Ya engkau dan seisi rumahmu Seputar perj

(1)

1 |

P a g e

Ya, engkau dan seisi rumahmu:*

Seputar perjamuan kudus anak dari sudut pandang Biblika dan budaya lokal

Victor Christianto, email: victorchristianto@gmail.com**

Teks pemandu: Kis. 16:31

Jawab mereka: "Percayalah

kepada Tuhan Yesus Kristus dan engkau akan

selamat,

engkau dan seisi rumahmu.”

1

1. Pendahuluan

Dalam beberapa bulan terakhir, kita semua sebagai warga GKI, entah yang di

Jabar, Jateng maupun Jatim, terlibat dalam diskusi yang lumayan hangat

mengenai perlu atau tidaknya Perjamuan Kudus Anak dilakukan oleh

GKI (selanjutnya akan disingkat PKa).

Di antara beberapa pilihan yang mengemuka ada: (1) tidak perlu, (2) perlu, (3)

perlu dengan catatan, yakni dengan usia tertentu misalnya 7-10 tahun

(dikenal sebagai age of reason, ditetapkan sekitar th 1910).

Memang penulis pernah mendengar ada beberapa pendeta (biasanya mereka

masih tergolong muda) yang mencoba mengusulkan pembaruan, di antaranya

ada yang mencoba melaksanakan PK dengan tape sebagai roti, dan anggur

diganti legen. Namun hal ini menimbulkan reaksi keras dari jemaat dan

penatua, padahal mungkin maksud yang bersangkutan hanya menawarkan

pemaknaan PK yang lebih kontekstual. Lalu bagaimana dengan PKa tersebut?

Penulis yakin bahwa jemaat-jemaat di Sinwil Jateng telah cukup intens

(2)

2 |

P a g e

menggumuli persoalan ini, sehingga akhirnya pada th. 2015, mereka dengan

bulat hati menetapkan akan memulai PK anak.*****

Lalu bagaimana dengan Sinwil Jabar dan Jatim?

Dalam beberapa minggu ini, penulis berusaha merenungkan bagaimana

sebenarnya kehendak Tuhan bagi umat-Nya di akhir zaman ini. Bagi penulis,

persoalan PK merupakan salah satu titik sentral pengajaran Yesus, tentunya

selain baptisan, karena itu persoalan ini menyentuh langsung pada inti

persoalan: bagaimana membedakan umat Tuhan dan bukan? Bagaimana kita

mendefinisikan identitas kita sebagai gereja sebagai umat kudus yang

diteguhkan dalam suatu Perjanjian Baru?

Penulis tidak berpretensi telah menemukan kata akhir tentang topik ini,

namun setelah diskusi dengan beberapa rekan,*** penulis memutuskan untuk

tulis sedikit tentang topik ini; dengan harapan kalau-kalau artikel ini dapat

menjadi salah satu pertimbangan untuk menggumuli persoalan ini sebagai

Tubuh Kristus secara bersama.

2. Tradisi Perjamuan Kudus di GKI, memaknai 1 Kor. 11

Ada beberapa artikel yang sangat membantu memahami tradisi PK di GKI, di

antaranya artikel Pdt. Yusak Soleiman dan juga artikel dan penjelasan Pdt.

Joas Adiprasetya di youtube.

Pak Yusak menjelaskan secara ringkas, di antaranya:

a.

penolakan akan PKa justru mengabaikan kenyataan yang dijelaskan

dalam teks KPR. Malah tradisi

makan bersama seisi rumah

itu jauh

lebih dekat dengan peristiwa malam sebelum bangsa Israel keluar dari

Mesir, tanah perbudakan mereka.

“Pembacaan dan penafsiran Alkitab yang menolak baptisan kanak

-kanak

(dari kaum Anabaptist dan Puritan-Separatist) ternyata berdasarkan

pemahaman tertentu. Tidak murni alkitabiah, karena mengabaikan

ungkapan-

ungkapan dalam Alkitab seperti ‘membaptiskan seisi rumah’;

(3)

3 |

P a g e

anggota); b) proselitisasi (pindah agama atau kelompok agama;

permurnian agama); c) pengertian dan percaya mendahului

karunia/berkat Allah (anak harus mengerti apa yang diterimanya;

percaya dulu barulah dapat dibaptiskan).”(

1)

b.

