The Eucharist as Ecclesial Practice (Part Three)

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The following paper was written in the year 2000.  It was formative and powerful as all the pieces of everything I had been learning about the Eucharist were put together.  It was written while a seminarian at Regent College in Vancouver, B. C., Canada.  I was not yet an Orthodox Christian, let alone ordained.  Note that the liturgical passages are mostly from western sources – I was a liturgical / sacramental western Christian at the time.  Also, some of the citations are from Protestant authors – after all Regent College is an evangelical seminary, yet the quoted authors impart wisdom, and their insights were employed in this paper.  It is a bit lengthy and will be posted in parts.

THE EUCHARIST AS ECCLESIAL PRACTICE
(PART THREE)

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While breaking into this present brokeness, alienation, and chaos we are to see that all which is not yet finally gathered together has a secure promise.  It is the Holy Spirit who makes all these mysteries real and present.  The Holy Spirit is the Guarantor of this future: Read the rest of this entry »

The Eucharist: The Re-Presentation of the Recapitulation (Part Two)

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The following paper was written in the year 2000.  It was formative and powerful as all the pieces of everything I had been learning about the Eucharist were put together.  It was written while a seminarian at Regent College in Vancouver, B. C., Canada.  I was not yet an Orthodox Christian, let alone ordained.  Note that the liturgical passages are mostly from western sources – I was a liturgical / sacramental western Christian at the time.  Also, some of the citations are from Protestant authors – after all Regent College is an evangelical seminary, yet the quoted authors impart wisdom, and their insights were employed in this paper.  It is a bit lengthy and will be posted in parts.

THE EUCHARIST:  THE RE-PRESENTATION OF THE RECAPITULATION
(PART TWO)

To participate in some activity, practice, or event is to experience that event.  One cannot truly understand the sport of tennis until one actually plays the game.  Unless one has had the exhilaration of hitting a crushing backhand winner, or knows the frustration of double-faulting at game point, one does not know tennis.  In like manner so it is with Christ:  one cannot know Christ until one participates in Christ, lives Christ, and walks as Christ walked – however faulty that may be at times.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Eucharist: The Restoration of Relationship (Part One)

The following paper was written in the 2000.  It was formative and powerful as all the pieces of everything I had been learning about the Eucharist was put together.  It was written while a seminarian at Regent College in Vancouver, B. C., Canada.  I was not yet an Orthodox Christian, let alone ordained.  Note that the liturgical passages are mostly from western sources – I was a liturgical / sacramental western Christian at the time.  Also, some of the citations are from Protestant authors – after all Regent College is an evangelical seminary, yet the quoted authors impart wisdom, and their insights were employed in this paper.  It is a bit lengthy and will be posted in parts.

THE EUCHARIST:  THE RESTORATION OF RELATIONSHIP

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They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

Naked and ashamed our first parents hid themselves.  They withdrew; from loving communion with the One who created them for relationship.  Here is sorrow.  Here is loss and lostness.  Their nakedness exposed their infidelity and their loss of covenantal, trusting relationship.  Lost and scattered also was their relationship with all of creation:  the priests ordained to maintain the holy structure and furnishings of creation had thrust it back into the deep, sorrowful groaning of chaos. Read the rest of this entry »