The Eucharist and the Parish

How does the Eucharist nourish all of the people of God for ministry? And how does the local parish become a place which supports its constituents in their various ministries, without limiting the word "ministry" to "churchy stuff"?

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No complex question is likely to receive a simple answer.  This one is really two questions, so I will break it down the best I can.

The Eucharist

Tomes upon tomes have been written on the Eucharist, its theology, its practice and its meaning.  I can talk about this from a broad sense and how different Christians view the Eucharist.  However, it is probably easiest to talk about this, generally from the Anglican perspective, since that is what I know the best and how I view the Lord's Supper.

If one looks from an Anglican perspective, the Eucharist nourishes us a number of ways.  The first way is that whole real presence thing.  Whereas, Roman Catholic doctrine holds that the mechanism is Transubstantiation (The bread and wine go away and are replaced fully with the body and blood), and the Lutherans hold that the mechanism is Consubstantiation (Jesus is kind of hanging out in the bread and wine), Anglicans go a broader route.

"Christ was the Word that spake it; Christ was the Bread that brake it; As Christ his Word did make it, Do thou believe and take it."  This is a quote, probably by John Donne, although it has been attributed to Archbishop William Laud and Queen Elizabeth I.  Regardless, the intent behind this quote is that Anglicans believe in real presence - as in Jesus is really there - but the mechanics are too much of a mystery for the human mind to fully grasp.

Nonetheless, knowing that Christ is present in the Eucharist gives us the assurance that we are receiving Christ fully.  Sort of a "you are what you eat" idea.  We are recharged by taking Christ within ourselves to go out and do the work of Christ.

But wait!  There's more!  Anglican theology also has a very communal bent to it.  Not only is the Body of Christ present in the elements, but it is also present in the gathering of the faithful.  The community as the Body comes into common union with the Body and Blood in the sacrament.  It's a convergence of the two places in the church where the Body is, finding a single purpose and a single place, like a conjunction of planets all aligning and shining brightly.  Therefore, not only are we fed by Christ in the elements, but we are fed by the community gathered into one.

And still there is more! The word "Eucharist" itself means to give thanks.  "Charis" in Greek means "grace" in the same way that "Gracias" meaning "Graces" also is thank you, or how "Gracious" in English has the same understanding as gratitude. We begin this act, not by blessing the bread and wine, but by offering the gifts God has given us, including the grain of the field and fruit of the vine. And so, we are also fed by giving thanks for God's abundance so that we can go into the world in gratitude for all that God does for us.  I would even argue that any time we give thanks in community, there is something eucharistic about those moments.  No, those moments are not the sacrament itself, but do reflect what we do at the altar.  

The Parish

This part of the question is related to the first.  As I have talked about the Sacrament empowering us to take our faith into the world, so does the Church in general.  When done the right way, the local parish should empower people for ministry.  The word "ministry" comes from the Latin word "ministere", meaning "to serve".  Service is the game of the Church.  

The catechism is clear that all baptized Christians are ministers of the Church.  And Confirmation is an adult affirmation of those vows taken on our behalf at baptism.  When I prepare families for a child being baptized, this is a point that I always emphasize.  What we are doing here is raising up a minister of the Church, and then I ask parents and godparents how they can see raising a person for ministry.  When I teach confirmands and those being received into the church or those reaffirming their baptismal vows, I give them all an assignment to explain what is their ministry.  This ministry can be something in the church, but often it is a connection between the church and the world.

The parish is limited in what it can do, but it should empower its members to go out into the community to serve Christ in the people.  The Church is not a social club.  Another Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple is quoted as having said: “The Church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.”  This is our mission, to take the work of Christ into the our communities.  

When we are fed by Word and Sacrament, we are not meant to be religious couch potatoes.  When we eat, we have to burn those calories or we'll get soft.  We are not fed by the Church for our own benefit, but for the benefit of the world.