What is the Eucharist?

While Baptism is the initiation of a Christian into Christ and the Church Community, the Eucharist offers spiritual nourishment as a person remains within the Church Community and grows toward God.

The word Eucharist means "Thanksgiving." Some worshipers call this activity "Communion," or "The Lord's Supper." Some believe that the bread and wine actually becomes Christ's body in a mystical way. Others think of the bread and wine as symbols of Christ's sacrificed body. There are many shades of belief about exactly what the wine and wafer are and become when they are blessed and eaten. Jesus simply asked that we remember him when we eat his "supper."

One of the characteristics of the Episcopal Church is that you are free to make your own interpretation about the details of the Eucharist. There are probably as many beliefs about the bread and wine as there are communicants at the altar. There is one thing, however, that all of these interpretations have in common. We associate the bread and wine with Jesus' death on the cross (his body and blood), and we do two things about that. First, we give thanks for Jesus' sacrifice since it has personal meaning for each of us. Second, we expect some sort of transformation to happen to us.

You may be among those who feel transformation to be almost physical as you take the food into your own body. Or you may believe that just the symbolic reminder of Jesus' life and death is the thing that makes for transformation. Whatever you think and feel, it is clear that a change of some sort is anticipated. The change has to do with our becoming more like Jesus in his life and in his love for God. By our weekly participation in this ritual, we become more closely connected to Christ; in other words, we become more "Christlike."

As you chew the bread and wafer, and as you taste the wine, think about Jesus' presence with you in this moment. Is this a person whom you would like to incorporate into your own self?