For the Communion of the Churches: The Contribution of the Groupe des Dombes
232
For the Communion of the Churches: The Contribution of the Groupe des Dombes
232Paperback
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780802865328 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company |
| Publication date: | 12/17/2010 |
| Pages: | 232 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
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FOR THE COMMUNION OF THE CHURCHES
The Contribution of the Groupe des DombesWilliam B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Copyright © 2010 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6532-8
Chapter One
Towards a Common Eucharistic Faith (1971)
Doctrinal Agreement on the Eucharist
* * *
1. Today, when Christians celebrate the eucharist and proclaim the gospel, they feel themselves increasingly to be brothers in the midst of their fellow-men, with a mission and an eagerness to bear witness together to the same Christ, by word and deed and by their eucharistic celebration. That is why, for some years past, the Group meeting at Les Dombes has been scrutinizing the significance of mutual eucharistic hospitality and joint celebration and the conditions on which they depend.
2. One particularly important condition of this sharing of the Lord's table is substantial agreement on what it is, despite theological diversities.
3. The Group takes over the text of the Faith and Order agreement (1968), seeking to clarify, adapt, and amplify it in the light of the interconfessional situation in France today.
I. The Eucharist: The Lord's Supper
4. The eucharist is the sacramental meal, the new paschal meal of God's people, which Christ, having loved his disciples unto the end, gave them before his death that they might celebrate it in the light of the resurrection until his coming.
5. This meal is the effective sign of the gift that Christ made of himself as the bread of life, through the sacrifice of his life and his death and by his resurrection.
6. In the eucharist, Christ fulfills in a surpassing manner his promise to be amongst those who gather together in his name.
II. The Eucharist: Act of Thanksgiving to the Father
7. The eucharist is the great act of thanksgiving to the Father for all that he has accomplished in the creation and redemption of the world, for all that he is now accomplishing in the church and in the world, despite our sin, and for all that he is seeking to accomplish through the coming of his kingdom. Thus, the eucharist is the blessing (berakah) whereby the church expresses gratitude to God for all his benefits.
8. The eucharist is the great sacrifice of praise in which the church speaks in the name of all creation. For the world that God reconciled with himself in Christ is present at each eucharist: in the bread and the wine, in the persons of the faithful, and in the prayers they offer for all mankind. Thus the eucharist opens up to the world the way to its transfiguration.
III. The Eucharist: Memorial of Christ
9. Christ instituted the eucharist as a memorial (anamnesis) of his whole life and above all of his cross and resurrection. Christ, with everything he has accomplished for us and for all creation, is present himself in this memorial, which is also a foretaste of his kingdom. The memorial, in which Christ acts through the joyful celebration of his church, implies this representation and this anticipation. Therefore it is not only a matter of recalling to mind a past event or even its significance. The memorial is the effective proclamation by the church of the great work of God. By its communion with Christ, the church participates in this reality from which it draws its life.
10. The memorial, being at once re-presentation and anticipation, is lived out in thanksgiving and intercession. Making the memorial of the passion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, our High Priest and Mediator, the church presents to the Father the one perfect sacrifice of his Son and asks him to accord every person the benefit of the great work of redemption it proclaims.
11. Thus, united to our Lord, who offers himself to his Father, and in communion with the universal church in heaven and on earth, we are renewed in the covenant sealed with the blood of Christ and we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice that must be expressed in the whole of our daily life.
12. The memorial of Christ is the essential content of the Word proclaimed, as it is of the eucharist. The celebration of the eucharist and the proclamation of the Word go hand in hand, for the ministry of the Word is directed towards the eucharist and the eucharist in turn implies and fulfills the Word.
IV. The Eucharist: Gift of the Spirit
13. The memorial, in the deep sense that we have given to it, implies the invocation of the Spirit (epiclesis). Christ, in his heavenly intercession, asks the Father to send his Spirit to his children. And so the church, living in the new covenant, prays with confidence for the Spirit, in order to be renewed and sanctified by the bread of life, led in truth and strengthened to fulfill its mission in the world.
14. It is the Spirit which, invoked over the congregation, over the bread and wine, makes Christ really present to us, gives him to us and enables us to perceive him. The memorial and the invocation of the Spirit (anamnesis and epiclesis), directed towards our union with Christ, cannot be accomplished independently of the communion.
15. The gift of the Holy Spirit in the eucharist is a foretaste of the kingdom of God: the church receives the life of the new creation and the assurance of our Lord's return.
