Sacred Roots Workshop

122 Sacred Roots Workshop: Retr ieving the Great Tradi t ion in the Contemporary Church

4. Worship as experiencing “ real presence ” during our partaking together of the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist)

a. Without a doubt, scholars recognize how it served as centerpiece in worship of the ancient-undivided Church (the Easter event as the center and circum- ference of Christian identity, faith, and witness!).

b. Not as theological argument of either transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or memorialist views

c. The Lord’s Supper as a Trinitarian confession: the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, cf. 2 Cor. 13.14

d. A deep stress on the oneness of the Church gathered around the concrete elements of the bread and wine, and a realization that Christ is with us, truly with us, as we partake together

e. A joyful, expectant anticipation of the messianic banquet to come

5. As we dismiss, our worship is perceived as our corporate blessing, an eschatological foreshadowing (scattering to give witness to the living Christ in the world).

IV. His Life in Us: Rehearsing and Reenacting the Old Story in Christian Worship

We hold communion with the apostolic churches because our doctrine is in no respect different from theirs. This is our witness of truth. ~ Tertullian, c. 197. Cf. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. p. 28.