- Dec 22, 2017
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At my college's non-denominational worship service, Travis (the campus minister) did his talk on the development of church service throughout the Bible. He was addressing the question of, "Why Church"? Why go to Church at all, instead of just using a Bible or watching a Christian speaker at home? I think he had a very interesting talk, showing parts of the Bible that explain Church services throughout time, from tents in the desert to Solomon's temple to the first Christians described in Acts. (If you're interested, his talk starts at about the 44 minute mark:
)
However, I had a serious disagreement with how he ended, and I wrote him an e-mail about it. I'm including what I sent him here, and I'd like to invite all of you to read it over & see what you think. (And please read the article I included before replying; it's about 5 pages, and a very clear Biblical & historical look at the Eucharist in Christian life; it discusses many of the counterarguments that I'm sure will be brought up in a very respectable manner, and it's very well written. It's good to read these things before declaring a stance, anyway; even if you just skim it, the 3rd and 4th pages in particular have a lot of Bible verses on the topic.)
Anyway, here's my e-mail:
Good evening, Travis! I really liked most of your message last TNW; it was very interesting to see so much of how the Church as we understand it has been evolving for thousands of years. However, I did have an issue with how it concluded, and I thought I should bring it up.
You had a really interesting talk, discussing how the Church developed from tents with God's real presence in the center, and the sacrifice in Solomon's temple, and the very early Church celebrating the Mass every day, dedicating themselves to the breaking of bread & teachings of the Apostles.
Tracing the development of the Church, showing how everything builds on each other, steps at a time, should've led to a different conclusion that what we did Tuesday. Tents or a temple with God's real presence in the center, a holy sacrifice carried out at every Church service, the first Christians dedicating themselves to the breaking of bread & the teachings of the Apostles; this leads to the idea that God would still maintain a true presence at all of our our Church services after Jesus, and the holy sacrifice, coupled with dedication to the breaking of bread, seems to lead to the Real Presence of the Eurcharist.
Every part of this fascinating look at the development of the Church should build up on each other, without any part being lost. But carrying out Communion without God's Real Presence & carrying out Church services without a holy sacrifice leaves out 2 key details from the Old Testament churches. Every Orthodox & Catholic Church is set up like Solomon's temple, like the earlier tents, with a small part in the middle holding God's Real Presence. A holy sacrifice is carried out (the Eucharist), and instead of occasionally breaking bread & calling it a symbol, the early Christians did this daily, truly dedicating themselves to the breaking of the bread / of the holy sacrifice / of the Real Presence of God. It would logically follow that all the elements would be present, and the Orthodox church, maintaining the 1st century Church as much as possible, is just as adamant about the Real Presence of the Eucharist, dedicating themselves to the breaking of bread.
St. Paul takes this idea very seriously:
From 1 Corinthians 11:
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, 24 and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. 31 If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; 32 but since we are judged by [the] Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
From 1 Corinthians 10:
1 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 All ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ... 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Here's an article written by someone much smarter than me, with more detail about this part of the Church in history & Scripture.
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-te...day/eucharist/upload/catsun-2011-doc-hahn.pdf
I'm saying all of this, not to set out to prove you wrong, but simply to share what I truly believe to be the more Biblical way of analyzing the development of the Church. My prayer is that this will lead us all to a better understanding of God's plan for the Church, not by proving each other wrong, but just by gaining a greater understanding of the beautiful Scripture that God so graciously left for us.
With peace & God's blessings,
Alex
However, I had a serious disagreement with how he ended, and I wrote him an e-mail about it. I'm including what I sent him here, and I'd like to invite all of you to read it over & see what you think. (And please read the article I included before replying; it's about 5 pages, and a very clear Biblical & historical look at the Eucharist in Christian life; it discusses many of the counterarguments that I'm sure will be brought up in a very respectable manner, and it's very well written. It's good to read these things before declaring a stance, anyway; even if you just skim it, the 3rd and 4th pages in particular have a lot of Bible verses on the topic.)
Anyway, here's my e-mail:
Good evening, Travis! I really liked most of your message last TNW; it was very interesting to see so much of how the Church as we understand it has been evolving for thousands of years. However, I did have an issue with how it concluded, and I thought I should bring it up.
You had a really interesting talk, discussing how the Church developed from tents with God's real presence in the center, and the sacrifice in Solomon's temple, and the very early Church celebrating the Mass every day, dedicating themselves to the breaking of bread & teachings of the Apostles.
Tracing the development of the Church, showing how everything builds on each other, steps at a time, should've led to a different conclusion that what we did Tuesday. Tents or a temple with God's real presence in the center, a holy sacrifice carried out at every Church service, the first Christians dedicating themselves to the breaking of bread & the teachings of the Apostles; this leads to the idea that God would still maintain a true presence at all of our our Church services after Jesus, and the holy sacrifice, coupled with dedication to the breaking of bread, seems to lead to the Real Presence of the Eurcharist.
Every part of this fascinating look at the development of the Church should build up on each other, without any part being lost. But carrying out Communion without God's Real Presence & carrying out Church services without a holy sacrifice leaves out 2 key details from the Old Testament churches. Every Orthodox & Catholic Church is set up like Solomon's temple, like the earlier tents, with a small part in the middle holding God's Real Presence. A holy sacrifice is carried out (the Eucharist), and instead of occasionally breaking bread & calling it a symbol, the early Christians did this daily, truly dedicating themselves to the breaking of the bread / of the holy sacrifice / of the Real Presence of God. It would logically follow that all the elements would be present, and the Orthodox church, maintaining the 1st century Church as much as possible, is just as adamant about the Real Presence of the Eucharist, dedicating themselves to the breaking of bread.
St. Paul takes this idea very seriously:
From 1 Corinthians 11:
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, 24 and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. 31 If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; 32 but since we are judged by [the] Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
From 1 Corinthians 10:
1 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 All ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ... 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Here's an article written by someone much smarter than me, with more detail about this part of the Church in history & Scripture.
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-te...day/eucharist/upload/catsun-2011-doc-hahn.pdf
I'm saying all of this, not to set out to prove you wrong, but simply to share what I truly believe to be the more Biblical way of analyzing the development of the Church. My prayer is that this will lead us all to a better understanding of God's plan for the Church, not by proving each other wrong, but just by gaining a greater understanding of the beautiful Scripture that God so graciously left for us.
With peace & God's blessings,
Alex
