Sometimes, as at this time, things coalesce and become very clear. As disciples of Jesus, the kingdom of God in our midst should be our focus, as the body of Christ -The Church- concerned in every way and circumstance with the kingdom of Heaven. For years now I have been growing in my awareness of the depth and reality of the Eucharist and also the way it may have been trivialized over time along with the Cross. For me the Eucharist is an intense and kingdom response to the world, to violence, to the broken relationships of humanity and all other crises and causes which elevate the world's crises and turn our responses to the ways of the world, no matter how sincere these responses may be. This subverts the reality of the Cross as the redemptive path in every case: “[For he] has reconciled all things to himself ...by making peace through his blood shed on the Cross.” Col. 1:20. No blood, no peace. This may not satisfy those who howl for final solutions of all manner of things but to followers of Jesus, it must be the present and final word on all the unreconciled places in humanity, individual and collective and to all cruelty. Indeed, in the alternative, we are speaking of sacramental reality in the midst of a broken and fallen world. As Chambers intones concerning incarnational reality through us and, in this case, in and through the sacrament: “broken bread and poured out wine.”
As the deeper reality, meaning and celebration of the Eucharist came clear to me as a powerful response and resistance to the way of the world in crisis, God brought me affirmation, I am sure through the words and convictions of several giants in the faith, saying the same thing but better and giving articulate and depth of meaning to what I engaged so deeply in my heart as the Church's unified response to the ‘what are we going to do’ questions. In the remainder of this letter I will share what two of these saints have to say. You will have to read their referenced books to get the expansion on their thinking but the quotes provided from the prefaces are indeed powerful in this offer of an alternative resistance and redemptive path.
Alexander Schmemann died in 1983 after a marvelous life of pastoring, teaching and writing in the Orthodox and liturgical tradition. His book, The Eucharist, is unmatched in depth on our subject. The leaflet promo says this: “Man was created for unity, for faith, for offering and sacrifice, for love, for thanksgiving and worship, and, above all, for the kingdom, for communion with his Creator. All this the eucharist tells us, and the purpose of this book is to help us hear it.”
Then, Schmemann in his preface as if he is standing among in these times and describing them including the devaluing of the Eucharist.
“Thoughts and questions on this subject (the eucharist), which go back to early adolescence, have filled my whole life with joy - but, alas not only with joy. For the more real became my experience of the eucharistic liturgy, the sacrament of Christ's victory and of his glory the stronger became my feeling that there is a eucharistic crisis in the Church. In the tradition of the Church, nothing has changed. What has changed is the perception of the eucharist, the perception of its very essence. Essentially, this crisis consists in a lack of connection and cohesion between what is accomplished in the eucharist and how it is perceived, understood and lived. ...
“Meanwhile, it can be said without exaggeration that we live in a frightening and spiritually dangerous age. It is frightening not just because of its hatred, division and bloodshed. It is frightening above all because it is characterized by a mounting rebellion against God and his kingdom. (emphasis mine throughout). Not God but man has become the measure of all things. Not faith but ideology and utopian escapism are determining the spiritual state of the world. At a certain point, Western Christianity accepted this point of view: almost at once one or another 'theology of liberation' was born. Issues relating to economics, politics and psychology have replaced a Christian vision of the world at the service of God. Theologians, clergy and other professional 'religious' run busily around the world defending --from God? -- this or that right, however perverse, and all this in the name of peace, unity and brotherhood. Yet in fact, the peace, unity and brotherhood are not the peace, unity and brotherhood that has been brought to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Perhaps, many people will be astonished that, in response to this crisis, I propose that we turn our attention not to its various aspects but rather to the sacrament of the eucharist and to the Church whose very life flows from that sacrament. Yes, I do believe, that precisely here, in this holy of holies of the Church, in this ascent to the table of the Lord in his kingdom, is the source of that renewal for which we hope..."
Alongside this introduction by Schmemann, I would offer some equally clarifying remarks by Walter Brueggamann, an ordained minister in the Church of Christ, a prolific author and a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary:
"I have come to think that the moment of giving the Bread of Eucharist as a gift is the quintessential center of the notion of Sabbatical rest in Christian tradition. It is a gift. We receive it in gratitude. Imagine having a sacrament named "thanks”! We are on the receiving end, without accomplishment, achievement or qualification. It is a gift and we are grateful. That moment of gift is a peaceable alternative that many who are 'weary and heavy-laden, cumbered with a load of care' receive gladly. The offer of free gift, faithful to Judaism, might let us learn enough to halt the dramatic anti-neighborliness to which our society is madly and uncritically committed. Preface, Sabbath as Resistance, pp. xvi and xvii, Westminster John Knox Press 2017.
Then, in his seminal work, The Prophetic Imagination, published over 40 years ago and republished in 2018 in a celebratory 40th anniversary edition, he quotes William T. Cavanagh from his book, Torture and Eucharist: Politics and Body of Christ. I won't try to recapitulate the discussion of the book which concerns the Church's response to the Pinochet reign of torture and terror in Chile. Cavanaugh described the Bishops and other church leadership as “asleep at the switch” and “passively conced[ing] everything to the regime.”
Cavanagh states, as summarized by Brueggamann: “After a certain point, however, the bishops of the church began to realize that the community - forming miracle of the Eucharist was a vehicle for the rule of God and a practical instrument for generating communities of resistance to the state.”
Then, Brueggamann analyzes Cavanaugh's commentary on a novel by Laurence Thornton entitled Imagining Argentina. The set-up is between two imaginations, that of the torture state and that of “an imagination… defined as nothing less than 'the magnificent cause of being.'” Then, Cavanagh quotes from the novel concerning alternative realities, a thrilling passage to me concerning the Eucharist:
"To participate in the Eucharist is to live inside God's imagination. It is to be caught up into what is really real, the body of Christ. As human persons, body and soul are incorporated into the performance of Christ's corpus verum, they resist the state's ability to define what is real through the mechanism of torture."
What I hope this discussion will spark is the question of whose imagination we are living in - in these times and in our responses. Could we consider together the path to live in God's imagination, the kingdom of heaven, and the Eucharist as reality and answer?
Finally, I also refer you to two recent commentaries by our friend, Luther Alexander. They are linked below. Luther is a lifelong friend of Todd Lipe, the coordinator of our intercessor team. Luther is a Chaplain to the chaplains in military and civil service at the most sensitive levels. He has become a friend of mine for which I am grateful. He is an African American who lays out the teachings of Jesus which are central to every intensive we have, and which call us to that third way of Jesus. Laid out there is the central reality for making disciples after Jesus, following him ourselves in the power of the Holy Spirit. These teachings are not principles or practices but an active participation in the victory of Jesus. They are realities of obedience in the Spirit, yoked to Jesus. Please spend some time with it.
“Lost in Translation” (Matthew 28:16-20) by the Rev. Luther C. Alexander, Jr.
“Standing with Jesus” (Matthew 10:24-39) by the Rev. Luther C. Alexander, Jr.
Blessings, trip