Monday, February 21, 2011

The Chalcedonian Nature of Common Prayer

When believers gather together under the one Head, Jesus the Messiah, especially when they celebrate Eucharist (or communion) with him, they act as the one Body of Christ. Our human natures are joined to, and changed by, his human nature. At the same time, through the Spirit, God joins Himself to the community that is praying. This is especially true when the Psalms are being recited/chanted/sung, for they are the prayers of Christ to the Father. This joins the divine (God in the Spirit) to the human (God in Christ), creating a moment of theosis in the daily life of the Christian community. This theotic moment, especially when pursued in the morning-evening pattern, gives a redemptive framework to the day: all that occurs between the moments of special union with God is offered up to God. The creation, instead of being negated, is rightly ordered and given its full meaning in the economy of worship found in the Trinitarian structure of God's work in the world.