Sacramental Theology in a Postmodern Reality

(the following is from a previous papaer)

The celebration of Holy Eucharist is old (slight understatement). For many, its origins and foundations are firmly rooted in Holy Scripture from even pre-Christian history. The connection between the traditional Jewish pass-over meal and the Eucharistic Feast is one that brings an ancient perspective to an often tired and misunderstood church tradition. Though they may seem tired to some, sacramental theology and liturgical practices have been a part of most formal Christian worship, catholic or protestant, down through the ages. The present reality of the church across our world is no exception. This is a truth that I hope is coming of age in an era that is playing host to my generation.

I have an honest sense that my generation is crying out for an authentic experience of the mystery of reality. I believe they want to know how they can tangibly relate their lives to this reality. Many who are a part of emerging generations have not made a connection between the mystery of reality that they seek and the mystery of the reality of the Son of God made flesh to dwell among us. They don’t understand the idea that Jesus has reconciled our humanity with His divinity through His death, resurrection, and ascension. It is precisely because these connections and understandings are missing that I believe emerging generations are primed to have a sacramental encounter with the reality of Christ.

Most people, especially those who identify with modernity, do not consider the post modern age very old at all. Certainly post modernity is seen by many as having sprung out of the last 40 years of history in an ever valiant attempt to redefine an age and give its participants a skeleton on which to build a world view. It does seem as though even the phrase post modern has come and gone like a fad. Despite its short lived, young persona, Perhaps post-modernity is older than it seems. I wonder if our increasingly post modern society isn’t just as primed for a sacramental encounter with Christ as the emerging society of the first century. The two ages, separated by thousands of years of societal evolution, seem to hang close together in their pre-Christian ideas about truth and reality. Both ages seem ready for a system of believing and living that had less to do with the trappings of religious tradition and more to do with experiencing a transcendental, yet eminent and personal truth-reality.

I believe Christ has been offering Himself in relevant ways to all generations that have come before us, and the truth of God in Christ has always been represented in so many wonderful practices of the Church. Emerging generations are desperate to encounter the reality of Christ. His reality is divinity and humanity, holiness and the ordinary, God in flesh. Contrary to the modern age, the post modern generation is not one that will first be taught or convinced or argued into faith in Christ and a relationship with Him. They will encounter the mystery of faith, the reality of Christ, through the sacramental relationship He has with His people. Part of the Eucharistic Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer says it best.

“We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer you these gifts. Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him. Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy Sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace; and at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom. All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ: By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. Amen.”

The reality of this prayer lived out in a community of faith is exciting in itself. What’s more exciting is the fact that this kind of reality seems to be what communicates best to post a post modern society. Sorry, t-shirts with Christian messages are okay, and Christian fish on our bumpers are fine, but our trappings, religious trimmings, and Christian lingo are nearly powerless to convey the truth of Christ when compared with what can be communicated when the reality of Christ is a reality in our midst... a sacramental reality. The experience and celebration of Holy Eucharist in particular has a vast communicative potential relating to post modern and emerging generations, even if we the faithful have long forgotten the significance of the mystery. How much more alive is the message of Christ in a family of faith that is awash in the mystery of the reality of Jesus, God with us, and in us. When post moderns experience all that the sacramental/liturgical church has to offer in a way that is not bound by lifeless religion and elevated tradition, I believe that they will fall in love with Jesus. I know I have.

I think that My focus in these ramblings is to perhaps allow the concepts and ideology of postmodern thought to dance a bit with an ancient-future, liturgical/sacramental, Christ-centered world view. Undoubtedly there will be beats missed and toes danced upon. I have a hunch that a rhythm is beginning to unite these two undercurrents in a dance that will become an unexpectedly beautiful paring.
I find myself laughing at the phrase "post modern". As I type it I wonder how a phrase like this has come into such fame and wide acceptance in popular culture. Post modern refers to the period of time that has come after the modern age which some say ended sometime around the beginning of the 1900s, give or take a 10 or 15 years. Where I live and minister, in the Bible belt south, most of us in the church and in the private sector are still participating in modernity (that is, the period of time extending to and a good distance before 1900).

