Concerning the Lord's Table

It's been awhile since I posted and I needed to discuss some aspects of the Lord's Table. I belong to a movement that is Reformed in it's tradition as it relates to the Lord's Supper. It is somewhat confusing because on the one hand we will state that the elements are completely symbolic and we will not in any way want to be confused with the Roman position of Transsubstantiation "which views the transformation of the bread and the cup literally becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ." Thus in the Roman tradition the sacra or grace is literally transforming the elements to a completely different substance. The other view point that we do not identify with is the Lutheran tradition of consubstantiation "which sees the sacra or grace as being upon the elements." I do not agree with the other two theological view points though I am convinced that the Reformed perspective does not go far enough in identifying what and where is the sacra in the Eucharist. Being in the Foursquare movement we will say that the elememts of the Lord's Supper are symbolic and yet at the same time we will present that there is access to healing and a unique encounter with the presence of Christ that takes place as one celebrates the Eucharist.

It is my conviction that we may want to offer another perspective that does not violate the Reformed Perspective of the symbolic nature of the communion elements but at the same time does allow for the understanding that there is a sacra that is upon the people who Celebrate this powerful event. I would like to present the idea of Anthro-Substantiation which denotes that the sacra is upon the individual people who participate in the Eucharist. In future posts I will lay out the basis for this theological perspective both in my exegesis of scripture as well as looking at the Historic Basis for this perspective. Allow me to finish this post with the the idea that though I would never place History or the creeds of the church on the same level of inspirational authority as scripture itself; it is important to note that such early Christian theologians such as Justin Martyr when discussing the (αναμνησισ) which was the liturgical recollection of Christ. It was Justin Martyr who stated that in the act of rememberance the worshipping congrgation believed Christ himself to be present among them. He would also believe that Christ was present apart from the Eucharist but the adoration and worship that was given during the eucharist did in fact allow for a special presence of Christ during the Celebration (Just.Dial. 41.i; 117.3 Godspeed 138, 235; Pelikan, The Christian Tradition, Vol. I, p. 167-168).

I look forward to this journey with you.