Accept through him, our great high priest,
this our sacrifice of thanks and praise,
and as we eat and drink these holy gifts
in the presence of your divine majesty,
renew us by your Spirit,
inspire us with your love
and unite us in the body of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through him, and with him, and in him,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
with all who stand before you in earth and heaven,
we worship you, Father almighty,
in songs of everlasting praise:
Blessing and honour and glory and power
be yours for ever and ever.
Amen.
( The ending of "Eucharistic Prayer A" in the Church of England's authorised Common Worship)
It is often said that Anglicans are formed in the faith by the experience and words of the liturgy - our liturgy is our doctrine - all that we do as Christians is centred on our worship.
(IMHO) Some of our more recent Church of England Eucharistic liturgies have blurred the power of the title phrase above by replacing "Christ" with the word "him" (those who are interested in the minutia of Common Worship will know that the more powerful Saviour's name has been retained in Prayer E).
I love the way the language enables a President at the Eucharist to proclaim something of unique power.
But the real power ( the Christian secret) lies in the use of the preceding prepositions
through
with
in
for it is they which focus our attention on the loving activity of Jesus Christ through which a new relationship with God is made possible for all humanity.
It is these three words about Jesus which I am currently using as the basis for a vocational conversation.
The key transition in discerning any vocation is moving from the experience of Christ as an object of study or love or worship to the experience of Jesus Christ as the "undeniable imperative" as we begin/continue to search for who God 'wants us to be'.
Put simply it is moving from "what we want from Jesus" to "what Jesus wants from us" - though it is of course a "both-and" and considerably more nuanced than that.
But when that vocational transition begins to arise then " through" and "with" and "in" begin to be "real" words for us.
So fun article is! I agree the idea!
Posted by: Coach Outlet Stores | 14 June 2011 at 09:12