Perjamuan Kudus ditentukan hanya bagi mereka yang telah akil balig

dan ikut proses sidi:

“Secara simplistik sering dikatakan bahwa gereja

-gereja yang tidak

memiliki tradisi paedobaptism sangat konsisten: baik pengakuan

iman/baptisan dan keikutsertaan dalam perjamuan kudus hanyalah bagi

mereka yang dapat mempertanggungjawabkan diri dan imannya.”(

1)

c.

dalam lingkungan GKI selama ini, teks I Kor. 11 dimaknai dalam 2

tradisi, yaitu: cencura morum (memeriksa diri) dan anamnesis

(mengingat).

“Pada kitab yang sama, kita menemukan alasan untuk tidak

mengikutsertakan kanak-kanak. Gereja-gereja menggunakan 1 Korintus

11 sebagai dasar perayaan Perjamuan Kudus. 1 Korintus 11

–

yang

sudah menjadi bagian dari formulir liturgis banyak gereja-gereja

Protestan, termasuk GKI

–

menekankan hal a) pemeriksaan diri (censura

morum) dan b) mengingat (anamnesis). Kedua hal ini praktis tidak dapat

dilakukan oleh kanak-kanak yang sangat muda, namun masih

memungkinkan bagi kanak-

kanak yang telah mencapai age of reason.”(

1)

d.

Meski ini tradisi yang sudah ada tersebut cukup baik, namun seringkali

menjadi sumber untuk siasat gereja khususnya kepada mereka yang

dianggap masih dalam pengembalaan khusus. Yang lebih buruk, seperti

Pak Joas sebutkan, dalam penafsiran yang dangkal atas I Kor.11

akhirnya anak-anak dieksklusi dari keluarga Allah.

e.

Data-data dari Alkitab menunjukkan tradisi makan bersama dalam

keluarga itu sudah mentradisi sejak dahulu kala, bahkan mungkin

itulah yang dimaksud Yesus ketika Ia mengajak para murid dalam acara

makan malam sebagai bagian dari Keluarga Allah.

“Posisi kedua mengklaim bahwa praktik paedocommunion adalah praktik

(4)

4 |

P a g e

(transubstantiation).5 Para pendukung paedocommunion menggunakan

argumen a) perayaan seder-Paska Yahudi yang justru mengikutsertakan

kanak-kanak, serta b)1 Korintus 10:16-17 yang menekankan

keikutsertaan semua.”(

1)

Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper

(5)

5 |

P a g e

Dalam perjalanan waktu hingga kini, pak Yusak juga menulis bahwa PK justru

seperti luntur spiritnya, dan berubah hanya menjadi formalitas dan ritual

belaka. Apalagi jika diingat bahwa secara teknis PK hanya dilaksanakan 3-4

kali setahun.***

3. Sakralisasi dan individualisasi

Selain proses melunturnya makna perjumpaan dengan Tuhan dalam PK di

GKI, karena berubah menjadi rutinitas, ada hal lain yang penting untuk

diangkat:

Kecenderungan sakralisasi yang berlebihan, apalagi ditambah “ancaman”

penggembalaan khusus bagi yang tidak layak, maka proses PK menjadi tidak

lebih dari tradisi yang diwarnai kontrol sosial.

Dalam proses modernisasi, segala hal dalam hidup sebuah keluarga menjadi

berjalan cepat, bahkan satu keluarga sering tidak ada waktu untuk bertemu

dan makan malam bersama.

Segala sesuatu berjalan begitu cepat, bahkan seorang keponakan penulis,

sering pulang sekolah di atas jam 17 petang. Semua menjadi beban bagi

seorang anak, termasuk tuntutan orang tua, dan para guru…dan mungkin

ketika dia juga merasa “ditolak” dalam Keluar

ga Allah maka ia bisa merasa

kehilangan pengalaman bersekutu dalam Keluarga Kristen.

2

4. Di rumah Bapa-Ku ada banyak tempat, memaknai Keluarga Allah

Bagaimana sebaiknya memaknai Perjamuan Kudus dengan kembali kepada

makna aslinya?

Ada baiknya kita kembali pada janji Yesus kepada semua murid:

“

Di rumah Bapa-Ku

1

banyak tempat tinggal. Jika tidak demikian, tentu Aku mengatakannya

kepadamu. Sebab Aku pergi ke situ

z

untuk menyediakan tempat bagimu.” (Yoh. 14:2)

(6)

6 |

P a g e

Apa yang dimaksud Yesus di sini?

Saya belajar makna Yahudi dari teks ini dari Mas Bambang Noorsena, yang

menyatakan bahwa dalam tradisi Yahudi kuno, ketika seorang mempelai pria

menikah, maka bapaknya akan membuat ruang baru dalam rumah besar

keluarga. Itulah awal kata “make room”, artinya membuat ruang baru. Untuk

itulah Yesus mati bagi kita semua, agar Bapa dapat “make room” untuk Anda

semua dan juga saya.

