Well hello again reader.
Despite my long time away from blogging, I am still alive, mostly well,
and still working on my Master’s Degree.
Some other time, I’ll fill you in about what’s been going on
academically in my life. For now I must
arrive at an important topic.
An avid reader,[1]
and I had a lovely conversation today about Communion Liturgies among different
Christian traditions. I made a promise
to blog about it, because it was so awesome.
One of my tangential points has been brewing for quite some time, and
I’ve been waiting for the chance to share it with the world (the world does
read this doesn’t it?).
He attends an Anglican church whose Eucharistic Liturgy is
strikingly similar my Catholic liturgy. He
was surprised when he attended a United Methodist church to find that their
liturgy was very similar to his (only a bit “less wordy”). I was part of a United Methodist church for
many years and our liturgy was very brief and consisted primarily in the
reciting of the words of Jesus at the last supper, “Take and eat; this is my
body…Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant…” Later, while
at Houghton College, at another United Methodist Church, the words of my
Catholic upbringing flowed out of me instinctually, “The Lord be with you.”
“And also with you.” That church used a
longer liturgy. Apparently there is a
range of acceptable Eucharistic Liturgies in the UMC.
What I’ve noticed from being with Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians,
Baptists, Wesleyans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Brethren, and even our
non-denominational friends, is that there is a common, essential part of
celebrating communion.[2] The
common element for all Christian traditions is reciting the story and the words
of Jesus from the last supper. Many
traditions call this the “words of consecration.” These words are prayed by the Church (through
a minister) over the elements of bread and wine. In praying these words, the Holy Spirit, through
the Church, sets the elements apart for a sacred, and special purpose. That’s all consecration is right? Setting
something apart for a sacred purpose.
What is the sacred purpose of communion?
Please consult your particular church tradition (I said we shared a
common element, not everything!).
Where did these words
of consecration come from?
We may be tempted to jump to the obvious answer: From the Bible! Matthew, Mark, and Luke record Jesus’ command
to, “do this (eat his body and drink his blood) in remembrance of me.” Let’s not get too far ahead of
ourselves. I suggest that the words of consecration, that essential common element
of communion, comes to us through Sacred
Tradition.
In my last post, I began to probe the Catholic notion of
Divine Revelation. Catholics understand
that Jesus Christ is the fullness of Divine Revelation.[3] Scripture refers to Him as the Word of God
(John 1). Do you want to see the
Father? Look at Christ (John 14:9). Jesus is the definitive Word of God who
fully reveals God and God’s plan for salvation to the world. The
question becomes, “How is the Word of God transmitted through history?” Initially this was done solely through the
Apostolic Preaching of the Church. Most
of what we read about in the book of Acts happened orally. Who is Jesus? How are we saved? How should Christians act and relate in the world? What is communion? All of these questions were addressed before
anything was written down, through the teachings of the Apostles who witnessed
Jesus. This happened through sermons
(Acts 2:14-41), interpreting Old Testament Scripture (Acts 2:14-21) conversations
(Acts 8:26-40), teachings in the midst of crisis (Acts 10), councils (Acts 15),
and the worship of the Church (Acts 2:42-47).
This oral witness to Christ is part of Sacred Tradition. Much was written down in the New Testament,
but the New Testament never claims to contain the entirety of the Christ event. Quite the opposite, John admits, “But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if
every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not
contain the books that would be
written” (John 21:25). So the Catholic Church
affirms that the Word of God (the Christ event) is transmitted authoritatively
through Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.[4] Never contradicting each other, and always interpreting
each other.
 |
| Notice how Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture work together to transmit the truth of Christ forward in history. |
I suggested that the words of consecration came to us first
and primarily through Sacred Tradition. Let’s
look at 1Corinthians 11 for a moment. Paul
is addressing abuses in the church in Corinth.
Their celebration of the Lord’s Supper was marked by division rather
than communion. Folks went hungry while
others got drunk. Paul in his writing
(in Sacred Scripture) had to remind them of what he had already told them (orally,
Sacred Tradition):
23 For I received from the Lord what I
also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed
took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
“This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same
way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant
in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For
as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death
until he comes.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread
or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the
body and blood of the Lord. 28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the
bread and drink of the cup. 29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the
body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. 30 For this reason many of you
are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would
not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so
that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Paul reminded them that the Lord’s Supper is not like any
other meal. The Lord’s Supper was
instituted by Christ, and requires reverence and discernment of the body and
blood of the Lord. If I may paraphrase: “Jesus
gave us this celebration. So you better check yourself, before you wreck
yourself.”
Two things astonish me.
Firstly, Paul assumes the Corinthians already know the reality of
communion. He had already taught them the
tradition of how the Church celebrates communion. They don’t get to decide its meaning and how
to do it. Secondly, Paul received this
teaching from the Lord, and then passed it on.
He admits a passing on of Sacred Tradition. Where did Paul come up with these words to
give the Corithians? He didn’t read
about it from the Gospels, because the Gospels hadn’t been written yet! Paul did have a personal encounter with Jesus
on the road to Damascus and then spent a mysterious period of time in Arabia
and Damascus (Galatians 1:17). Perhaps
he learned these words of the Last Supper from a revelation of Jesus
Himself. Or maybe he learned these words
from celebrating the Lord’s Supper with other believers, perhaps in Jerusalem
before he went to Corinth. Either way, the
Gospel writers affirm this Tradition that Paul handed on to the Corinthians. Before Paul and the Gospel writers ever
penned a word, there was a Sacred Tradition concerning communion in the early
Church. The Sacred Tradition was
celebrated, learned, and passed on. Note
the authority of the Tradition. Paul
insisted that the Corinthians be reminded of the teaching, and that they hold
to it.
The words of communion that are common and essential are
found in the New Testament four different times. But before those words ever made it into the
authoritative written Scripture, they existed as the lived, authoritative
Sacred Tradition of the Church. Indeed,
I could go on to cite examples where Paul writes that churches should hold fast
to Apostolic Teaching and written letters (2Thessolians 2:15). This brief case study in the words of
consecration serves to illustrate the interplay between Sacred Tradition and
Sacred Scripture. The words of
consecration belong first to Sacred Tradition, then to Sacred Scripture, and
now they are common to all Eucharistic Liturgies.
[1] So
avid, I think, that in the absence of new blog posts he would reread old posts
every day, over and over. How avid are
YOU?
[2] I
believe the exceptions are the Quakers, and one Rite of the Catholic Church
which I don’t recall. If I remember
correctly, technically the Catholic Rite that I’m thinking of still leaves room
for the words of consecration, but they are said “silently.”
[3]
Suggested…no, REQUIRED reading is the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation from Vatican II, Dei Verbum.
[4] It
should be noted that Sacred Tradition refers to authoritative Apostolic
teaching about Christ and the Christian life.
Other traditions are more like customs or practices. Sacred Tradition
will never change. Christ is fully God
and fully human is Sacred Tradition. But
traditions/customs could change. Purple is
the color for lent, or priests should be celibate, are simply traditions/customs.
