{"id":6453,"date":"2024-09-23T14:37:21","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T20:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=6453"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:37:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T20:37:21","slug":"discovering-a-eucharistic-spirituality-reflection-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2024\/09\/discovering-a-eucharistic-spirituality-reflection-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering a Eucharistic Spirituality: Reflection Three"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

In our series on Discovering a Eucharistic Spirituality, today\u2019s article focuses on the declaration, \u201cChrist, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barbara Mauer was the most formidable teacher that I had in high school.\u00a0 She taught literature, English, and Latin for thirty-two years.\u00a0 And I had her for a class that took us through the whole of the Iliad and the Odyssey.\u00a0 There was a time when I thought that if I heard another reference to \u201cgrey eyed Athena\u201d one more time, I would evaporate.<\/p>\n

She also taught us to read stories. \u00a0Each has a plot or a storyline.\u00a0 And every plot has five elements: exposition or introduction, rising action or what used to be called complication, climax, falling action or d\u00e9nouement (it\u2019s much fancier in French), and resolution.<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s important to remember that the whole of the Eucharist is a prayer.\u00a0 It can also be read as a story.\u00a0 It even starts at the very beginning of everything.\u00a0 With God and God\u2019s activity as creator.<\/p>\n

But here I would like to focus on what could be described as the climax: The bread is broken, the priest declares, \u201cAlleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.\u201d The people respond, \u201cTherefore, let us keep the feast.\u00a0 Alleluia!\u201d\u00a0 And as preparation for the rest of the story, the priest lifts the elements and declares, \u201cThe gifts of God for the people of God.\u00a0 Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you and feed on him in your hearts with faith and thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n

This climax \u2013 these words \u2013 appear every Sunday, no matter where the liturgy begins.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if we use Rite One (the King Jamesy version) or Rite Two (the \u2013 sort of \u2013\u00a0 contemporary version).\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter whether we use Prayer One or Two of Rite One.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter whether we use Prayer A, B, C, or D in Rite Two.\u00a0 All those words, all that storytelling and it always reaches a climax in the same place.<\/p>\n

Does that matter?\u00a0 Of course it does.\u00a0 As I am sure Mrs. Mauer would have pointed out, knowing where the story reaches its climax is the key to understanding its meaning.\u00a0 And that is no less true of the Eucharist\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

But do we understand what that climax means?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s a different matter.\u00a0 And I am afraid that all too often, the average Christian doesn\u2019t have a clue.\u00a0 In part because we don\u2019t talk about it often enough.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s do that here, because in our quest for spiritual lives shaped by the Eucharist, understanding this one moment in the story is the key to a different kind of spiritual life.<\/p>\n

First, notice that in breaking bread and in lifting the cup, we are re-presenting the crucifixion<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross.\u00a0 This inevitably means that the saving moment in human history is the crucifixion.\u00a0 It is the watershed, the continental divide, the axis on which everything turns.\u00a0 Everything leading up to that moment was anticipation and plot development.\u00a0 On the other side of it everything is different.<\/p>\n

Second, note that this sacrifice is not some free-standing moment in human history without precedent.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> Instead, when we lift the bread and wine, we declare, \u201cChrist our Passover is sacrificed for us.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, our story is the story of ancient Judaism and specifically, the story of the Exodus from Egypt.<\/p>\n

God creates the world.\u00a0 Humankind is made in God\u2019s image.\u00a0 Our desire to be our own gods subjects us to the tyranny of death.\u00a0 And in the middle of that complex story of sin, violence, malevolence, and destruction, God chooses Israel to chart a way through life for us all.\u00a0 But to make that possible, first he has to liberate his people from enslavement to Egypt\u2019s Pharoah, who is both a real-life tyrant and a symbol of death\u2019s tyranny over humanity.<\/p>\n

When he refuses to acknowledge God\u2019s supremacy, when he asserts his own divinity over that of the one, true God, he learns through a series of plagues what it means to ignore the fact that there is a God and we are not.\u00a0 And the last of those plagues involves the angel of death claiming Egypt\u2019s first-born sons.<\/p>\n

