This blog is for the use of the whole parish; please let me know if you'd like to contribute.
Chris (email link at the bottom of each page)
The Body and Blood of Christ
06-06-2021, 07:42atonement, blood, body, Eucharist, immortality, sacrificePermalinkMk 14:12-16, 22-26
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
What is the source and summit of the Christian life? Is it feeding the poor and alleviating world poverty? Is it a holy life or the witness of a saint? Is it a life dedicated to self-sacrifice and service of others? The Christian life is many things and it is certainly all of these. However, the source and summit of the Christian life is the gift of the Eucharist. It is this act of worship that reaches the very height, the very essence, the pinnacle of what the Christian life is. This is because the Christian life is Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist we receive Jesus and Jesus receives us. We consume him and he fills us. The Eucharist is food: food for this life and food for the next. We are a unity of body and soul. Just as food feeds our physical bodies, so the Eucharist feeds our souls.
As human beings we have profound needs: we need to know we are loved; we need to have meaning and purpose in our lives; we need to have hope in a destiny and future beyond the grave. The Eucharist answers these deep questions about human existence because the meaning of life is to know Jesus. In the Eucharist we meet him in the most real and authentic of ways. Unlike mountaineers who strive with every fibre of their being to reach the summit of towering peaks, we simply receive the Eucharist as a gift. We can't earn it, we don't deserve it: it is God's greatest gift to us.
Our faith demands that we approach the Eucharist fully aware that we are approaching Christ himself. It is precisely his presence which gives the other aspects of the Eucharist as meal, as memorial, as an anticipation of Christ's return – a significance which goes far beyond mere symbolism. The Eucharist is a mystery of presence. In the Eucharist supremely we meet Christ himself. We commune with him, we take him into ourselves in the deepest way possible, we pray to him and we lay our life before him.
Each one individually and all of you together are united in one and the same faith in Jesus Christ . . . breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death which gives eternal life in Jesus Christ.' (St Irenaeus of Lyons)
Chris
from Bible Alive
Exodus 24:3-8 • Psalm 115(116):12-18 • Hebrews 9:11-15 • Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
The meaning of Christ, by St Paul
03-11-2020, 07:18God-man, love, sacrifice, WitnessPermalinkPhilippians 2: 5-11
In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus: His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
A note from the Life Application Bible:
2:5-11 These verses are probably from a hymn sung by the early Christian church. The passage holds many parallels to the prophecy of the suffering servant in lsaiah 53. As a hymn, it was not meant to be a complete statement about the nature and work of Christ. Several key characteristics of Jesus Christ, however, are" praised in this passage: (1) Christ has always existed with God;
(2) Christ is equal to God because he is God (John 1:1ff; Colos- sians 1:15—19);
(3) though Christ is God, he became a man in order to fulfil God’s plan of salvation for all people;
(4) Christ did not just have the appearance of being a man — he actually became human to identify with our sins;
(5) Christ voluntarily laid aside his divine rights and privileges out of love for his Father;
(6) Christ died on the cross for our sins so we wouldn’t have to face eternal death;
(7) God glorified Christ because of his obedience;
(8) God raised Christ to his original position at the Father’s right hand, where he will reign for ever as our Lord and Judge.
How can we do anything less than praise Christ as our Lord and dedicate ourselves to his service!
Walk the extra mile – for Jesus
15-06-2020, 06:43forgive, love, sacrificePermalinkfrom Bible Alive
Good Friday – The Lord's Passion
10-04-2020, 11:21death, King, sacrificePermalinkPlotting against Jesus
13-04-2019, 06:55sacrifice, The Cross, WitnessPermalinkAs we stand on the eve of Holy Week, we are invited to enter into the mystery of the cross. It is not possible to escape the difficult reality that God's beloved Son was delivered up to the most brutal, cruel and torturous method of capital punishment known to mankind. The only way the human race could be saved was by Jesus embracing the cross. Flesh and blood alone cannot penetrate this mystery – we need a revelation of the Holy Spirit.
"The world is full of mysteries: heaven is all mystery to us earthly creatures. But whoever embraces the cross with open heart finds there the explanation of a thousand mysteries." (Archbishop William Ullathorne).
Chris
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