Eucharist Lecture #3

INTRODUCTION
Because of the imperfections of the reformation of the Eucharist in the sixteenth century, and because of the alien influences that have affected the practice of the Eucharist in the centuries since, there is much left to do in order to renew the Table. The Reformation must at this point especially be semper reformanda.

TABLE AND CHURCH
At the heart of the continuing Reformation of the table must be the restoration of the biblical, patristic and early medieval focus on the connection between Eucharist and Church. The key to the reformation of the Eucharist is to see the Eucharist as an ecclesiological issue, to see the character of the church and the character of the Eucharist as two sides of the same coin. Several specific things ought to be said here.

First, the table must be seen as a focal point of the church?s evangelism. Jesus came eating and drinking, and He sent His disciples out to continue His ministry of feasting. Throughout Luke?s gospel especially, Jesus?Eministry focuses on invitation to the table; His teaching takes place at the table; His disciples are those who share bread with Him. This is not to say that we open the Lord?s table up to all and sundry; but it does mean that meals and feasts are a central part of mission, and that including the lost in the Eucharistic community of Jesus is the goal of evangelism. This approach has the double advantage of being biblical and being relevant, for one of the chief ?felt needs?Eof our day is the need for community and connection.

Second, the table is a table of unity. It belongs to the Lord of the church, and we have no right to exclude anyone who is with Jesus from the table. This was the thrust of Paul?s sharp rebuke to Peter (Gal 2), who saw that Peter?s refusal to eat with Gentile believers was a threat to the gospel, and to the doctrine of justification by faith. Do we have any more right that Peter to refuse to eat with Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, or other believers in Jesus?

Third, the table is for the whole body of Christ, including children. All the feasts of Israel included children, and for the first millennium the Western church invited children to the Eucharistic meal. For many centuries, however, the Western churches have been denying children access to the meal. This is a rent in the body of Christ that must be healed, and a rent that, strikingly, runs precisely along generational lines. There will be no long-term, intergenerational growth in the church until the generations are bound together in one body by the one body.

TABLE AS TABLE, NOT TOMB
The other key issue in the reformation of the table is to restore the table-ness of the table. The Eucharist is a meal, and in the Bible, the meal means joy. When Israel wanted to mourn her sins, she fasted. But for centuries the church has treated the feast as a fast. Again, several specific issues come up here.

First, in Reformed churches, the practice of fencing the table has been a barrier to gladness and full participation. Of course, impenitent sinners must be excluded, but too often fencing excludes people of trouble conscience who need the table as a means of assurance.

Second, the atmospherics of the Eucharist have to be changed in order to encourage rejoicing. Scripture speaks of the Levites playing music ?until there was rejoicing?E(1 Chron), and the music of the Eucharist should be of this kind. Too many Eucharistic hymns are meditations on the wounds of Christ. This is fine, but a constant diet of this kind of music runs the danger of removing the joy of the meal. The Eucharist is a victory feast, and the music of the Eucharist must be energetic and victorious.

Third, the Supper must be celebrated frequently. In many Reformed churches historically, the Eucharist has been as infrequent as in the medieval church. The Reformers wanted the Eucharist to be celebrated frequently, ?at least weekly?ECalvin said.

THE TABLE AND THE MODERN WORLD
The Presidential election is coming up in a few days, and in this context it might seem that spending time talking about Eucharistic worship is a waste of time. When the world is debating the war in Iraq and the survival of Social Security and universal health care, are we wasting our time in attempting to restore the table? What practical use is it?

At a number of levels, regular, joyful celebration of the Supper challenges the modern world at the roots: Against modern scientism, the Supper declares that man does not live by bread alone, that we are not biological machines; against modern rationalism, it places a mystery at the heart of community life; against the polarization of modern political and social life, the Eucharistic community is a truly ?united nations?E the Eucharist challenges the modern treatment of religion as private and internal, demonstrating that religion is public and communal; against the modern hubris that the modern world represents the ?end of history,?Ethe Eucharist declares that the church is the true ?people of the end.?E As I wrote in Against Christianity , ?Liturgical theology is sometimes seen as the preserve of antiquarians and monks, cute and reassuring but irrelevant to the large issues of theology and to the mission of the church. Nothing could be further from the truth . . . . liturgical theology is one of the chief fronts in the war against secular modernity.?E