Artinya, kita yang dilayakkan oleh darah-Nya yang tercurah, kita semua

diterima kembali menjadi Keluarga Allah. Ya sebuah keluarga besar.

Lalu apakah keluarga kita di dunia tidak boleh masuk? Tentu boleh, jadi

keluarga kita pun menjadi bagian dari Keluarga Allah, termasuk kita di Negara

berkembang yang terjerat hutang kartu kredit, cicilan yang tertunggak, dan

utang LN sekian ribu trilyun akibat salah urus negeri ini. Dan bahkan,

sejumlah besar orang yang selama hidup mereka tidak layak dalam keluarga

manapun, seperti anjal dan para pemulung yang tinggal di rumah-rumah

kardus, merekapun diterima dalam Keluarga Allah.

(7)

7 |

P a g e

Last Supper With The Street Children (Update: Joey Velasco Taken Ill)

3

3_{https://midfield.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/last-supper-with-the-street-children-update-joey-velasco-taken-ill/}

Artikel: “

The 12 children in the painting are real people the painter, Joey Velasco, discovered in poor areas of Metro Manila and Quezon City. After treating them to meals, Velasco took their pictures and retreated to his room to start working on the painting.

Velasco said, the children, aged 4-14, reveal a story of a greater hunger than a plate of rice could satisfy.

He said, “It was they who touched my soul. Through them, God spoke to me and moved me to paint their

stories and tell others about their lives.” The young girl standing at the extreme left, where Judas appears in the da Vinci painting, is 10-year-old Nene. Velasco met her at the Manila North Cemetery, where she and her family lived as squatters among the graves.

Onse, 9, sits at the table, his plate cleaned to the last crumb, he listens to Jesus to feed his other hungers. The child, who scavenges with a push cart, has a father addicted to drugs and a mother who works as a strip dancer.

Itok, another scavenger who at 11 is the family breadwinner, sits at the right hand of Jesus. According to Velasco, Itok spent time in jail after being caught in a number of robberies. Another child in the painting does not live in Quezon City.

Velasco placed a small Sudanese boy under the table eating the fallen scraps with the cats. The artist

explained, “The skinny child is not one of the hungry kids who roam our busy streets at night. He is “an imaginary symbolic figure” who in the past “had satisfied himself with unnecessary food, (but) now finds

himself under the table seeking spiritual crumbs.”

(8)

8 |

P a g e

5. Makan malam dalam keluarga

Karena itu, penulis hendak mengajak kita semua memaknai Perjamuan Kudus

sebagai makan bersama (family meal) sebagai Keluarga Allah, dan tidak ada

seorangpun yang perlu ditinggalkan. Bahkan Yudas pun ikut makan bersama

para murid yang lain, meski dia kemudian mengkhianati Gurunya.

Lalu apakah ada alasan yang kuat untuk mengeksklusi anak-anak dari meja

Perjamuan?

Lihatlah 2 artikel tentang memaknai PK sebagai family meal atau family

communion.(2)(3)

Dalam hal teknis, saya sependapat dengan Pdt. Joas, bahwa masalah tradisi

katekisasi dan sidi dan juga cencura morum memang sudah baik dan tidak

perlu dihapus, namun kiranya tidak menghalangi anak-anak untuk ikut

dalam meja perjamuan.

Pada intinya, PK mengajak semua anggota keluarga untuk memperlambat

ritme hidup yang begitu cepat dalam era digital saat ini, dan kembali

menikmati hidup sebagai keluarga yang utuh baik dalam dunia dan bahkan

dalam Keluarga Allah. Mari kita belajar berjalan dalam ritme langkah Tuhan,

yakni 3 mil per jam. (Lihat artikel tentang Kosuke Koyama, Lampiran 2)

6. Beberapa usul praktis untuk liturgi PK

a. Pengaturan meja

Pada hemat saya, sedapat mungkin sebaiknya meja ditaruh di tengah

ruangan, dikelilingi oleh bangku-bangku sehingga jemaat dapat menghayati

The children’s stories are featured in the book “They Have Jesus: The Stories of the Children of the

‘Hapag ng Pag-asa (Table of Hope).'”

(9)

9 |

P a g e

kebersamaan. Tentu di gereja besar hal ini bisa menyulitkan, bisa dipikirkan

pendekatan lain.

b. Pengaturan bangku: jika memungkinkan, bangku dipinggirkan dan diganti

bersila dengan tikar, ini akan menumbuhkan suasana “selamatan” yang khas

Indonesia.

c. Pengaturan cawan

Atas alasan higienis, tentu tidak baik jika anggur diminum dalam cawan besar

untuk semua, meskipun hal ini yang paling ideal.

