Communion Part 2 - What the priest does & what happens to the elements

[joseph]

Communion Part 2 – What the Priest does and what happens to the
elements

The best way to understand what the priest does during communion and
what happens to the elements is to first know what the priest is NOT
doing is what is NOT happening to the elements. Next, the answers
become even clearer when we change the question from “what” is going
on to “WHY” something has or does not have to happen.

As for what the priest is NOT doing we need only to look at the bible,
Hebrews 10:8-14. “First he (Christ) said, "Sacrifices and offerings,
burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you
pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9 Then
he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the
first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made
holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious
duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins. 12 But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all
time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13
Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14
because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are
being made holy.”

The priests of the old covenant of the law offered sacrifices
repeatedly but Jesus has established the New Covenant by offering
Himself as the perfect and final sacrifice for the sin of the world
thus ending the need for repeated sacrifices. Therefore, the priest is
not sacrificing Christ during communion in any form or fashion.

What the priest is doing is “presiding” over the communion service to
make sure the understanding of communion is communicated properly to
the people and that the people are led in a “sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving” for the sacrifice of Christ that was made once on the
cross for the forgiveness of their sins. By recalling that one time
sacrifice and believing it again in our hearts, the people are renewed
and refreshed in the forgiveness of their sins. The Anglican minister
or priest is called the “celebrant” because he leads the people in
this celebration of praise and thanksgiving.

So what happens to the elements during communion? When the celebrant
prays over the bread and wine he asks God to set them apart to become
for the people the body and blood of Jesus. This does not mean that
they change substance in any way. Just as when Jesus said He was the
door (Jn 10) and the vine (Jn 15), meaning he was the way to salvation
and the source of life without being a physical object, so he said
while holding a piece of bread in his hand, “this is my body,” meaning
that his real body was going to be crucified on the cross and we were
to remember that event every time we partook of the bread and wine at
communion “in remembrance of me” (see first teaching).

This is further clarified by asking “why” something has or does not
have to happen by the priest or to the elements during communion. If
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, one time, for the sin of
the world was complete and sufficient, and all those who believed in
Him were indeed forgiven of their sin, then nothing more is needed, no
more sacrifices and no changed substances, only faith in the One who
died for us and rose again and is present with His people through the
Holy Spirit when they gather around His table. It’s a marvelous
mystery how all this takes place but it’s not rocket science. The
priest is not performing a sacrifice because the sacrifice has already
been made, and the elements are not changing substance because the
sacrifice was complete and sufficient to forgive sins through
believing in Him. The priest leads the celebration of thanksgiving and
praise and the elements remain “visible words” that remind the
believers of the body that was broken and the blood that was shed
“once and for all.”