competition simply does not exist in Gods Kingdom.  The Kingdom of God is about love, servanthood, and cruciformity. They are not a means to an ends. They are the end. The Kingdom of God is so overflowing with love through servanthood that it even overflows to our enemies.  

“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” Luke 6:35 

Lord, may I only wear the glasses of servanthood, not to be great, not to be first, not to be “equal with you.” But by living in love I may join in the dance of the Trinity and walk in sweet communion and fellowship with my brothers and sisters and in some way be source of healing for those who have not known such love.