16. We recognize that the eucharistic prayer as a whole has the character of an epiclesis.
V. The Sacramental Presence of Christ
17. The act of the eucharist is the gift of Christ's person. The Lord said: "Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you." "Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins." We accordingly confess unanimously the real, living, and effective presence of Christ in this sacrament.
18. To discern the body and blood of Christ requires faith. However, the presence of Christ revealed to his church in the eucharist does not depend on the faith of the individual, for it is Christ who binds himself in his words and in the Spirit to the sacramental act, the sign of his presence given.
19. Christ's act being the gift of his body and blood, that is to say, of himself, the reality given in the signs of the bread and wine is his body and his blood. It is by virtue of Christ's creative word and by the power of the Holy Spirit that the bread and wine are made a sacrament and hence a "sharing of the body and blood of Christ" (1 Cor. 10:16). They are henceforth, in their ultimate truth, beneath the outward sign, the given reality, and so they remain, since their purpose is to be consumed. What is given as the body and blood of Christ remains given as his body and blood and requires to be treated as such.
20. Noting the diversity of practice among Christian denominations and at the same time drawing from the preceding agreement the necessary conclusions regarding the change of heart (metanoia) on the part of the churches that is seen to be essential, we ask that:
i. On the Roman Catholic side it be pointed out, in particular by catechists and preachers, that the primary purpose of reserving the eucharist is for its distribution to the sick and the absent; ii. On the Protestant side the best means should be adopted of showing the respect due to the elements that have served for the celebration of the eucharist, which is to consume them subsequently, without precluding their use for the communion of the sick.
VI. The Eucharist: Communion in the Body of Christ
21. By giving himself to the communicants, Christ unites them in his body. It is in this sense that one can say: if the church makes the eucharist, the eucharist makes the church. The sharing of the one bread and the one cup in a given place makes the communicants one with the whole Christ, with one another, and with all other communicants at all times and in all places. By sharing the one bread they manifest their membership of the church in its universality, the mystery of the redemption is revealed to their eyes, and the whole body grows in grace. The communion is thus the source and strength of all community life among Christians.
22. By his cross, Christ has broken down all the barriers that separate men. We cannot communicate with him in truth, therefore, unless we labor, in the midst of the conflict in which we are involved, to do away with the barriers in the church that separate races, nationalities, languages, classes, and denominations.
23. According to Christ's promise, every believer and member of his body receives in the eucharist the remission of sins and everlasting life and is fed with the food of faith, hope, and love.
24. Fellowship in the eucharistic communion in the body of Christ (agape) and the attentions that Christians have for one another and for the world should find a means of expression in the liturgy: by the mutual forgiveness of sins, the kiss of peace, the offering of gifts to be used for community meals or for distribution to brothers in need, and the brotherly welcome extended to all regardless of political, social, or cultural differences.
VII. The Eucharist: A Mission in the World
25. The mission of the church does not simply stem from the eucharist. Whenever the church is really the church, its mission is part of its life. In the eucharist the church is fully itself and is united with Christ in his mission.
26. The world is already present in the act of thanksgiving to the Father, in which the church speaks in the name of all creation; in the memorial where, united with Christ the Redeemer and Mediator, the church prays for the world: in the invocation of the Spirit, in which it hopes for sanctification and the new creation.
27. Reconciled in the eucharist, the members of the body of Christ become the servants of reconciliation among men and witnesses of the joy of the resurrection. Their presence in the world implies fellowship in suffering and hope with all men, among whom they are called upon to bear witness to the love of Christ in service and in combat. The celebration of the eucharist, the breaking of a bread that is necessary to life, is an incitement not to accept conditions in which men are deprived of bread, justice, and peace.
28. The eucharist is also the feast of the perpetual apostolic harvest, in which the church rejoices for the gifts received in the world.
VIII. The Eucharist: Banquet of the Kingdom
29. Our Lord instituted the eucharist for the time from his ascension until his coming again. This is the time of hope, and that is why the eucharist directs our thoughts to the Lord's coming and brings it near to us. It is a joyful anticipation of the heavenly banquet, when redemption shall be fully accomplished and all creation shall be delivered from bondage.
30. Thus, by giving the eucharist to his church, which in its weakness will live to the last in the midst of suffering and strife, our Lord enables it to take new heart and to persevere.
