How am I transformed by the Eucharist?

Jacques Iselin - The Elements of Holy Communion (Methodist Modern Art Collection)

This was the central question posed by Canon James Milne, Precentor of St Paul’s Cathedral, at a study day organised by the St Paul’s Learning team on Saturday 21st September. In “The Eucharist in Six Objects” we were taken on a sensory tour using objects from the Cathedral collection, during which we were challenged to consider how we respond to the sacrament of the Eucharist - which is where, Canon James explained, the past, present and future collide.

Remembering the past

We began the tour by considering the past and were asked to think about the nature of remembrance. St Paul tells us that the Eucharist is an act of remembrance:

“This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11.24)

When we receive communion, Canon James suggested, we are doing more than remembering a past event in a cerebral sense - like recalling what we did before breakfast this morning or who we met last week. The English translation no longer seems to adequately convey the heartfelt meaning implicit in the Greek word “anamnesis”. But our actions, in participating in the liturgy of the Eucharist, show us that this act of remembrance involves all our senses so, as the Greek word suggests, we truly are fully engaged or fully remembering.

What are we remembering? Canon James presented the first object to help answer this question - a nail. He explained that in the sacrament of the Eucharist we are remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus. We dwell not on the agony and pain but remember the transformation of the passion of Jesus to the resurrection life. In remembering the pain endured by Jesus on the cross we remember our own pain; His sacrifice becomes part of our daily lives - but we are not trying to shock or frighten ourselves; the purpose is that we might remember the transformation from pain to glory, to recall the moment at which God and humanity were reconciled or re-membered; the moment humanity was saved. The nail symbolises the pain and agony of the crucifixion but it is also a sign of the life and work of Jesus - a carpenter. The nail can also be seen as an object of transformation.

Our second object was another powerful symbol of transformation. Taken from the Cathedral collection, we were shown a beautiful eighteenth century altar cross made in Bavaria from gilded lime-wood embellished with bronze and ivory. It was presented to the Dean by Theodor Heuss, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1958 and placed on the high altar. This gift was an important symbol of reconciliation after the war, in which the cathedral narrowly escaped destruction.

Before considering how the Eucharist nourishes us in the present, we were asked to consider how frequently we receive communion and what, if anything, we do to prepare ourselves to receive it? Canon James explained that staff working for the Queen Mother were known to telephone the local church to ask what the readings would be for the Sunday service; from this we can speculate that the Queen Mother would prepare for the Eucharist by reading the scripture appointed for that day. In some parts of the Anglican Communion and in other Christian denominations, special services are held before the Eucharist in order to prepare people to receive communion.

Does familiarity breed contempt? Some consider the sacrament so special that it is reserved for special times in the year - while others feel it is important to receive the sacrament regularly - perhaps daily. In an age when we chase “experiences” do we expect an immediate “high” after communion - or is the experience something more cumulative? Immediacy - suggested Canon James - can be just as oppressive as tradition.

The question of when we are able to receive communion is also a matter of debate between Christians. Many, particularly those in the orthodox tradition, believe that all baptised people (of whatever age) are able to participate in the Eucharist. Traditionally, exchanging the peace was carried out during the liturgy immediately after non-believers (or the non-baptised) had left the church. Others say it is not appropriate for the very young to receive because they do not understand its meaning - but do any of us really understand it?

Nourishing the present

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6.35)

John records these words of Jesus after the feeding of the five thousand - which is seen by some as the Johannine equivalent of The Last Supper - the Institution of the Eucharist.

Canon James explained that Jesus shared our earthly life so that we might share his heavenly life. The Eucharistic liturgy of the Scottish church uses the word “exchange” (“In Christ your Son our life and yours are brought together in a wonderful exchange”) - in receiving the Eucharist we are transformed and offer something back - like the five loaves and two fish on the slopes of the mountain overlooking the Sea of Tiberias. We were given our third object - bread - something ordinary and everyday, which in the sacrament of the Eucharist is transformed into something special.

As we ate the bread we were asked to consider if the elements used during the Eucharist are important - in other words, if Jesus took bread and wine, must we also do so? What if bread and wine are not staple foods in a particular community? Would a Eucharist using oatcakes and whisky in Scotland be wrong?

