About The Eucharist

Our principal worship

The Eucharist is known by many names: Mass, Holy Communion, and many others. Some of those names are attached to particular Christian traditions. It is not only the principal service you are likely to find in our parish, it is also the central act of Christian worship. This page offers a short explanation of what it is about, for those unfamiliar with it.

Our Christian tradition

According to one of the earliest books of the New Testament, Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth:

For the tradition I received from the Lord and also handed on to you is that on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and after he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' And in the same way, with the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me." (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

Dali's Last SupperThe Eucharist begins with the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. It comes to us directly, in Paul's words, "from the Lord" and has been passed down from that moment to this.

In the context of a Jewish Passover meal, when the Jewish people celebrated their liberation from slavery in Egypt, Jesus changes words that were sacred to point at his own death as an even more important event than the foundation event of Judaism. His death, which he knows is coming quickly, is not an accident of history, but his willing sacrifice, which will replace the old covenant (agreement) between God and the Jewish people with a "new covenant in my blood."

From that time to our day, Christians have followed Jesus' command to "do this as a memorial of me." We have prayed the Eucharist as a way of celebrating Christ's sacrifice on the cross as the ultimate offering that opens the way to God - Christ's offering of his life to God. And we have received Holy Communion as a way of celebrating God's offering to us — his life renewing our lives.

So at every Eucharist, we follow a pattern based on Jesus' actions at that Supper: we take bread and wine, we give thanks over these gifts, we break the bread, and we share in eating the bread and drinking the cup.

chalice and patenMany names

The many different names of the service each reflect different aspects of this sacrament (as we call it). A sacrament, by the way, means an visible, physical action or sign that has an invisible spiritual meaning or effect. Here are the most commonly used.

The Eucharist
The word comes from a Greek word meaning thanksgiving, and is one of the oldest words used to describe the service. It reminds us that our fundamental attitude to God is gratitude. God is a giver, who loves us: he gave us his only Son. His love does not have to be earned, and, in fact it cannot be. We try to obey him, not to earn his favour, but because we want to say thank you.
The Holy Communion
This focusses us on the meaning of sharing the bread and cup. Eating and drinking is a communal action that puts us all on the same footing round God's table. We share with each other. But we only share with each other, because we share with God. It is communion with Christ, a sharing of God's life. That is the central invisible meaning behind the visible action.
The Mass
This word comes from the ending of the old Latin service – Ite, missa est – which is almost untranslatable. It means something like, "Okay, that's finished: you're sent out." Mass comes from the same Latin word as mission. It reminds us that meeting together as a church is not meant to be self-indulgent, it's part of being God's servants and workers. If God strengthens us through the gift of communion, we're meant to be using that strength to make the world a better place.