Unity in Christ

I am currently reading “Let Us Attend – A Journey through the Orthodox Divine Liturgy” by Father Lawrence Farley.  It’s a step-by-step description and explanation of the Divine Liturgy, that is, the Orthodox worship service.  It is proving to be very interesting and informative.  The Divine Liturgy is quite complex and literally packed with symbolic meaning.  I came across this really great paragraph in the book:

“The priest does not offer Eucharist for the private and personal edification of so many individuals. Rather, through the Eucharist the Church renews her fullness and continually reestablishes local Christians as the united body of Christ. Obviously, when each Christian receives Holy Communion, he or she is edified, forgiven, transformed, and saved. But this transformation occurs within the body of the Church as a whole, and for service in the body. All the people, led by clergy, offer the Eucharist together.”

This paragraph explains really well the corporate nature of worship and Christian life.  Our life in the body of Christ is not about “me and Jesus”, but we, as the body of Christ, are part of the union of so many believers, both living and post-living.  I hate to use the term “dead” because those in Christ who are no longer among us are standing, more alive than ever, in the immediate presence of Christ.  When we worship God, we are worshipping with the departed saints as well as with the millions of angels.  That is one purpose of icons.  But more on that another time.

We live and move and have our being in Christ.  And that means that we are part of a massive body of believers.  We need to continually work on and move towards unity in Christ.