I saw this meditation on Scot McKnight’s blog. See what you think.
The Eucharist, whether you celebrate and participate daily, weekly, monthly or otherwise, needs to be seen as a Table instead of an Altar. The apostle Paul calls it the “Lord’s Table” in 1 Cor 10:1 and on the table food was served.
At the altar, blood was spilled or poured out; what was sacrificed in the Temple was then eaten at the Table. The Altar for the Christian is the Cross; the Table is for the Lord’s Supper.
At the Altar, the sinner is forgiven; at the Table the forgiven sinner communes with God.
The cross is a place of sorrow; the Table a place for joy.
So, if you today are celebrating Eucharist, ponder the difference between Altar and Table, and imagine yourself at the Lord’s Table to give thanksgiving for the joy of communing with God in the forgiveness of sins.
Do you call the Eucharist a “table” or an “altar?” Do you think it matters?
I really like this. I think there is a difference, and it does matter. In the past, the Eucharist has me at the altar and I stay there… it's somber, it's humbling, it's a place of down-on-my-face before him. But then maybe I stay there in my relationship with him throughout my days, never moving on to joy, communion and intimacy. If meeting with him at Eucharist helps define how I meet with him otherwise, then communing at a table of joy makes a huge difference.
But then again, both the altar and the table are paramount — so if the Eucharist is the table, when do you reflect on the altar?
"so if the Eucharist is the table, when do you reflect on the altar?"
That's great, Kim. A discipline that I think could help us regularly reflect on the altar (cross) is confession of sin to one another. When we confess our sins, we are forced to that place of humility in realizing how needy we still are, how much we depend on the sacrifice of Jesus.
That also leaves more space for the Eucharist to be a table of joy. The word "Eucharist," after all, means "Thanksgiving."
It would be interesting to know whence the question arises. I suspect it is in reaction to the Roman Catholic idea of the Eucharist in the mass being a sacrifice.
Personally, I think that it is both. In the words of Jesus it is "body given" and "blood shed for the forgiveness of sins". In those words is the altar that has paid the price of sin. But it is also "to remember me". In those words is the table of fellowship that calls us to remember by sending us out to do the works that he did.
Interesting comment that may apply:http://www.liturgy.co.nz/blog/ballet-and-liturgy/…