Christ in Creation and Communion Our Journey In

Christ in Creation and Communion

Our Journey In the Worldwide, Ecumenical "Season of Creation" (Sept. 1 -Oct. 4) https: //seasonofcreation. org/ 1. Learning from Scripture to See Christ in Creation 2. Worshipping and Lamenting with the Community of Creation in Christ v. Today: Creation and Communion (Eucharist, Lord's Supper) v. Next: Our Priesthood and Creation Care 3. Loving Attentively and Practically in Christ

A Word from Karl Franklin Inspired by Our Discussions

Pope Francis, "Querida Amazonia" (2020 exhortation in response to 2019 Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region) Par. 11 "We are a region of stolen territories. " (from REPAM, a Catholic Church network that supports the rights and dignity of peoples living in the Amazon). Par. 28 "Just as there are potentialities in nature that could be lost forever, something similar could happen with cultures that have a message yet to be heard, but are now more than ever under threat. " Par. 6 "The Church. . . must become incarnate in a distinctive way in each part of the world, so that the Bride of Christ can take on a variety of faces that better manifest the inexhaustible riches of God's grace. " http: //www. vatican. va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/document s/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia. html

For Francis, the Eucharist should inspire the Church to receive "new faces with Amazonian features. " Par. 82 "In the Eucharist, God, 'in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. ' The Eucharist 'joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. '. . . In this sense, 'encountering God does not mean fleeing from the world or turning our back on nature. ' It means that we can take up into the liturgy many elements proper to the experience of indigenous peoples in their contact with nature, and respect the native forms of expression in song, dance, rituals, gestures, and symbols. " (he quotes from his 2015 encyclical Laudato si') http: //www. vatican. va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/document s/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia. html

Why are we talking about the Eucharist at Dayspring BAPTIST Church? Many Baptists still use grape juice instead of wine, say "Communion" or "Lord's Supper" instead of "Eucharist, " and recognize "ordinances" instead of "sacraments. " Historically, Baptists have received the central meal of the Church as a symbol obediently kept in memory of Jesus, not an encounter with Jesus. Whether or not we have adopted these positions or consider ourselves Baptists, many of us might have been exposed to or hold related views.

THE BIG QUESTION: What can discussion of the Eucharist say to people meeting at/Zooming with a Baptist church about our relationship with Christ and creation?

Creation and Communion (Eucharist) Today: Orthodox Christian geologist and theologian George Theokritoff, "The Cosmology of the Eucharist, " Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature, and Creation (2013), with a nod from Bill Mc. Kibben, Methodist environmentalist and co-founder of 350. org. Mc. Kibben (left) & Theokritoff (right); Theokritoff's (d. 2014) wife, Elizabeth Theokritoff, remains a leading figure in environmental theology

Communion with God in Creation "The [sacramental] notion that the Logos [Christ who holds creation together and has become part of it] can be seen [and encountered] in every created thing. . . is scandalously powerful. It undercuts the most alien idea of the Western tradition, of God (and man in his image) apart from the natural world. . . The [climate-change threatened] world. . . no longer seems something to ignore. Instead it seems something to love. " (xiii-xiv)

Eucharist means "Thanksgiving" for a Gift In adult formation last year, we read Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann, whose views shape Theokritoff's. Norman Wirzba, whom we discussed last time, quotes and summarizes Schmemann, also anticipating our discussion of priesthood next time. "'[Eucharistic thanksgiving involves knowing] that everything in the world and the world itself is a gift of God's love, a revelation of God of his very self, summoning us in everything to know God, through everything to be in communion with God. '. . . Giving thanks restores people to their role as eucharistic beings and as priests of creation. In this eucharistic, priestly function, I have in mind the ability of people to receive the world from God, share it with others, and give it back to God as a blessing. " (From Nature to Creation, pp. 155 -56)

Eucharist means "Thanksgiving" for a Gift of Communion with God Norman Wirzba on Schmemann "'Schmemann. . . says that when people bring themselves and the elements of bread and wine (as representative of the whole of the material world) to the eucharistic table, and there offer them as gifts to God, they embrace and fulfill our humanity as eucharistic beings: 'We were created as celebrants of the sacrament of life, of its transformation into. . . communion with God. . . Real life is 'eucharist, ' a movement of love and adoration to God, the movement in which alone the meaning and the value of all that exists can be revealed and fulfilled. '" (156 -57)

"Bread and Wine [or Grape juice? ] Representative of the Whole of the Material World". . Really? Isn't that just "mystical" or "poetic"?

"Representative of the Whole of the Material World". . Really? What is bread? (131)

"Representative of the Whole of the Material World". . Really? What is wine/ grape juice?

"Representative of the Whole of the Material World". . Really? What is water? (132)

"Representative of the Whole of the Material World". . Really? What is soil?

"Representative of the Whole of the Material World". . Really? What is matter? (132 -33) "Christ's words, 'This is my body; this is my blood, ' have a profound literal sense in that the matter making up the Eucharistic bread and wine—and that making up the flesh and blood taken from his Holy Mother—share the same cosmic origin. " (Theokritoff 133)

"[I]n this bread an in this cup of wine, [we offer] the entire Cosmos and every living creature including ourselves— everything from the tiniest particles of matter to the farthest reaches of space, as well as the fruits of human labor in all places and all times. " (133) "[The Eucharist] points to Creation as a sacrament, a means of communion, a gift from God for us to 'till and keep, ' but certainly not a commodity to be abused. It also helps us to perceive more clearly Christ, the Word and Wisdom of God, who comes to us in bread and wine, present in every element of creation and at work in all its processes. " (135)

THE BIG QUESTION: What can discussion of the Eucharist say to people meeting at/Zooming with a Baptist church about our relationship with Christ and creation? Identify your main responses. Appoint one member of your group to share them with us when we return.

The Sending Out of God's People from an Orthodox "Vespers for the Environment" (for Sept. 1 in the Season of Creation) O Word, great in mercy, stooping with goodness and compassion, shower down from heaven upon the earth the streams of your divine mercy for our salvation. Stained with foul passions, Savior, we defile the atmosphere with our dread actions; but grant us, Lord, genuine repentance. Look on us, Savior, with an eye of mercy, and turn from the earth, we beg, the destruction which comes from poisonous and senseless actions.