Why first-born sons?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Because, in the ancient world, they were the vehicle for transmitting inheritance from one generation to the next.\u00a0 They were a society\u2019s claim to a past and the bridge to its future.\u00a0 And \u2014 particularly in Pharoah\u2019s case \u2014 they were the key to making a god-like claim \u2013 to a past without peers and a future without end.<\/p>\n

In the middle of this confrontation between Israel\u2019s God and the god of Egypt, both Israel\u2019s first born \u2013 and with them, Israel\u2019s future, life, and liberty \u2013 are guaranteed by the sacrifice of a lamb, whose blood is smeared on the doorpost of their homes.\u00a0 It is important to note, though, that we miss the meaning of the story if we focus on who dies.<\/p>\n

The meaning of the Passover celebration is not that some people die and God\u2019s special people don\u2019t.\u00a0 The meaning of the Passover story is that the world is marked by death and slavery to the tyranny of death in many forms, including rulers, and there is one way through to life, dependence upon God.<\/p>\n

During Jewish celebrations of the Passover, this truth is brought home over and over again.\u00a0 At one point the ritual reads:<\/a><\/p>\n

Blessed is the Omnipresent One, blessed be He!<\/strong>\u00a0Blessed is He who gave the\u00a0Torah<\/a>\u00a0to His people Israel, blessed be He! The Torah speaks of four children: One is wise, one is wicked, one is simple and one does not know how to ask.<\/p>\n

The wise one, what does he say?<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWhat are the testimonies, the statutes and the laws which the L\u2011rd, our G\u2011d, has commanded you?\u201d You, in turn, shall instruct him in the laws of Passover\u2026<\/p>\n

The wicked one, what does he say?<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWhat is this service to you?!\u201d He says `to you,\u2019 but not to him! By thus excluding himself from the community he has denied that which is fundamental. You, therefore, blunt his teeth and say to him: \u201cIt is because of this that the L\u2011rd did for me when I left Egypt\u201d; `for me\u2019 \u2013 but not for him! If he had been there, he would not have been redeemed!\u201d<\/p>\n

The simpleton, what does he say?<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWhat is this?\u201d Thus you shall say to him: \u201cWith a strong hand the L\u2011rd took us out of Egypt, from the house of slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the one who does not know how to ask<\/strong>, you must initiate him, as it is said: \u201cYou shall tell your child on that day, `It is because of this that the L\u2011rd did for me when I left Egypt.'\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Every response \u2014 the one given to the wise, the wicked, the simple, and the ignorant \u2014 is essentially the same.\u00a0 The key to life is dependence upon God\u2019s act of deliverance.<\/p>\n

Now, the story of Eucharist is a part of the same plot and it makes the same claim when we announce, \u201cChrist our Passover is sacrificed for us!\u201d\u00a0 But, in our case, there are two critical differences<\/em><\/strong>: One is that in Jesus, God is both deliverer and sacrificial lamb and the other is this: While the Jewish Passover celebration makes only one or two allusions to the Messiah<\/a>, by combining the images of \u00a0God as both sacrifice and <\/em>deliverer, our liturgy announces the fulfillment of that which is only anticipated in the Passover ritual.<\/p>\n

So, what does all of this imply about our spiritual lives?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, one implication is that we are, as Christians, completely and utterly dependent upon God in Jesus Christ.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> As what the Eucharist calls, \u201cthe author of our salvation\u201d, Jesus is the one who breaks the power of death and establishes the path to eternal life.\u00a0 We cannot save ourselves.\u00a0 And practically speaking, we should treat the moments that we find ourselves at the limits of our strength as an opportunity to put our lives back into God\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Our physical strength often fails us.\u00a0 Our minds can fail us as well.\u00a0 Our wealth cannot meet every need.\u00a0 More often than not, money cannot address our deepest needs.\u00a0 We cannot completely protect those we love the most.\u00a0 We cannot make choices for them.\u00a0 We cannot control the future and we cannot rewrite the past.<\/p>\n

