I Hear the Christmas Story and I Think of the
Eucharist!
The more I hear the
Christmas story, the more I’m convinced that it’s a theological argument for
the Eucharist.
The Christmas story
is about how the eternal Logos (Word of God) enters into creation, by means of the
Holy Spirit, and takes on flesh (this action is called the Incarnation).
Through the
Incarnation of Christ, humanity is transformed.
We are recreated!
We are deified.
We are saved!
The Eucharistic
“story” is the same. It’s about how the Holy Spirit again enters into creation
and transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
God came into our
world through Christ, just as he now comes into our world through the
Eucharist.
Keys Words in the Christmas Story Connect It to the
Eucharist
So, you’re saying
the Christmas story is also about how bread and wine become the Body and Blood
of Christ?
Yes!
There are a few
keywords in the Christmas story that point to the Eucharist.
For example, the
Savior is born in Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread.” Interesting…
After He is born,
Christ is laid in a manger, which is a feeding trough, which is to say that the
One born was born to have His flesh eaten and His blood drank.
The Services of the Church Also Make a Connection
The Orthodox
Church’s services for Christmas are also interesting.
For example, the
rule, which says that priests can only serve one Divine Liturgy in a day, is
broken.
At vespers (the
evening service, which marks the new day in the Orthodox calendar), we hear the
birth story from St. Luke and then immediately the Eucharist is celebrated.
This is unique
because the Eucharist is not typically celebrated at vespers.
Then again, the
next morning the Eucharist is again celebrated immediately after the reading of
the Nativity story from St. Matthew.
The Response to the Christmas Story Is a Eucharistic
Celebration!
It seems as if the
liturgical cycle of the Orthodox Church tells us that the appropriate response to
hearing the Christmas story is to make Christ present among us (the meaning of
Immanuel) by celebrating the Eucharist.
One can say that
the Church is so liturgical (which is to say, “play-like”) that every Sunday
becomes a Christmas play where Christ becomes Incarnate before our eyes.
When viewed in this
way, the Nativity story complimented by the Eucharist is saying:
Yes, God really became man and is present among and,
yes, he’s really present now in this bread and wine, and, yes, when you partake
if it, you are united to divinity as Christ was united to humanity.
P.S. Christmas and Eucharist Are United and They Tell
the Gospel Message
The Christmas story
is the story of how the uncreated God comes into creation, and it’s through
this action that our fallen human nature is recreated, transformed, and saved.
The celebration of
the Eucharist is the same proclamation – that God became man.
When God became
man, in Jesus Christ, divinity was united to humanity. When we partake of the
Eucharist, our humanity is united to divinity.
Here’s what Christ
said,
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no
life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in
him.” (John 6:53-56 RSV)
This is the
Christmas story; this is the gospel proclamation. This is what the Orthodox
Church has faithfully proclaimed since it was founded on the day of Pentecost
almost 2,000 years ago.
Come this Christmas
season and celebrate with the Orthodox!
By Fr. Dustin Lyon
Source: http://www.dustinlyon.org/?p=367
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