Religious Reality: A Book for MenRawlinson, A. E. J. (Alfred Edward John)
Religion
Religious Reality: A Book for Men
Rawlinson, A. E. J. (Alfred Edward John)
Theology, Doctrinal -- Popular works
And lastly there is a further point. The Body of Christ is a broken
Body and the Blood is Blood that is shed. "This is My Body which is
for you"--for you, and never for Myself. The Bread is the Bread of
Sacrifice and the Cup is the Stirrup-cup of Service: and part, surely,
and a great part, of the meaning of the words, "Do this in remembrance
of Me," is "Break your bodies in union with My Body broken: give your
lives in sacrifice for others, as I have given Mine." The Eucharist,
rightly regarded, is the mainspring and motive-power of service, the
principle of a life that is crucified. And all those who in their day
and generation have spent their lives unselfishly and used themselves
up in promoting causes not their own are partakers in that Holy
Fellowship.
At this present time of war and tumult, when all the powers of Hell
are abroad and leagued together for the onset, we think of that which
alone can be the redemption of war, even the self-devotion of those
who, hating the whole devilish business and going into it only because
they saw no alternative to Duty's clear and imperative call, have been
counted worthy to show forth the love than which no man hath greater,
even to lay down their lives for their friends. There is no one so
unfortunate as not to have known some such men. And at the Communion
Service "in the act of conscious incorporation into the fellowship of
the love of Jesus," it may be given to us in some measure to
understand these things, and to know that we are become partakers in
the power of a world-wide crucifixion, a fellowship of broken bodies
and lives poured out in Christ: and to know also--with a knowledge
that is not of this world--that somehow, in it and through it, the
Spirit of GOD in Christ will bring redemption.
So wonderful, so many-sided, and so full of meaning is this Sacrament:
so great is the measure of their loss who, professing and calling
themselves Christians, are content to ignore the last injunction of
the Christ to His disciples on the night before He died that we might
live.
CHAPTER X
THE LAST THINGS
"It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment."
"He shall come again in glory to judge both the quick and the dead,
whose Kingdom shall have no end."
"I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account