Just a little while ago, I used another curious phrase, "Pre Christian". The post modern age has also been defined by some as the age when America became a Pre Christian society. My truly modern readers are probably the most confused at this statement. Pre Christian societies are groups of people who, for the most part, have no immediate connection to Christ or Christianity. Generations are funny institutions. They tend to turn social, political, and personal priorities into hand-me-downs. For that reason, up until a few generations ago, most people who lived in this country could connect themselves in some way with Christ or Christianity. Most of the time this connection, however impersonal and benign, came through parents or grand parents who had a personal faith structure in place. This generational connection framework unknowingly constituted the last few fibers holding the majority of us from admitting that ours was becoming a country as familiar with the teachings of the Buddha or Mohammad as we were with the teachings or the person of Jesus. I'm not suggesting that this is particularly bad or good, just true.
And so, as the years drag on and modern Christian tendons continue to snap all around us, the Church slowly begins to rub its eyes and yawn as if waking from a dream. Confused at what has startled us into this uncomfortable wakeful state, we look around like Dorothy waking up in Oz. "No Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. Theoretically Toto, Kansas doesn't even exist." What's worse, or better depending on your perspective, is that there are no good witches or ruby slippers to make use of. The only way for the church to avoid this dreadfully wonderful dream is to remain asleep… to continue in a rote and lifeless participation unaware of the mystery… to continue to spout out lifeless answers containing unlived truth about a God/man who we keep at arms length in an institution that has all but forgotten why it exists. This is no time for an identity crisis. It’s time to wake up!

Sacramental/Liturgical faith communities stand to gain much from waking up to their God given accessibility to postmodern generations. Contrary to popular belief, ancient practices of the church such as the Eucharist, baptism, anointing with oil, and use of holy water in my opinion can be wonderful avenues of encountering transcendental and eminent sacredness for postmoderns. Even the trappings of what some would call “high church” worship have proven very naturally attractive to the desire of emerging generations to “connect” with the mystery of the reality of Christ. Incense, icons, candles, vestments, and the “work of the people” or liturgy are careful and purposeful ambassadors of the otherness of the Christian faith. While the mind of the modern Church may assume that these heirlooms of ancient worship styles are deterrents to postmodern prospects, the deterrent may perhaps be more in the manner in which they are carried out.

When we respond to the priest’s call to “Lift up your hearts” with an ambiguous and monotone recitation devoid of any evidence that we believe we are joining our voices with angels and archangels in a participation in the liturgy of heaven going on always and forever around the throne of God, how do we expect anyone, much less those in postmodern generations to recognize what, in fact, is going on. To put it another way, at times we sell ourselves short in terms of the natural ability that our worship heritage possesses to dialogue with mystery. A dialogue with mystery is unbelievably attractive to postmoderns in search of an authentic spirituality that relates to their lives with practical immediacy and yet is all at once bigger than they know how to perceive.

When we become too sure that we’ve got God figured out and that we have all the answers, our ancient traditions cease to be windows between the soul and the reality of God and become ignorant punctuations to what we think we control or understand. I’m not saying that we can’t encounter the reality of the mystery of Christ with our minds. I’m simply saying that many times our minds are not fully equipped for this kind of encounter. When we begin to peer into the path of the ancient church we see men and women whose lives were forever changed by encounters with God that some minds might deem over embellished or even impossible. Some in the Church today are uncomfortable with the idea of the real presence of Christ in the Celebration of the Eucharist. Perhaps there is a connection here. The sacraments and sacramental theology allow us opportunities to encounter the truth of Christ in ways beyond our comprehension or control. Participating in the mystery of faith is something that is not wholly quantifiable or containable. Conservative liturgical/sacramental faith communities have, at times, seen this as a detriment to their possibilities for growth and expansion among the younger demographic. In contrast, I believe this is one of the main reasons why the liturgical/ sacramental arm of the Church has such great potential for connecting emerging generations with the healing power and life-giving grace of God. This is what many post moderns are crying out for. To be able to experience truth beyond their comprehension within a community that exists together as having been deeply affected by that truth. In my opinion, sacramental/liturgical worship traditions that embrace their ancient heritage while maintaining a future sensitive perspective and an openness to the power of the Holy Spirit have some of the most incredible potential to reach into the hearts of people in today’s postmodern society.

If we really believe that Jesus brings true life, we must trust Him when he chooses to manifest that life in ways we don’t understand or aren’t comfortable with. The content of the Gospel never changes, but Jesus continues to be real to each new generation. He continues to offer Himself in the midst of religious tradition and on the fringes of new frontiers where many of us in evangelical churches fear to tread.