Is there a greater example of reconciliation than at the Lord’s Table? It is within this sacred ritual that we experience the clarion call to connect with the Lord in service. It is this call that invites all who will to come and sit at the table regardless…and God will do the changing, reshaping, redeveloping and the saving. The Lord’s Table breaks down the variables of difference and renames them as gifts. At the Lord’s Table the Eucharist becomes the feast of the “chosen.” This is not exclusive or inclusive language, but an ontological imperative to the believer.  The inclusive language is actually exclusive behavior hidden within progressive rhetoric. Exclusive language is discriminatory with disregard for social progression and awareness.

The Eucharist breaks down barriers and translate them in to familiar avenues for those who have been disenfranchised by life. The Eucharist is the incarnation in pragmatic form, at its best. The incarnational aspects of the Eucharist represent a robust engagement and invitation to connect. Matthias Scheeban articulates,

“The Eucharist is meant to be the continuation of the Incarnation . . . As the elevating and transforming power of the Incarnation is continued and perfected in the spiritual mode of that body’s existence, so the union of the invisible with the visible, of the divine with the human, which we observed in the Incarnation, is distinctly brought out in its sacramental existence.”

The Eucharist is the residual, eternal effects of Christ coming and dwelling among us. (John 1:14) It is the Eucharist that allows such authenticity where pretenses become fragmented by acts of love. This is the moment when we identify that the Eucharist is reconciliation on steroids. Racism, sexism and classism are trumped by invitation- the invitation to come and partake. If you are invited to engage in the Eucharist then all of your “isms” are subpar. Christ through his work on the cross recalibrated the whole so “isms” take a backseat to the presence of Christ.  St. John of Damascus write, “He in his fullness took upon himself me in my fullness and was united whole to whole that he might in his grace bestow salvation to the whole man. For what has not been taken cannot be healed.” So within this healing and restoring of the whole, we find that our” isms” have been recalibrated to resemble Christ.

In this Eucharistic recalibration, we continually come to the table re-dressed because of the deeds of Christ. Thus all perception is centered on Him and not us which calls for “high functioning reconciliation.”

Trying to grasp the essence of the Eucharist…