Mystical Supper
Although I thought I had shared all I wanted to share about Anamneis, it seems that I was fooling myself, I came across a very good article, author unknown, about the subject. There are parts of it that I would like to share.
In a fundamental sense worship is a corporate activity; it is social in structure within which people are embedded into a particular kind of society. The opening words of the liturgy gather those present in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit and bring us into His Kingdom – a Kingdom that we believe actually exists right now when we live in peace and love with our brothers and sisters. The congregation is led in an act of incorporating intercessions since we communally pray for peace and for one another’s intentions. The Gospel is proclaimed and the creed is recited, after we acknowledge that we cannot profess belief in our Triune God if we do not love one another. The gathered community then shares in the gifts that have been transformed into the very Body and Blood of Jesus and then, after giving thanks, goes forth to make additional attempts to make God’s Kingdom real in the world in which we live.
Participation forms a corporate identity grounded in the remembrance of a particular story. To engage with the concept of anamnesis is to more fully understand the nature of the relationship between the Church’s worship and its life and witness as the body of Christ in and for the world. It is the Eucharist that lies at the heart of the Church’s mission.
The Church’s mission is to witness to the realness of God and the very existence of His Kingdom right now which can only be achieved with people unconditionally love one another.
The Church is a community that gathers for anamnesis, and is in a profound sense formed and shaped by it. The sacraments form a focal point for this ongoing process: initiating new members into the Church and then sustaining, challenging and nourishing them within it. This is perhaps most evident in the Eucharist, and most fully developed in the sense of remembrance and anticipation at its heart. As we worship, we need to be cognizant of this fact and then to fully embrace it.