The Cult of Forgetfulness
Robert Jenson, Ezekiel, and The Lord's Supper
My faith has become increasingly eucharistic since my time at Central Bible College (now consolidated into Evangel University). But even there I remember feeling hungry for the body and the blood of my Lord. Once we organized a group to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in the basement of the school’s library because we weren’t being fed elsewhere. My theological and—specifically—ecclesiological commitments would now prevent me from enjoying the Lord’s Supper in such an off-the-grid manner, but I mention that we did this to draw attention to my felt need. Experience matters to Pentecostals.
When I was appointed to lead a church revitalization in Iowa City, celebrating the Lord’s Supper weekly became the first major liturgical reform of my tenure.
The reasons I wanted to celebrate the Supper every week were first and foremost theological, not experiential, and I have made those reasons public in my preaching. This morning I was reading Robert Jenson’s commentary on Ezekiel devotionally, and I came across a paragraph that summarizes so much of what I have said from the pulpit over the last six years about the Lord’s Supper.
In Ezekiel 23:35, the prophet accuses Israel of forgetting God. Remembrance in the Old Testament was fundamental to Israel’s life and existence. As Jenson puts it,
that past events are remembered means that they are cultically or morally reenacted and that when this is done they are effectively present—as at every Passover the participants pass over from Egyptian bondage into life.
He continues,
to forget something is to sever the living relation to it; thus if Israel has forgotten the Lord, this means that they have cut themselves off from his saving acts…so that Israel is now a crowd of individuals with no sacramentally bonding history.1
Jenson goes on to make the eucharistic connection explicit, and it should be obvious to us: if we aren’t celebrating the Lord’s Supper, the prophet’s allegation would be that we have forgotten the Lord. Remembrance must always be cultic.
This allegation holds against my fellow Assemblies of God (and more broadly Pentecostal and Evangelical) sisters and brothers who have made a habit of not regularly celebrating the Lord’s Supper. Have we forgotten the Lord by not remembering his body and blood?
But this allegation is intrinsically redemptive (as is everything the Lord commands us to do). No Pentecostal I have met truly wants to be an isolated monad in a “crowd of individuals with no sacramentally bonding history.” We feel the need for the Supper.
Finally, the allegation also cuts in the opposite ecclesiological direction. As Jenson says, remembering isn’t just cultic, it’s also moral. Liberal Protestantism’s nosedive into nihilism (seen e.g. in its sexual libertarianism) betrays a damning amnesia of the Lord of the exodus.
Robert Jenson, Ezekiel (Brazos, 2009), 195.
Joseph, thanks for this excellent post. I really enjoyed it, and I needed it.
Interesting to me that this morning I was in 1 Corinthians 11. And I have been considering at what age to start "doing communion" with my kids at the children's home. I have a handful 10 and up who are grasping the need for salvation and making declarations of faith. I'll soon baptize them. I think they can grasp the significance of and need for celebrating the Lord's Supper.
Thoughts?
Also, since I spend most Sundays leading this young little flock here in Kenya, I can't tell you the last time I participated in a communion service. Which has begun to bother me as well.
This post has given me serious food for thought. I must not ever forget or become detached from the significance of what has been done for me, for us. And if that could lead to liberal thinking and worse liberal belief and behavior, well.....that would be terrible.
Although I agree, I think we need to be very careful here. Yes, remembering is vital, and we need to do what we can and need to. BUT. And it’s a big but. So many damaged Christians have come out of church and no longer attend. Does this mean they have to go back into abusive situations to get Eurachrist? Heaven forbid! I have done communion by myself when I felt the need. I think we need to be very careful how we say to people they ‘must’ do something! For if a person does not have access to a body, are we suggesting they go into any place? Rather than trust the relationship they have with God that He is absolutely Fine with them doing it by themselves, whilst they look around for a place of Life, without any pressure of how quickly to do it? For we have free will for a reason. And crushed and forced free will, most especially coming from religion needs slow and gentle healing! If we are to remember Christ, it is through His love and faithfulness leading us into green pastures and by still waters. Not by feeling guilty at not doing communion,