Communion

Lesson 8: Eucharist as Thanksgiving

Lesson 8: Eucharist as Thanksgiving

The official title of the communion meal is the Eucharist, a Greek word meaning thanksgiving. By examining how this title applies we can learn a lot about the sacrament. First, thanksgiving is given a prominent place in the official account of the last supper in I Corinthians 11. That account is the basis of the […]

Read More →

Read More →

Lesson 6: Eucharist as Eating Together

Lesson 6: Eucharist as Eating Together

The sacraments taken together express the fullness of the Christian life. Baptism welcomes us into the community that shares meals with each other and God. Although this might appear to be nothing extraordinary to an outside observer, the Church proclaims it the primary means by which her resurrected Lord is present among them. Just as […]

Read More →

Read More →

Lesson 9: Promoting Friendship

Lesson 9: Promoting Friendship

So how can we promote the important elements of traditional friendship? We obviously cannot force people to enlarge their circle of friends by preaching at them. Robert Putnam, famous for his book Bowling Alone, felt the answer was to develop new forms of volunteer organizations that would pull people away from their televisions and out […]

Read More →

Read More →

Lesson 6: Sharing

Lesson 6: Sharing

When I at first asked my face-to-face discussion groups to define friendship, I got the answers I expected. They seemed to say the same things as early Christian writers. For instance, they echoed what Ambrose wrote in 340 AD: “Friends open their hearts to each other, sharing their deepest thoughts, their hopes and fears, their […]

Read More →

Read More →

Lesson 8: I Am the Bread of Life

Lesson 8: I Am the Bread of Life

John 6 is built around Jesus’ proclamation, “I am the Bread of Life,” John’s working of the Feeding of the Multitude. His presentation of the Feeding almost parallels the reports of the other three gospels in which the mighty work appears five times. It is obviously very important to the early Church; yet all the […]

Read More →

Read More →

Lesson 10: A Nourishing Community

Lesson 10: A Nourishing Community

I began my ministry at a time when the liturgical renewal was urging congregations to celebrate Communion every week. Coincidental with this was the house church movement in which small groups began sharing meals and and conversation. Sometimes this was done as an extension of the local parish and sometimes as a replacement. How interesting […]

Read More →

Read More →

Top

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close