Usul penulis, mungkin perlu dipikirkan bukan sloki seperti yang biasa dalam

PK, namun gelas yang biasa untuk minum anggur, dengan tujuan satu

keluarga satu gelas. Hal ini akan menegaskan kebersamaan dan makna family

meal dalam PK.

7. Simpulan dan Penutup

Dalam artikel ini, penulis mencoba memberikan pemaknaan Perjamuan Kudus

sebagai family meal, kiranya hal ini akan membantu menjawab pertanyaan

boleh atau tidaknya Perjamuan Kudus bagi anak-anak.

Hal-hal yang lebih teknis dicoba digambarkan dalam bagian 6.

Semoga tulisan ini dapat membantu GKI dalam menggumuli persoalan ini.

Tulisan ini dibuat berdasarkan pesan Roh Kudus beberapa hari lalu, lihat

Lampiran I.

Referensi:

(1) Pdt. Yusak Soleiman. Penjelasan singkat tentang makna dan praktek

(10)

10 |

P a g e

(2) Mathew Kustenbauder. Rediscovering the eucharist as communal meal:

African contributions to the World Christian Church. The other journal, 6 aug.

2005.

(3) Russell Moore. Family Supper: reclaiming community through communion.

Url:

www.desiringGod.com

(4) G.J. Baan. Tulip: 5 pokok Calvinisme. Penerbit Momentum.

(5) Adam Grant. Give and Take. Gramedia Pustaka.

(6) Erastus Sabdono. Menemukan Kekristenan yang Hilang. Rehobot Ministry,

2014-2015.

(7) Erastus Sabdono. Pembenaran. Rehobot Literature, 2018.

versi 1.0: 3 agustus 2018, pk. 9:58

VC

Endnote:

* judul ini diambil dari judul buku kompilasi tentang berbagai artikel tentang

Baptisan anak, disusun oleh Murray Kline and Vern Poythress, For you and

your children, the best articles on infant baptism from Westminster Theology

Journal.

**Penatua di GKI Blimbing. Penulis bukanlah ahli teologi sakramen dan bukan

ahli liturgi GKI, ada banyak Pdt. Senior yang jauh lebih mumpuni. Yang

penulis sampaikan di sini adalah perenungan secara biblika maupun dari

pengamatan sehari-hari.

***terimakasih kepada Pnt. Satyo Laksono atas diskusi yang berharga.

****kalau mau jujur, hanya 2 elemendalam ibadah GKI yang masih ada unsur

spontanitasnya (tidak terduga), yakni "salam di antara jemaat" setelah berita

anugerah dan khotbah.

(11)

11 |

P a g e

----

Lampiran 1:

Makna perjamuan kudus

Pesan Tuhan pagi ini (1 ags 2018):

"Tuhan rindu agar anak-anakNya bergaul karib dgn Dia, mengalami hadirat

Tuhan, dan hidup dlm damai sbg keluarga dan masyarakat."

Dua aspek: individu dan komunal.

5 Makna yg perlu dihayati:

- PK memberitakan pendamaian..jg dlm keluarga

- PK mengembalikan sukacita dlm makan bersama...spt sukacita bermain

(play).. homo-ludens

- PK adalah menyatu dgn Allah Trinitas..in communio (unio mytica)

- PK berarti memakan Firman yang hidup. Mengijinkan Yesus Sang Firman itu

mengubah hidup kita...menjadi daging dalam hidup kita

- PK berarti kita sedang menantikan kedatangan kembali Sang Anak Domba

Allah dgn segala kemuliaan-Nya..suatu pengharapan eskatologis yg menerobos

ke dalam realitas kita kini.

Kesalahan saat ini:

Terlalu menekankan aspek individu dlm keselamatan..jd egois.

Padahal berita aslinya: "kamu dan seisi rumahmu".

Keselamatan dr Tuhan itu untuk dibagikan.

Mlg: 1 agustus 2018, pk. 03:54

Diberikan oleh Holy Spirit

(12)

12 |

P a g e

Lampiran 2:

Shalom, all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Do you realize that our life

can be summarized in one word: faster.

Anything we do, we do that faster and faster. Read fast. Eat fast. Speak fast.

Walk fast. Drive fast. Pray fast. And so on.