31. This church that Christ feeds throughout its pilgrimage perceives, above and beyond the divisions that still persist, that the eschatological meeting-place is an ecumenical meeting-place, where Israel and all the nations will be gathered together into one people.
IX. The Presidency of the Eucharist
32. Christ, in the eucharist, gathers together and feeds his church at a meal over which he presides.
33. The sign of Christ's presidency is given in the presiding minister, whom he has called and sent. The mission of ministers has its roots in and is modeled on that of the apostles, and is transmitted to the church by the imposition of hands accompanied by the invocation of the Holy Spirit. This transmission implies the continuity of the ministry, fidelity to apostolic teaching, and a life lived according to the gospel.
34. The minister shows that the congregation is not proprietor of the action it is performing, that it is not the master of the eucharist but receives it from Another, Christ living in his church. While remaining a member of the congregation, the minister is at the same time the man sent to signify God's action and the link between the local community and the other communities in the universal church.
35. In theirmutual relations, the eucharistic gathering and its president live their dependence on the one Lord and great High Priest. In its relation to the minister, the congregation is exercising its royal priesthood conferred on it by Christ, the priest. In his relation to the congregation, the minister is living his presidency as the servant of Christ, the pastor.
X. Conclusion
36. At this stage in our quest we give thanks that the major difficulties concerning the eucharistic faith have been removed.
37. We realize, however, that some clarification is still required in regard to the permanence of the sacramental presence and the precise place of the apostolic succession in the ministry. It seems to us that any joint participation in the eucharist demands a real effort to overcome these difficulties and, if need be, on both sides, the abandonment of everything that is marked by controversy within our various denominational positions.
38. The pursuance of our quest is bound to enrich us still further with the complementary spiritual values among which we live. We can never exhaust the understanding of a mystery which is beyond all understanding and calls us unceasingly to come out of ourselves in order to live in thanksgiving and wonder at this supreme gift of Christ to his church.
XI. Recommendation
39. It is often asked today what degree of concordance of belief is required for a Christian to be received by another church at its communion table. Without claiming to solve here the other questions raised by the different cases of eucharistic hospitality, we think that access to communion should not be refused for reasons of eucharistic belief to Christians of another denomination whose own faith is that professed above.
40. That is why we ask the authorities of our respective churches to consider carefully the new situation created by this agreement on the eucharist when they are weighing up the requests for hospitality addressed to them.
PASTORAL AGREEMENT The Meaning of the Eucharist
I. The Eucharist: The Lord's Supper
Jesus, on the eve of his death, at a meal he was sharing with his disciples, took the bread and, having said grace, broke it and distributed it among them, saying: "Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Then, taking a cup of wine, he gave thanks and passed it around, saying: "Drink this, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. Do this in remembrance of me."
With these words he invited his disciples to repeat his action and Christians to respond to that invitation by coming together to celebrate the eucharist.
II. Meeting with Christ in His Death and Resurrection
It is around Christ that we gather to meet him. He makes us live again his death and resurrection in the hope of his coming again, in joy and thankfulness to God. In this way the decisive events whereby we are reconciled with God and with one another are made present and real to us, although they are not repeated. Christ, who prays to his Father and offers himself up for all men, embraces us in his offering and commits us to the love and service of our brothers.
III. The Reality of Christ's Presence in the Sacrament
By sharing and consuming the bread and wine of the eucharist, we receive, according to the life-giving Word of the Lord, his body that is given, his blood that is shed, his whole person. This bread and this wine are thus the body and blood of Christ, given by him to his church.
Fed by Christ, who welcomes us to his table, we all share his life as the Son of God and the brother of all. This life that we received at our baptism, the eucharist feeds and tends in its growth and prepares for its fulfillment in our resurrection.
IV. Invocation and Action of the Spirit
We celebrate the eucharist in the Holy Spirit—the light, love, and strength of God in the hearts of men. By it we move forward, from the coming of Jesus Christ among us until his last coming, towards the freedom and glory to which God calls us. This movement is going on in the church today, thanks to the eucharist.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from FOR THE COMMUNION OF THE CHURCHES Copyright © 2010 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Excerpted by permission of William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Editor's Introduction 1
Towards a Common Eucharistic Faith (1971) 13
Towards a Reconciliation of Ministries (1972) 25
The Episcopal Ministry (1976) 37
The Holy Spirit, the Church, and the Sacraments (1979) 59
The Ministry of Communion in the Universal Church (1985) 95
For the Conversion of the Churches (1991) 149