14 July 2024

Jesus not only commands us to break bread and share wine, he says, ‘This do in remembrance of me.’ It is all prefaced by what we call in the Kirk, ‘The Great Prayer’ and what the Anglicans call ‘The Eucharistic Prayer’. It has two important parts.

The first is the remembering bit when we give thanks to God for all  that he has done for us in the Creation of the world, the incarnation of Christ and the establishment of the Church. The second is the invocation of the Spirit that the bread and the wine may become for us  the body and blood of Christ.

The most distinctive part of our Scottish celebration and, indeed, the most beautiful part constitutes our understanding of what St. Paul describes as the shewing forth of the Lord’s death. This is done at the end of the Great Prayer through very simple but intentional actions.

It is written out in our ‘Book of Common Order’ as a drama with specific rubrics such as ‘The minister breaks the bread.’ and ‘The minister raises the cup.’ and ‘The minister partakes of the bread and the wine.’ Traditionally, he is first to do this for we are gathered around the Table in an open circle for Christ is our host!

Through our engrafting into Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism, we are united with every Christian throughout the world and by his resurrection, the Sacrament of Holy Communion unites us also with those who have gone before us in the faith.

At this point, heaven and earth are united through the actions of Christ on the cross. Here we remember with thanksgiving all those who continue to live in Christ and it’s here that  we find consolation for our grieving souls in the realization that we are all united  in Christ – the living and the dead!

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