He Takes the Bread…Calling\Convening—gathering together He Gives Thanks…Cleansing\Confession—see 1 Tim 4:4,5 He Breaks It…Consecration\Conditions—ministry of Word He Renames It…Communion\Covenant—re-member-ing He Shares It…Commission\Continuity—He shares w\us, we share w\world A 5-fold pattern: what happens between coming in and going out (both of which are part of the pattern too) He Takes the Bread…Calling\Convening…Apostolic He Gives Thanks…Cleansing\Confession…Prophetic He Shares It…Commission\Continuity…Didactic
You need to see that five-fold action as a microcosm of the world as it relates to our call, artistic and otherwise. First thing Jesus does, is he takes the bread. He grabs hold of something in reality, not something super-spiritualized that doesn't have anything to do with reality. Something that's common, it's central to our existence, that's material.
He takes this material thing and he gives thanks for it. He recognizes that all good things come down from the Father of Lights, as James says. [James 1:17] He recognizes the world for what is in it, for its potential. He thanks God for it. He recognizes that the world is what it is in God's estimation. That it exists and defines its meaning in God's creative purpose. God made it, he sees the value in it, "Thank you."
Then, he broke it. He changed it by deconstructing it and by subjecting it by reshaping according to his will and purpose. Takes the bread, thanks God for it, he breaks it and changes it. It's not the same. It's different.
Then he says, "This is my body." He renames it and shapes it, changing its reality to shape its accomplishment of its highest destiny. The highest destiny of a piece of bread is that it symbolizes Christ. Now brothers and sisters, the highest destiny of everything that is created is that it symbolizes Christ. As Genesis 1 and Psalm 19 and Romans 1 and many other places tell us. So he deconstructs it and subjects it to the interpretation of God and he names it what it is, what it has the potential for.
Then he says, "Take it and eat it," and he shares it to help reveal Himself and to show the possibility of its transformation into what he proposes. And he effects change in the people that he shares it with.
He Breaks It…Consecration\Conditions…Evangelistic
He Renames It…Communion\Covenant…Pastoral
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