Dr. Platypus

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? (1 Cor 10:16)
It was a shock to me when I learned that first-century Christians held their weekly worship services around the dinner table [...]

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial. (Lk 11:2-4)
Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “Give us each day our daily bread.” Bread is such a powerful symbol of God’s [...]

Do check out this article by Mark Galli at Christianity Today. Galli has recently written a book about the growing attraction some evangelicals feel for traditional Christian liturgy. Here, he summarizes some of why that attraction exists. Some of my favorite bits include:

The worship leaders wear medieval robes and guide the congregation through a ritual [...]

So far we have seen that the earliest forms of distinctively Christian worship have their origins at the dinner table where a few baptized and committed believers gathered to share a common meal. Furthermore, the evidence strongly suggests this form of worship was a private affair at which non-believers were forbidden. Wayne Meeks, for example, [...]

As yet we have not addressed the most vexing question of all: why did Christians see fit to separate the Eucharist from the agape?
Abuses
As early as the New Testament itself evidence surfaces that there were abuses connected with the agape. These abuses apparently arose from failure to grasp the spiritual nature of the meal.
Paul described [...]

Patterns of Christian Meals
In my previous post, I only discussed Christian meals that have an explicit Eucharistic element. Other sources are ambiguous, and scholars have debated for some time whether certain texts (e.g., the Didache) are describing the Eucharist or some other form of Christian banquet. Finally, some documents take pains to insist that the [...]

It is universally agreed that the earliest forms of Christian worship were integrally related to the congregation’s communal meal or agape. This is certainly the case with the fullest description of worship from the New Testament (1 Cor 11-14), from the Didache (ca. 100), and from Pliny’s Letter to Trajan (ca. 111). Pliny, the governor [...]

Mike Aquilina links to Catholic News Service article that makes mention of breastfeeding imagery associated with Holy Communion. (The article has apparently since been revised; I can’t find the specific wording immediately below in the article Mike links.) With respect to the custom of receiving the host on the tongue—as opposed to in the hand [...]

Let me state at the outset that I am jealous of Mike Aquilina for having produced The Mass of the Early Christians. It is the sort of book I wish I had written. (Actually, I pitched a similar idea to some publishers a few years back, albeit unsuccessfully.) It is an accessible summary of what [...]

Weekend Fisher summarizes Luther’s “odd argument for real presence” in the Eucharist, which builds on the idea of divine omnipresence. She writes,
There is no such thing as “making God present.” There is welcoming God’s presence or not welcoming God’s presence, but there is no changing the fact of God’s presence. There is no “practicing the [...]