What Happens in Communion?

July 27, 2018

First, let me thank everyone who sent in questions the last two weeks to help me find topics for these e-news blurbs.  I got some great questions about "churchy" things, and I look forward to answering them over the next couple of months (and if you have a question you'd like to submit, please feel free to keep sending them!).

Many of the questions I received had to do with how we understand the Eucharist (aka "Holy Communion", aka "the Mass") and more specifically what happens to the bread and wine during the Eucharistic prayer.  There are many variations in how different Christian traditions understand what happens during Holy Communion, but there are four approaches that are the most common.

Transubstantiation refers to the idea that the bread and the wine are transformed in their substance and become truly the Body and truly the Blood of Christ.  Consubstantiation is the belief that the bread and the wine somehow remain both bread/wine AND become the Body and the Blood of Christ at the same time.  Real Presenceis another observance which says that Christ is really present in some way in the Eucharist but is unspecific as to how.  And Anamnesis (the Greek word for "remembering") is a theology that says when we celebrate Communion we are strictly remembering Jesus (as he asked us to at the Last Supper) and there is no change in the bread and wine.

So which one do Episcopalians believe?  

If you like clear answers, then I'm about to frustrate you.  

One of the hallmarks of the Anglican tradition (of which the Episcopal Church is the American branch) is that the Book of Common Prayer leads us all to pray with the same words, but those words may mean somewhat different things to each of us.  Our unity comes from our life of prayer together, not from strict adherence to a series of doctrinal statements.  So when it comes to Communion, many Anglicans find affinity with an ancient phrase from the Orthodox churches - that we maintain a "pious silence about technicalities."

In other words, some things are meant to be a mystery.

That may be a frustrating answer to some.  But I think the prayer book offers guidance in the words clergy are instructed to say when giving someone Communion: "The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven."  I hope that phrase makes space for people all along the spectrum of beliefs about the Eucharist.  If you believe it's the Body, there's room for that.  If you believe it's bread, there's room for that too.  If you believe it's both, excellent!  There's room for you as well.

These are the kinds of questions that seminarians stay up all night debating with one another, and this little e-news message certainly can't bear the weight of two thousand years of debate on this topic, but I hope it gives folks a place to start.  And considering that our gospel readings for the next several Sundays are all about Jesus and bread, I suspect there is much more discussion on the Eucharist to come.

See you Sunday,

Kelly

Ordinary Time

July 12, 2018

About two years ago, my husband and I adopted a dog from Lost Dog and Cat Rescue.  Her name is Tucson - named after the Arizona city where part of my husband's family is from.  We thought her colors looked a little like the desert. I have always loved dogs, but my family hadn't had one since I was about three years old.  My husband grew up on a farm in Nebraska, and as a general rule they had at minimum two dogs at any given time...he knew what he was getting into.  But Tucson came into my life and changed it in some really unexpected ways. I am not a morning person, but now I get up earlier to make sure Tucson (alias: "Toosey-Goosey," alias: "The Goose") gets walked and fed.  I am not an exercising person, but now I walk a couple miles a day with her.  I run home on my lunch breaks to let her out. I endlessly throw tennis balls because she will never not want to play fetch.  My life has taken on a whole new pattern, and it's all Tucson's fault. We are in a season of the church year called "Ordinary Time."  Whenever we're not in a special season like Advent or Lent or Easter, we are in Ordinary Time.  It's what Godly Play refers to as "the green and growing season."  It's whenever you see green hangings and vestments in the sanctuary. Ordinary Time is where we live most of our lives.  It's the day in and day out patterns, the rhythms of work and life and family time. And patterns of time are important. As Annie Dillard once said, "how we spend our days is how we spend our lives." Tucson has changed how I spend my days, particularly how they begin and how they end.  And even though it is remarkably ordinary, there's also something about it that's remarkably sacred.  When I examine each day and look for where God was present, I'm surprised by how often the answer includes Tucson.  But then again, of course God is present wherever there is love. The love between a dog and their person. It's just as ordinary as that.

See you Sunday, 

Kelly

Disciples or Apostles?

July 7, 2018

"What is the difference between a disciple and an apostle?"

This is a question that I have been asked many times since I started working in churches. The phrase "12 Disciples" and "12 Apostles" seems to be used interchangeably. Are those just two different names for the 12 guys that followed Jesus around? And yet all of you have probably heard sermons about your own individual calls to be disciples, so that term can't just be limited to 12 men who lived two thousand years ago.

A disciple is someone who adheres to a particular belief structure or school of thought. Often the school of thought is associated with a particular teacher. So there were (probably still are) disciples of Plato or of Sigmund Freud. Today we would say that someone who identifies as a Christian not only adheres to a school of thought taught by Jesus of Nazareth, but they live their life differently, they change their behavior because they follow Jesus. And as Christians, we call that change in behavior "discipleship."

An apostle is someone who has been sent out on a mission, particularly someone who has been granted a particular authority. It is a term that is often applied specifically to the Twelve (and also gets applied to St. Paul whose missions throughout the Mediterranean were a huge part of the spreading of the gospel).

This Sunday's gospel reading is the story of how Jesus first sent the Twelve out on a mission. Jesus gives them a special authority over unclean spirits and then sends them out into the surrounding country with nothing but their shoes, their staff, and one shirt each. They go on to do miraculous things. In this Sunday's sermon, I'll be talking more about the nature of discipleship and the source of the apostles' authority.

See you Sunday,

Kelly