Toward Holier Communions: A simple suggestion (original) (raw)
Related papers
Liturgical Renewal and the Reception of Communion: Progress and Challenges
Greek Orthodox Theological Review , 2016
In academic circles one hears much talk regarding the centrality of the Eucharist, and the principles of eucharistic ecclesiology are well known. Indeed, it is almost assumed that the twentieth-century theological renaissance involving the return to the Fathers is reflective of the Orthodox experience today. Yet how much of this renaissance has really passed on to the popular level of parishioners' real lives? Based on personal experiences as a priest in Greece and in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in New England, I would say that few rank-and-file Orthodox Christians have actually been touched by these developments. Specifically, on the subject of reception of communion, one finds that this movement has had mixed results depending on the background of the community. Indeed, it seems, paradoxically enough, that the most pious church members-people from the old country who rarely miss a service-are often the ones who receive communion the least! This paper will trace the history of reception of communion and attempt to trace possible reasons for infrequent communion in some Orthodox circles.
A Distinctive Way to Observe the Communion Sacrament: Remembering Along the Lines of God's Reminding
The sacrament is an additional word that focuses our thoughts on the word. It is not simply subjective recollection. It is active remembering that follows the etchings of the word to which it points. Therefore, we are to have a special focus: to remember the Lord Jesus along the lines of God’s reminding. In a primary way, we are to center our thoughts on Him by means of the gospel narratives. Doing this from a post-resurrection and a post-ascension vantage point calls us to remember the person and work of Christ in both His humiliation and His exaltation.
Sacrament of holy communion: a real fellowship
2013
Luther turns to the sacraments into to rewrite the contours of a Christian life (and theology). The sacraments and especially the sacrament of Holy Communion, as a place of proclamation, exercise us in faith. In order to highlight this characteristic, Luther works with the metaphor of the happy exchange - a metaphor that has been sidelined or even forgotten by some current of Lutheran theology. Yet, it is in the happy exchange that for Luther the real significant of this sacrament lies: a true fellowship.
in 'Ritual Participation and Interreligious Dialogue Boundaries: Transgressions and Innovations' Edited by Marianne Moyaert and Joris Geldhof, Bloomsbury, 2015
There is a particular stream of thought among Eastern and Western Christians in general, and a rampant tendency within Byzantine liturgical practice in particular, that assigns to liturgical prayers a precedence of supplication over doxological praise. We have been conditioned to pray privately or in the assembly because we demand or expect or desire something from God. Such a utilitarian emphasis comes at the expense of conveniently or inadvertently eclipsing liturgical prayer’s primary goal: thanksgiving. The problem runs far deeper than it appears on the surface; it sends a warning signal that perhaps not only do the extant post-fourth-century eucharistic prayers available to us require reassessment, but our own personal spirituality within the Orthodox Christian context needs to be revisited. The purpose of my paper is threefold: first, to identify the imbalance between liturgical supplication and doxology and to advocate the latter’s preeminence based on biblical and post-Apostolic patristic and liturgical sources; second, to explore the dynamic of thanksgiving as efficacious and consecratory by examining two ancient eucharistic prayers; and third, to provide guidelines for the composition of a eucharistic prayer that bolsters a healthier spirituality and remains in line with Orthodox liturgical tradition.
Horizons, 2018
This theological roundtable discussion on shared communion, presented at the 2018 CTS Convention, reflects twenty-plus years of conversations among theologians: some Catholic, members of the College Theology Society; and some Baptist, members of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, region-at-large. They gather at the annual convention of the College Theology Society not only for intellectual exchange but also for common prayer. Over the decades, the Baptist theologians have always participated in Mass. Their fidelity informed Sandra Yocum's presidential address at the convention, which began with a lament over our Christian disunity reflected in the faces of my dear friends in Christ, these Baptist theologians who with all humility process with the other communicants, but with arms crossed over their chests to signal that they cannot receive Christ, whom they too believe to be present in the sacrament.1 The lament sparked a desire in Curtis Freeman to resp...