These are all very important because you need to know that different dominations see that other sacraments are more important than Holy Communion this is also seen in the way different religions take Holy Communion likes the Roman Catholics stand at the altar but Anglicans kneel instead.
Worship is the name given to an act of paying divine honour to god, especially in the religious services, an act or feeling of admiration. There are two ways to worship and these are liturgical and non-liturgical and liturgical means a formal way of worship, which is an elaborate way to worship God. Where as non-liturgical worship is a non-formal way so the vicar might not wear a robe but just a suit and he might not stick to the lector, which is the churches order of saying the bible in a year.
The origin of Holy Communion is one of a Jewish past and there festival of Passover, this is because Jesus was a Jew. He was having the last supper before his death as a Passover meal and the origins of the Jewish festival is from when Moses got a message from the angel of death to put the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the door and the angel of death would pass over them. Moses by doing this brought the Jews out of “slavery” in Egypt and into “freedom” and this was called the covenant, promise. But Jesus and Christians believe that there was a new covenant from god to bring the world out of “sin” and into “forgiveness”. This is why all Christians take part in Holy Communion to remember that Jesus died for them and they should respect what he did for Christianity. However, this is again respected in many different ways and these range from a weekly service in Roman Catholic churches to a service twice every month in Anglican churches. But in free churches they see the Holy Communion as a symbolic and reminder of the last supper, They also have Holy Communion to remember the Crucifixion of Jesus and that he died for there sins.
Roman Catholic’s need to be above the age of seven to take part in Holy Communion and this is because they believe that the boy is able to think for himself and this also goes in Anglican churches but you have to be thirteen. In a free church you can be any age to take part but you must be baptised to be involved. In the Roman Catholic ceremony, they believe in transubstantion, which is the belief that once the bread and wine has been blessed it is now the body and blood of Christ and that Jesus is hosting the bread. However, this is only once it has been blessed, this is also backed up by them locking it up in a wooden chest after every service to show that Jesus is still there spiritually and to show people in a physical way, they leave a light on in the church to show Jesus is there.
In the Anglican Church they believe in consubstantion, this is when after the bread, and wine has been blessed that it is now part of Jesus’ spirit but only while taking Holy Liturgy.
These are all enactments of Christ’s death but not all denominations believe in this. Thus is seen in the protestant worship where it is done as a reminder of Jesus’ death, these are such religions as the Church of England but there are also some dominations like Quakers and The Salvation Army who do not do anything to remember Jesus’ death on the cross. When people first come to this service of religious worship, you will see the vicar in the nave or by the font, which is always near the door to show that being baptised is the way into the church. You take a seat and you then listen to the start of the service where you will hear three passages from the Holy Bible, two being from the New Testament and, one being from the Old Testament this would be read from the lectern and you will then sing hymns and take confession.
Then the bread and wine is taken around the church above the vicar’s head to show that Jesus and God are omnipresent, here everyone is silent until the bells are rung out. Because in the Middle Ages the priests thought that, the lower classes were not holy enough to view the blessing of the bread and wine and placed a screen in place which was called the “Rood Screen”. Therefore, as an indication of its being blessed the bells was rang out and it told people that Jesus was near.
The next part of this service is the sermon on “The Great Thanksgiving” or in an Anglican church, the Eucharist’s prayer. This is for example:
It is indeed right,
It is our duty and our joy,
At all times and in all places,
To give thanks and praise,
Holy Father, heavenly king
Almighty and eternal god,
Through Jesus Christ.
The next part to this unique service is the “breaking of bread” and this is the part of the service when the have and the taking of wine by the followers that are sitting in the pews facing the pulpit. In some domination the people would walk up to the Nave toward the Alter, stand in front of the priest or vicar, to receive their blessed bread, the body of Christ and some blessed red wine, the blood of Christ. It depend on which domination you are from but the Roman Catholic’s stand where as the Orthodox kneel and take the bread in an very long spoon with out any one touching it. Because it would then not be pure and this tells us that this service is one of the most liturgical worship and a fundamentalist view which is also called literalism and this is seen in the thought that you are eating the body of Christ. In most denotations of Christianity the conjuration will geneflex or bow towards the altar, this is done to show your respect to there god. In the protestant domination they would kneel at the alter rail which is at the front of the church but before the pulpit. During in this time in most liturgical worship they would lit incense sticks and these are carried around the altar to show all of the peoples prays going up to heaven, this is also called censing. In the Baptist domination the wine is given out in little cups and this is different to the Roman Catholic domination where the wine is given in a goblet. The wine that is given to the conjuration is not just wine it is also a mixture of water as well and this has been done because when they took Jesus off the cross they found his wounds to be bleeding a clear liquid as well and they fought his blood had holy water in it to the whole a time. At the end of this service the conjuration are told and blessed by the vicar to go fourth and live the life of god and to spread the word of god and are in a way blessed.
In conclusion, I think that Christians interpret the Last Supper today as a celebration of mass. The body of Christ (Eucharist) is supposed to be the most important part of a Christian’s life. Without it, the Christian community would not have enough to remember Jesus. This is because we would only hear gospel readings about Jesus and we would only read about his miracles instead of experiencing the miracle of transformation between the bread into the body of Christ.
