March 16, 2016

So I've been reading this little book, A Table in the Desert: Making Space Holy.  There's a lot of good stuff in there that I’ve written about in the past.  I have now reached that point in the book where the author is discussing the Catholic and Protestant views of the two major sacraments – Baptism and Eucharist.  There is some good discussion here about these two sacraments and how the two views could be incorporated into a more cohesive whole.

However (confession time here), right about now I find myself saying, “Well, of course!” quite a bit; and it's not because he has suddenly gotten less insightful.  It's because he is focusing on the differences between Catholic and Protestant views, and those views, when brought together into a more cohesive whole, are very Episcopalian.  Which means I'm currently having difficulty getting past the obviousness of it all.

But there was one thing he said that caught my attention, and that was the term “Real Presence.”  When we say or read that term, most of us immediately think of Communion and the change that happens to the bread and wine as they become the Body and Blood, infused with the Real Presence of Christ.  Depending on who you talk to, that change happens during the course of the Eucharist, at the Institution Narrative (“On the night he was handed over . . .”), or during the epiclesis (“Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit . . .”).  That change, though, is part of the holy mystery of our worship.  Although we believe that the elements have been changed in a major way, a DNA test would not reveal that change; which is why we consider it a mystery.

In discussing the Real Presence of Christ, Fr. Jones expands that term to include the Real Presence of Christ throughout the entire Eucharistic celebration.  What if, instead of limiting the Real Presence of Christ to the bread and wine become Body and Blood, we recognized the Real Presence of Christ present in the Scripture readings from the first part of the service?  What if we recognized the Real Presence in both Word and Sacrament?

Holy Week begins this Sunday with Palm/Passion Sunday and will move into the Triduum, the single liturgical event spanning from Maundy Thursday to the Easter Vigil.  A major part of these services involves hearing readings from Scripture.  On both Palm/Passion Sunday and Good Friday, we hear and participate in the reading of the Passion.  On Maundy Thursday we hear Scripture during the Liturgy of the Word, and we will hear Psalm 22 read as the altar is stripped.  Holy Saturday involves more listening.  And at the Easter Vigil we will hear the Exsultet sung, we hear the record of God's saving deeds in history, we hear the various canticles and prayers, and we hear again the words of our baptismal covenant.

There is a whole lot of Word in the liturgies of Holy Week.

Instead of sitting through these readings waiting to get to the “real thing,” what if we saw the totality of the Eucharist as the Real Thing?  What if we saw the Holy Mystery of the Real Presence of Christ not only in the elements of bread and wine, but in the form of scriptural warrant?

This Holy Week, and beyond, I invite you to see and participate in the holy mystery of Christ's presence in all parts of the liturgy.

Amen.