T<\/em>his realization leads us to another: We cannot be good enough that we don\u2019t need the forgiveness and mercy of God.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> The Israelites discovered this after they were delivered from the Pharoah\u2019s tyranny.\u00a0 In the desert they were forced to face themselves: their avarice; their desire to have their every need met; the ease with which they could forget God and embrace the tyranny of other would-be gods.<\/p>\n

We may think that this is the stuff of old biblical stories but it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 It is the story of every human being.\u00a0 It is us when we want what we want, and we resist the discipline of character and virtue.\u00a0 It is us when we compromise our principles.\u00a0 It is us when we let the simple gifts of life crowd out the deep joys of life that arise from the discipline of prayer and worship.<\/p>\n

The Eucharistic life is also a life that roots out idolatry.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 The ancient Passover ritual only mentions Moses once and we only mention one other human being \u2013 Mary \u2013 in the Eucharist. \u00a0Jewish scholars observe that this is because the ancient Passover ritual is designed to remind the Jewish people that God, not any human agency delivered his people.\u00a0 And much could be said about the single reference to Mary.<\/p>\n

Idolatry may seem like a sin that belongs to a time and place far away as well.\u00a0 But it is not, as is evident in this election season.<\/p>\n

Think as you will about the choice, but don\u2019t let presidents loom so large in your thinking that \u2013 as we have been praying \u2013 the only one we serve with our hearts and minds is the Prince of Peace.\u00a0 The Exodus is not a story of escape from the abuses of one regime to the blessings of a new regime. It is the story of deliverance from the tyranny of that which-is-not-God to the liberation of life in relationship with the-one-who-is-God.<\/p>\n

Another aspect of a Eucharistic spirituality is this: Just as our lives depend upon Christ\u2019s sacrifice, the nature of the Christian journey is itself, sacrificial.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Not in the sense that we can accomplish what Christ accomplished.\u00a0 But even Jesus called on his disciples to pick up their crosses.<\/p>\n

Far too much preaching on the Christian life is about a sanctified self-help.\u00a0 The power of positive thinking with a dose of liturgy.\u00a0 But nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

Without being glum or self-destructive, the Eucharist is about a very different kind of life.\u00a0 \u00a0A life shared with Jesus.\u00a0 And a path is marked by his openness to others, the willingness to give, the capacity for sacrifice, and a vision of healing made available to all who long for it and seek it.<\/p>\n

This is the plot of our lives, our path, our purpose.\u00a0 It is the commitment we should bring to our relationships \u2013 to our marriages, to our families, to the values we give our children \u2014 to our friendships, to our work \u2013 to life itself.\u00a0 And the celebration of the Eucharist is the spiritual discipline given to us by Christ, to remind us of that obligation \u2014 to shape and reshape our lives.<\/p>\n

Gracious God, we have found our Passover in Jesus Christ your Son, who is both sacrifice and deliverer.\u00a0 Deepen our lives in him that we may learn to trust you, learn to worship you, and learn to devote ourselves to your Son\u2019s path.\u00a0 That in eating his flesh and his blood, we may learn anew what it means to be alive, what it means to serve, what it means to love.\u00a0 And for all that you do in and through us, we will give you the praise in the name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus the Christ and Passover lamb, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our series on Discovering a Eucharistic Spirituality, today\u2019s article focuses on the declaration, \u201cChrist, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.\u201d \u00a0 Barbara Mauer was the most formidable teacher that I had in high school.\u00a0 She taught literature, English, and Latin for thirty-two years.\u00a0 And I had her for a class that took us through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":6420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4851,2683,4839,4848,4857,4854],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christ-our-passover","category-eucharist","category-eucharistic-spirituality","category-passover","category-plot","category-story"],"yoast_head":"\nDiscovering a Eucharistic Spirituality: Reflection Three<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In our series on 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Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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