At Eric Michel Ministries International and the Ecumenical Association of Churches (IAoC), the Holy Eucharist is a central ritual in all our worship. You must be a baptized Christian to receive it. The ritual in use is the Anglican version; regardless of your denomination, if you celebrate with us, it is required in your local Church.
The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion, Blessed Sacrament and the Lord’s Supper, is a Christian rite considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others. Christians believe that the rite was instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion, when he gave his disciples bread and wine. Passages in the New Testament state that he commanded them to “do this in memory of me” while referring to the bread as “my body” and the cup of wine as “the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many.”According to the Synoptic Gospels, this was at a Passover meal.
The elements of the Eucharist, sacramental bread, either leavened or unleavened, and wine (non-alcoholic grape juice in some Protestant traditions), are consecrated on an altar or a communion table and consumed after that. The consecrated elements are the end product of the Eucharistic Prayer. Christians generally recognize Christ’s unique presence in this rite. However, they differ about how, where, and when Christ is present.
The Catholic Church states that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ under the species of bread and wine. It maintains that by the consecration, the substances of the bread and wine become the substances of the body and blood of Jesus Christ (transubstantiation). In contrast, the appearance of the bread and wine remains unaltered (e.g. colour, taste, feel, and smell). The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches agree that an objective change occurs in the bread and wine, transforming them into the body and blood of Christ. Lutherans believe Christ’s actual body and blood are really present “in, with, and under” the forms of the bread and wine, known as the sacramental union. Reformed Christians believe in the real spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Anglican eucharistic theologies universally affirm the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. However, Evangelical Anglicans believe that this is a spiritual presence, while Anglo-Catholics hold to a human presence. As a result of these different understandings, “the Eucharist has been a central issue in the discussions and deliberations of the ecumenical movement.”
In the Catholic Church, the Eucharist is considered a sacrament; according to the Church, the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.”
Anglican theology on the Eucharist is nuanced. The Eucharist is neither wholly a matter of transubstantiation nor simply devotional and memorialist in orientation. The Anglican churches do not adhere to the belief that the Lord’s Supper is merely a devotional reflection on Christ’s death. For some Anglicans, Christ is spiritually present in the fullness of his person in the Eucharist.
The Church of England has repeatedly refused to officially define “the presence of Christ.” Church authorities prefer to leave it a mystery while proclaiming the consecrated bread and wine to be “spiritual food” of “Christ’s Most Precious Body and Blood”; the bread and wine are an “outward sign of an inner grace.”: 859 The administration’s words at communion allow for genuine but spiritual presence (Calvinist receptionism and virtualism). This concept was friendly to most Anglicans well into the 19th century. From the 1840s, the Tractarians reintroduced the idea of “the real presence” to suggest a human presence, since the language of the BCP rite referred to the body and blood of Christ without detail, while also referring to them as spiritual food elsewhere in the text. Both are found in the Latin and other rites, but a definite corporeal interpretation is applied in the former.
Both receptionism and virtualism assert the real presence. The former emphasizes the recipient and states that “the presence” is connected by the power of the Holy Spirit but not in Christ’s natural body. His presence is objective and does not depend on the recipient’s faith. The liturgy petitions that the elements “be” rather than “become” the body and blood of Christ, leaving aside any theory of change in the natural elements: bread and wine are the outer reality, and “the presence” is the inner, invisible, except as perceived in faith: 314–324
In 1789, the Episcopal Church in the United States restored explicit language that the Eucharist is an oblation (sacrifice) to God. Subsequent revisions of the Book of Common Prayer by member churches of the Anglican Communion have done likewise (the Church of England did so in the proposed 1928 prayer book): 318–324
The “Black Rubric” in the 1552 prayer book, which allowed kneeling for communion but denied Christ’s fundamental and essential presence in the elements, was omitted in the 1559 edition at Queen Elizabeth I’s insistence. It was reinstated in the 1662 prayer book, modified to deny any human presence, suggesting that Christ was present in his natural body.
In most parishes of the Anglican Communion, the Eucharist is celebrated every Sunday, replacing Morning Prayer as the principal service. The rites for the Eucharist are found in the various prayer books of the Anglican churches. Wine and unleavened wafers or unleavened bread are used. Daily celebrations are the norm in many cathedrals, and parish churches sometimes offer one or more services of Holy Communion during the week. The nature of the liturgy varies according to the theological traditions of priests, parishes, dioceses, and regional churches. Leavened or unleavened bread may be used.
Reception of the Blessed Sacrament in the Anglican Communion and other Anglican jurisdictions varies by province. Formerly, Confirmation was generally required as a precondition to reception. Still, many provinces now allow all the baptized to partake, provided they are in good standing with the Church and have previously received First Communion.
Individuals will genuflect or bow in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, which may be reserved in a tabernacle or aumbry on, behind, or near the altar. Its presence is usually indicated by a lamp suspended over or placed near the tabernacle or aumbry. Except among Anglo-Catholics, the use of a monstrance is rare. This is in keeping with Article XXV of the Thirty-Nine Articles, which states that “the Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use Them.” Nonetheless, many parishes do have services in which a ciborium is removed from the tabernacle or aumbry and hymns, prayers, psalms, and sentences of devotion are sung or read. In some parishes, when the Blessed Sacrament is moved from the tabernacle (from a high altar to a chapel altar, for instance), sanctus bells are rung and all present kneel.
EMMI interdenominational differ in our understanding and celebrate the Eucharist with those with whom they are not in full communion. The apologist Justin Martyr (c. 150) wrote of the Eucharist, “of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.” This was continued in practice without dismissing the catechumens before the sacramental part of the liturgy.
Like most Protestant communities, including Congregational churches, the Church of the Nazarene, the Assemblies of God, Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists, Anglicans, Churches of Christ, and other non-denominational churches, we practice open communion. We at EMMI do not limit it to only congregation members but to any people in attendance who consider themselves Christian, regardless of Christian affiliation. However, we require that the communicant be a baptized person who wishes to commemorate Christ’s life and teachings.
Modified text from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharist
