Words for Eucharist
Luke 22: 14–20; 49–51
Suggestions for communal celebration.
The ritual can be practiced with bread and wine
or symbolic representation.
Because we understand…
the story of Jesus to be revealing who God is, we practice the ritual of Eucharist.
We can think of Eucharist—the Lord’s Supper—as a fractal version of the story of everything. By giving breaking bread and pouring wine and sharing it with his friends, Jesus is communicating his consent—saying “yes”—to having his body broken and blood spilled. He is communicating his trust in God to keep him safe enough, even while he consents to become the scapegoat.
Words for Eucharist
— suggested sensory objects: bread and cup —
Celebrant:
When Jesus breaks the bread and pours the wine, we are invited to remember the fragility of the human body. In the book of Luke, chapter 22 we read:
“He said to them ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…
Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said,
‘Take this and divide it among yourselves…’
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks
he broke it and gave it to them, saying,
‘This is my body, which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.’” (Luke 22)
A few scenes later in Luke, Jesus will be arrested. And his friend Peter will attempt to defend Jesus violently, and yet Jesus will stop him. Jesus will heal his enemy’s ear. Jesus will forgive those who are making of him a scapegoat. Jesus will consent to a nonviolent death.
From that night on, whenever Jesus’s friends gathered to celebrate the Eucharist—taking the bread, drinking the wine—they would have remembered this story, Jesus’s words at supper, and what then nonviolence they observed in him immediately after.
And in this, we too are reminded of God’s nonviolence, nonpunishment, and unconditional forgiveness toward us.
So as we take the bread,
We may remember Jesus’s consent to become the scapegoat to end all scapegoating.
When stress is high, in God’s presence, Jesus finds it safe enough to trust and forgive.
And as we drink from the cup,
May we remember Jesus’s consent to become the sacrifice to end all sacrificing.
It turns out that violence is not necessary; in God’s presence we are safe enough to trust and forgive.
Take the bread, drink from the cup, breathe and receive the Holy Spirit. And may God’s
nonviolent, nonpunishing, unconditional forgiveness help you to forgive others and restore you to trust, in this life now, and in the life to come.
Amen
(while serving the bread)
The body of Christ, broken for you
(while serving the cup)
The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation
∞
Liturgical practices which nourish the brain and the spirit share these factors in commong:
they are rooted in scripture and tradition, imitative of Jesus, and help us to remember and tell the story of the nonviolent, nonpunishing, unconditionally forgiving image of God reflected in Jesus.
Please reach out to share what you’re finding helpful for you and your community.
Connect with friends who are also interested in the relationship between scripture, theology, and neuroscience by following us @thebrainandthespirit.
Listening with you,
Questions for reflection:
If you have taken Eucharist previously, how have you been perceiving God?
How does the ritual of Eucharist help you tell the story of how your trust in God has been restored?
What impact does observing the ritual of Eucharist have on your nervous system?
Further reading:
Luke 22: 14–20; 49–51
Systematic theology: Ecclesiology
The Brain & the Spirit, Chapter 7, Reconnection, “Eucharist,” pp. 158–160
