POWER IN BREAD AND WINE
On the second Thursday after Whitsun Catholic Christians celebrate the Festival of Corpus Christi ; this year it was June 4th . It is a festival of joy , not of mourning , because Christ is alive in bread and wine . Jesus created the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday , but because that was in Holy Week , since the 13 th century a special feast day was fixed which was outside Lent . Catholic regions of Europe developed festive processions , during which the Host is carried through the streets under a canopy . The streets are being decorated with flowers and branches , services are held at altars at squares and corners of the town . I remember from my youth that at these places beautiful carpets of flowers were laid out . This custom wants to celebrate faith lived in public and in the community . For centuries this festival was a reason for contention between Catholics and Protestants who didn ’ t recognise it because it was not biblical . In some rural areas it was said that on that day protestant farmers deliberately ferried their dung to the fields , where upon catholic ones did the same on Good Friday , which was seen as the most important date in the protestant calendar . Thankfully these quarrels now belong to the past , and in many places the festival is an ecumenical one .
The festival concerns the very basic believes of Christianity , the presence of Jesus in our lives , the Christ who was dead and rose again to tell us : “ I am with you all the days until the end of the world ”. These were the last words of the risen Christ to his disciples and also an orientation for us . We do not live in a ‘ godforsaken world ’. These days many doubt that God is there , they do not feel His presence in their lives . There is a need for witnesses , experienced ones who can lead others into the experience of God ’ s presence . And there is a need for some rites , some forms of service at which people can find that they live in God ’ s presence .
God ’ s word isn ’ t only a text which can be interpreted and discussed . The spirit of God can be experienced and heard , God is speaking to us . God ’ s word is also a space in which the presence of Him that speaks can be felt , and it is of consequence : because a community is growing from it . Protestant theologians think of the church as the ‘ creatura verbi ’, the creature of the word . The beginning of John ’ s Gospel speaks of the word ‘ living among us ’, and this can be in the shape of men and women who share the love of Jesus . In this love the unseen presence of Jesus can be felt and experienced .
Part of the processions is the celebration of the Eucharist . The word Eucharist means thanksgiving , it is the great thanksgiving for the experience of God ’ presence . In His word and in the community His Spirit becomes close and in the celebration of Bread and Wine a great power can be felt .
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