Categories: god, forty-blogs-of-lent
Date: 28 March 2013 05:30:16
Holy Communion, Mass, The Lord's Supper, Divine Liturgy, Eucharist.
Lots of names, but one meaning, a remembering of Jesus's last meal with his disciples.
Is it simply a memorial and no more? Does the bread and wine literally become the actual body and blood of Christ? Two extreme positions, with lots of different positions in between, on the surface it looks like we have very little in common.
But I think we have a lot more in common than that. What we have in common is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the love of Jesus Christ. When we take part in the Lord's Supper we take part in Jesus sacrifice and realise the extent of his love.
As we eat the broken bread we share the broken body of Christ, broken by nails and a spear. When we drink the wine we share the blood that poured from his wounds. We share in his death, and in his life: we remember also the new life he has in heaven, new life that awaits us.
And as we remember what Christ has done we experience Christ himself in the bread and wine. In the meal he gave us and in the new life he gave us.
Which is why we do not just do the Lord's supper, we celebrate it.