By virtue of the church’s inclusion in the totus Christus, the base-practices of the church (Baptism, Eucharist, the preached Word) which were instituted by Christ in his incarnation reveal and embody the apocalyptic promise of the final communio. The sacramental practices of the church participate in the christic and pneumatic dynamism of the immanent triune life which is the promised transfiguration of the world in Christ. The sacramental base-practices of the church, rightly understood, are the form and splendor of the inter-trinitarian love translated into the life of humanity through the Son. In baptism a person is drawn into the circle of triune love, which embraces, heals, and captivates the brokenness of sinful humanity. Through baptism the Spirit unites the believer with Christ, drawing her into the communion of the Trinity which exists on earth as the church. Likewise, through the Eucharist, the members of the body of Christ gather together by the Spirit in the peace that has been wrought by word of the cross which makes all things one. In the Eucharist the one loaf is consumed by the one body thereby assuming the members together into a truly united, truly catholic ekklesia.
The Word and sacraments are at once the divine verbum externum (vera visibli) and the gratuitous unio mystica. They are the sovereign work of God extra nos and simultaneously the divine condescension en nobis. Thus, the church bears witness to and corresponds to Christ because as his body she stands in contiguous relation to the head, thus participating in the reality of his hypostatic person and thus in the triune life of God. The church and Christ exist as one body in contiguous relation, intimately connected, yet distinct. Therefore, through the sacramental base-practices of the church the Spirit continually actualizes the reality of divine-human communion in the church which is constantly being transfigured–indeed revolutionized–through the depths of the triune love mediated therein. The sacramental mediation of the church is in a sense an extension of the soteriological mediation of the Son, but the church is only that extension in the mode of pathos, of receptivity, humility, and poverty before the sheer gratuity of God’s action pro nobis in the cross and resurrection of Chist. Thus, the expansive and ubiquitous outpouring of the pneumatic love of God in and as the totus Christus draws the entire creation into the ecclesial communio such that in the eschaton all things are found within the infinite communio that is the Trinity.
The church then, in its practice of the Word and sacraments, participates in and recieves the movement of the Trinity into the world. Not in any way because of what she is in herself, for in herself she is nothing. But rather because of the gracious outpouring of the love of God by the Holy Spirit which enflames and enlivens, drawing the church into the apocalyptic movement of God into the world. God’s saving action in the world is not static, but gratuitous and infinitely expansive, intruding and interrupting the world of sin and alienation. Thus, through Christ and the Spirit the triune Lord “makes room” for the church within God ‘saction for the salvation of the world, allows us at once participation in God’s eternal communion and participation in his trinitarian mission to drawn all persons into sacramental, spousal communion with God in the ecclesial communion.
“Likewise, through the Eucharist, the members of the body of Christ gather together by the Spirit in the peace that has been wrought by word of the cross which makes all things one.” etc
Do you think this and other good stuff you mention in your text is something that actually happens, and if yes, then where? (I´d probably like to come and taste it.) Or is it somehow happening “spiritually”, in a way that cannot be seen except for those well-trained in seeing it. Or is it an ideal, something that we should strive towards?
In short, these are all good words, but are they really a true description of the church we see today? This is a very honest question of mine.
Yes, I certainly believe this sort of thing happens, often unnoticed in churches all over the world. I’ve tasted it and see it all the time. Does this mean that the church is not troubled in great unfaithfulness and failure? Of course not. The mention of “apocalypse” is important in this post. These ecclesial realities are not something the church “posseses.” Rather they are something that happen in the life of the Church by the Spirit’s work. They are not something we can control or assume guardianship over. But they are something we can depend on because of God’s promise.
Halden,
I should send you my master’s thesis…that was a brilliant summary of it! Especially in response to thatquestion! Really great.
In my thesis I make a distinction between two understandings of what I call “the disappearance of the church” — one ontological and one phenomenal. The church does not disappear “ontologically” because the spirit is its “guarantee,” the gift of its being, even when we witness the “disappearance” of the church “phenomenally” (by which I mean, at the level of the church’s “praxis” — it is thus a failure to embody the spirit’s work of unity and charity, guaranteed ontologically but not made visible in our living witness).
dave b
Sounds like good stuff, Dave. Glad to hear this sort of thinking is not uncommon!
“…participation in God’s eternal communion and participation in his trinitarian mission…”
To what extent are these different things? Many today would want to replace the ‘and’ with a ‘by.’ What say you?
Yes, I think I would want to replace the “and” with “by” as well. Poor phrasing on my part. What I was hoping to emphasize (I think!) is that God’s “immanent” life is what we participate in as we participate in the Trinitarian missions. Often people will argue that we participate in the economic Trinity, but cannot pierce the veil, so to speak of the immanent Trinity. I think at whole distinction is stated wrongly.
Of course I could have articulated this better had I used your phrasing!