(CP-4) The Eucharist (or, Mass)

About the Nature of Religion

Emile Durkheim wrote much on this topic. What he could not see in the 19th Century was how religion becomes imbedded in a culture.  The prime example is China.  There's really no Confucianism today; it's the Chinese Culture!  The Chinese just naturally place their passed parents in urns on their mantelpieces all over the country!  They live in accordance with the teachings of Confuscius naturally, without thinking about it.

We're seeing the same thing in the West.  There are Christian nations, the USA being a prime example (the Fundamentalists are right! Really?).  A common complaint in Christian nations today is that the religion, Christianity, is waning.  No, it's not waning, there's just no need to go to a specific place to practice it. Religious experiences are omnipresent. The preparations for the experience are within the structures of our court system and permeate our governmental, administrative apparatus; our social justice movements toward equality of the races, of the genders--of human being citizens; our outreach through corporate business worldwide, through our military bases around the world; through our cultural extensions to other cultures.

Nevertheless, I hope we always retain moments of the religious experience in our Christian churches, howbeit there be many fewer churches.  In my opinion, there's nothing that can approach the Eucharist in the beauty and serenity of the Christian message acted out in this particular parishioner's religious practice.  For me, it's the epitome of the religious experience in Christianity.

The Eucharist in its Meta-Elements

1.  The Calling by God to worship.  At eleven A.M. or so on Sunday morning, the church bells toll.  It's time for church service.  The organ loudly proclaims God is in on His throne, awaiting us parishioners.  Hymns describing God's majesty, our humility are sung as the liturgical procession heads toward the altar, led by the cross of Jesus signifying our dedication to this moment we regard important for guiding our lives.

The priest leads the processional to the altar and declares the Service has begun by saying a prayer, invoking God's presence among those in attendance. 

2.  The Identity of the called.  "Now, hear ye this!"  The scriptures are read.  God's response to the invocation is to declare to all who are in attendance the delight that He takes in those seeking Him.  All those in the church are to listen to His words meant for us.  We are the hearers of the Word.

3.  The moment of instruction for us, the people of the Now generation.  The presiding priest assumes an instructional role at the podium.  He delivers the sermon in the service intended to strengthen the relationship between God and man by pointing out how we can improve our communication with God by doing as he, God's representative in the service, instructs us.  He exhorts us, as if he were a salesman selling a medical product that would add years to our lives should we buy it and use it asap.  And, the product he sells is free!  It's our spiritual redemption; the cost only to pledge our souls to serious contractual relationship with God (e.g., the conversion call to the altar) to do God's will in our lives..

4. God's power sought.  The parishioners together acknowledge our allegiance to Christian principles in the famous Nicene Creed said in unison.  Followed by the Prayers of the People to make especial mention of our needs.  Thereupon, we acknowledge our weaknesses and human frailties in the most important and illuminating statement of our humble condition in the world that He has created--the Confession of Sin.  We, as parishioners, are sinners who cannot carry out God's plan for each of our lives without continual help that only God can provide to each and every one of us .  "Please, Most Holy, Most High, help us!"  We need help in dealing with some human malady or disease.  We need God's spirit to design our transactions with one another, and in our personal, inner life.  Help Almighty One! Give us Thy Spirit; and permit us the partaking in Thy power!

 5  God's power received.   Acting as God's emissary, the presiding priest conducts the Holy Communion ceremony. The stage is set for playing out the Last Supper of our Lord at the Communion Table.  We are to be not only the onlookers to that event in remembrance but become its participants, even as the presiding priest proceeds to obtain for us God's special gift, His most precious body and blood   In this way, we exhibit our Godlike being as we communicate with our inner nature of God in us.

We are welcomed at the altar to receive the symbols of God's power severally dispensed to us by the priestly representatives of God. We become recipients of the gifts of God in our hands.  He has extended to us the elements of His most Holy Spirit to be retained in our being for a time to come.  We feed on these elements in our hearts.

6.  We who have received God's gifts express our gratitude.  We sing a hymn, the liturgical procession exits; we are left alone in our pew, refreshed and exhilarated.  We, the remaining congregation declare in heartfelt gratitude, "Thanks be to God!"  'You've done it again for
each of us!'

Now we know the Trinity through our religious experience: God the Father, creates us according to His design, God the Son establishes for us a way to gain knowledge of His design for us; and God the Holy Spirit enables us to carry out God's plan for our lives through the continuing inflow of God's power and might into our being through partaking in the religious experience.