The recent Faith Facts have centered around Worship, in the hope that knowing more will help you take more joy in it. Last time, we went back over some older Faith Facts that covered various elements of our worship service.
This Faith Fact marks the end of the Worship series with the main element of our worship: Holy Eucharist. The Book of Common Prayer states that Holy Eucharist is "the principle act of Christian worship on the Lord's Day and other major Feasts", and rightly so. Eucharist is when we most clearly remember Jesus' death and resurrection in our worship as followers of Christ (see BCP 859).
Eucharist also brings us closer to Christ Jesus. As the prayer book states, we receive the benefit of "the strengthening of our union with Christ and one another" (BCP 860). The whole point of Jesus' death is to bring us back in relationship with Him, as well as with each other, and the Eucharist reminds us of that. The Eucharist reminds us that we make up the Body of Christ.
Both remembering the resurrection and coming closer to Jesus are very much reasons for joy. We have joy that we too will take part in the Resurrected Life and that we are once again in relationship with God thanks to Jesus. This is the joy of a Christian, and we celebrate the essence of the joy most fully through the Eucharist.
Take the time to listen to the words of the Eucharistic Prayer. Let those words give more meaning to the love that Jesus showed you through His death and resurrection. Stop and reflect on the act of taking in the bread and the wine at Communion. My hope is that in doing so, you will experience more fully the joy we have as Christians in Jesus Christ through the principle act of our worship: the Eucharist.