Edible Words

Welcome to the Articles section of Edible Words.

It is probable that this site does not make much theological or practical sense, after all, the sort of meditations being developed here will be unfamiliar to many visitors. Preachers will already be in the habit of referring to Communion during a sermon, so why then Edible Words?

This page contains a number of articles which together form the theological basis for the practice of using biblical expositions or covenantal meditations in a church service as a preface to the Lord's Supper or baptism.

The articles are listed in the order in which they build the case.

Trueman, C, "The Incarnation and the Lord's Supper"
In his introduction, Trueman states "There would seem to be little doubt that neglect of the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist is one of the hallmarks of contemporary evangelicalism...Many attend churches where the sacrament is little more than an addendum attached to the end of the main Sunday Service."

This paper was delivered to the Oak Hill School of theology 2002 and is published in The Word Became Flesh: Evangelicals and the Incarnation, David Peterson (ed), (Carlisle, Paternoster Press, 2003) and asks "Why is the Lord's Supper necessary?"

Mason, M W, "A Spiritual Banquet: John Calvin on the Lord's Supper"
Like Trueman, Mason suggests that a "major reason for their neglect is a lack of understanding of the nature and role of the sacraments in the life of the church: it is doubtful that we will value the means of grace if we do not understand them." The lack of understanding amoungst contemporary evangelicals, the founders of this website included, leads to sacramental chaos in our congregations.

Both Trueman and Mason suggest that many British evangelicals have a mere memorialist view of the Supper. Such a view leads to its downplaying; they seek to follow a biblical view of the incarnation and the sacramental theology of Calvin to build a more biblical understanding of the Supper.

Lloyd, M, "The theology of The Lord's Supper expressed in The Book of Common Prayer & The 39 Articles of Religion"
Marc Lloyd looks at the 39 Articles of Religion in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. These articles, along with the Prayer Book itself and the Ordinal lay out the theology of the Church of England. By showing that the Articles presume a Calvinist theology of the Lord's Supper, Lloyd demonstrates that such an understanding is also that of the Church of England.

Horton, Michael "The Signs and Seals of the Covenant"
In this, the eighth chapter of nine, in his excellent God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology, (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2006) Michael Horton explains the place of baptism and the Lord's Supper in covenantal terms as signs and seals. It is the ratification meal in which the conditional and unconditional promises of God are stipulated and our acceptance of which is "our pledge to God and each other" in covenantal solidarity.

Calvin, Chapter XIV of Book 4 of "The Institutes of the Christian Religion" argues that word and sign are inseparable. The word of promise must precede the sacrament so that one never has "a sacrament without an antecedent promise, the sacrament being added as a kind of appendix, with the view of confirming and sealing the promise, and giving a better attestation, or rather, in a manner, confirming it."

Clarke, R S, "The Function of the Words of Institution in the Celebration of the Lord's Supper"
Ros Clarke applies speech-act theory to the sacraments. Do the words of institution fit (a) as word to world - describing what goes on, or (b) as world to word - making things the way they are? It does no justice to the care of Ros's argument to summarise, but (i) Jesus' instituted the Supper, and his words make the meal we share what it is - the Lord's supper. (ii) Therefore, when we share the Supper, our words describe an event that he institued. (iii) But, those words have an effect on the congregation's relationships. So the words of institution do change the world - the relational world of the congregation. So the words used matter.

Leithart, P J, "Blessed Are The Hungry"
If the words of institution matter, which ones should we use? Widely used liturgies tend to reflect on the Gospel narrative accounts of the last supper, and on 1 Corinthians 11. But because "The Lord's Supper is the world in miniature[,] it has cosmic significance," which means that any passage of Scripture will inform and shape the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

Introducing a book of scriptural meditations on the Supper, Leithart asks what happens at the Supper. "We, as children of Adam, are offered the trees of the garden; as sons of Abraham, we celebrate a victory feast in the King's Valley; as holy ones, we receive holy food; as the true Israel, we feed on the land of milk and honey; as exiles returned to Zion, we eat marrow and fat, and drink wine on the lees; we who are many are made one loaf, and commune with the body and blood of Christ; we are the bride celebrating the marriage supper of the lamb, and we are also the bride undergoing the test of jealousy; at the Lord's table we commit ourselves to shun the table of demons."