We were presented with the fourth object - a stole, which Canon James was to wear later during the Festal Eucharist for St Matthew. The stole was red, because Matthew was martyred, with gold embroidery. A stole is seen as a symbol of priestly service - a yoke - and also recalls the napkin Jesus used to wash the feet of the disciples before the Last Supper. Others have suggested that the stole represents a badge of office and has its origins in the uniforms of Imperial Rome. The priest kisses the cross which is embroidered at the centre of the stole before putting it on. In preparing the altar the priest continually murmers prayers – the moment is so holy prayer must be continuous.

Is Jesus present in the Eucharist? Christians of different denominations would answer in different ways, expressing the different explanations that churches have used to try to make sense of the mystery of the sacrament. Can we only be transformed by the Eucharist if we understand how it works? If we believe that God is present in the sacrament of the Eucharist, do we act as though the King of Kings is in our midst?

Canon James explained that the way we worship changes us. In the Book of Acts we find evidence of the first disciples being transformed after breaking bread together. As he was speaking I thought of the sensation of the host dissolving on the roof of my mouth - becoming part of me. Perhaps, even if we do not consciously comprehend it, the reality of our own transformation during the Eucharist might be made more present in our other senses, if we are open to them?

Preparing for the future

“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.” (Isaiah 25.9)

The sacrament of the Eucharist helps us to bring the death and resurrection of Jesus into our daily lives; to teach us how to live so that we may seek to do God’s will here on earth as in heaven. In the Eucharist, the boundary between heaven and earth is removed - we hear in the Eucharistic prayer that we are joined by choirs of angels and all the heavenly host. As we receive communion, what kind of world are we longing for? When we leave do we speak and act according to the values of the Kingdom or of this world? As we drank glasses of the fifth object - red wine; a symbol of the Festal (or party) meal - we were shown the sixth - a large chalice (capable of holding 2/3 of a bottle of wine) from the Cathedral collection. Made for William Juxon, Bishop of London and later Archbishop of Canterbury, it is the only surviving chalice made during the Commonwealth period and is said to have been used by Charles I before his execution; the exuberant size and decoration a symbol of God’s overflowing and generous love.

In conversations after the objects had been presented by Canon James, many participants explained that they would now see the sacrament of Holy Communion in a new way; turning ritual into reality - and next time they receive the sacrament they would ask the question “How am I transformed by the Eucharist?”

  

The Sacrament of the Last Supper - Salvador Dali, 1955

The Absence by R.S.Thomas

It is this great absence
that is like a presence, that compels
me to address it without hope
of a reply. It is a room I enter

from which someone has just
gone, the vestibule for the arrival
of one who has not yet come.
I modernise the anachronism

of my language, but he is no more here
than before. Genes and molecules
have no more power to call
him up than the incense of the Hebrews

at their altars. My equations fail
as my words do. What resources have I
other than the emptiness without him of my whole
being, a vacuum he may not abhor?


The Holy Communion by George Herbert

Not in rich furniture, or fine array,
          Nor in a wedge of gold,
          Thou, who from me wast sold,
    To me dost now thyself convey;
For so thou should'st without me still have been,
          Leaving within me sinne:

But by the way of nourishment and strength,
          Thou creep'st into my breast;
          Making thy way my rest,
    And thy small quantities my length;
Which spread their forces into every part,
          Meeting sinnes force and art.

Yet can these not get over to my soul,
          Leaping the wall that parts
          Our souls and fleshly hearts;
    But as th' outworks, they may controll
My rebel-flesh, and carrying thy name,
          Affright both sinne and shame.

Onely thy grace, which with these elements comes,
          Knoweth the ready way,
          And hath the privie key,
    Op'ning the soul's most subtile rooms:
While those to spirits refin'd, at doore attend
          Despatches from their friend.

Give me my captive soul, or take
          My body also thither.
Another lift like this will make
          Them both to be together.

Before that sinne turn'd flesh to stone,
          And all our lump to heaven;
A fervent sigh might well have blown
          Our innocent earth to heaven.

For sure when Adam did not know
                    To sinne, or sinne to another;
He might to heav'n from Paradise go,
                    As from one room t' another.

Thou hast restor'd us to this ease
          By this thy heav'nly bloud,
Which I can go to, when I please,

          And leave th' earth to their food.

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