Sometimes we forget that God want to walk with us at 3 mile an hour speed. As

a Christian blogger wrote recently:(1)

John 9:1 says, "As he passed by, Jesus saw a man blind from birth." What if he

was driving, running, or in a hurry? Instead, Jesus moved with a pace at which

he could "see." He saw the man. He saw his need and he had compassion.

A Japanese theologian named Kosuke Koyama wrote a book called Three Mile

an Hour God. In it he wrote:

"Love has its speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed

to which we are accustomed. It goes on in the depth of life at 3 miles per hour.

It is the speed we walk and therefore the speed the love of God walks."

Jesus walks at the speed of love. He's our 3 mile-an-hour Savior. And he sees

you. He sees your secrets and baggage, your pain and fear. He sees death and

dung, and still chooses to walk among us. To forgive, to heal, to help.

Would you adjust your pace? Would you slow down so that you can "see"? See

God's work in the world. See how you might join in on what He's doing. See the

people around you. Know their needs. How can we be unhurried, undistracted,

and attentive to the world around us?

Go for a walk.

Sit on your front step in the evening.

Redefine how you use electronic devices.

(13)

13 |

P a g e

Set aside a few quiet moments every day to read God's word. To commune with

him in prayer.

"As he passed by . . ." Jesus sees you. He's your 3 mile-an-hour Savior.

Here is a story of a man who chooses to walk for Jesus, and people whom he

met along his walk:

William C.Heller Jr.6/21/2018 05:32:24 pm

This is my brief true story of a time in my life when I took a walk for Jesus.This

journey began at highway 55 and Butler Hill road. I began walking up the ramp

and praying to God this prayer. God you know I cannot walk to where ever you

wish me to go. Would you please send me a ride and the person you desire me to

talk to. Half way up the ramp a young man of college age stopped and offered

me a ride.He then began to tell me all about his life and the church he attended

which is the First Baptist church Of Festus.

The next thing he told me is how he was worried about his final exams in college.

I told him how I once had to take my exams for my GED and asked God to help

me take the test and that help came in the sense of calmness.The next thing I

said to this young man was, You go to church, Have you asked God for any help

in your life? He looked at me as if he new what to do next. By this time he was

pulling off the side of the road right in front of the First Baptist Church which sits

on the side of the highway.As I got out of his car he thanked me for my

help.there was now a calm about him as well.

I sat on the guard rail for no more than fifteen minutes and began to walk as I

prayed once more the same prayer as before. Right away I heard air brakes on a

truck behind me and looked back as this man was only a few feet away and

motioned for me to get into his truck. I am John Murdock a dairy driver from

(14)

14 |

P a g e

Jesus.He then told me about a young lady he had met on the road the week

before doing the same thing.John would ask me about all things he had

questions about the Bible. As he made his deliveries for the day and the day

ended he invited me to stay with him and he bought me dinner and breakfast. I

spent three days with John and he left me off on Highway 75 leading down to

Atlanta. His last words were, I going to go home and read my Bible this

weekend. This is only a small part of my walk for Jesus.If you like to hear more

let your fingers do the walking and write me.

My prayer in this sunday morning (22/7/2018, pk. 7:23)

"Jesus, forgive me for trying to do things faster and faster.

Meanwhile, teach me to learn how to walk and work and talk and pray at a

lower speed.

Teach me to meet and greet people whom I see along the walk.

Thank you for Your forgiveness and patience on me. Amen."

Versi 1.0: 22 july 2018, pk. 7:24

Victor Christianto

The Second Coming Institute,

www.sci4God.com

Reference:

(15)

J ULY 2 3, 2 01 2

Family Supper: Reclaiming Community Through

Communion

Article by

President, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

In recent years, sociologists and educators across the political spectrum have encouraged families to do one simple thing to maintain connection with one another: eat. The issue isn't just eating, of course. That's a non-negotiable for all biological organisms. The issue instead is to eat together. The family dinner might seem cute and outdated in a mobile, crazy-busy current age, but there's something of importance here. Parents often wolf down, in a car seat, a bagged meal they've ordered through a clown's mouth, in order to get to another soccer practice. Children often eat dinner from a desk, alone, in their rooms, texting friends and playing video-games. A family dinner, though, creates a connection. As Christians, we ought to know this, from the church.

Too often, when we speak of "creating community" in our churches, we're talking about some new program, a new set of small groups we've copied from some other church doing such things well. The Bible, though, says little or nothing about "small groups." The focus of community is instead more often around the table, around a common meal. The Apostle Paul, from start to ﬁnish, warned the church at Corinth about their divisions, divisions that didn't just inhibit their mission but also proclaimed something false, at the most primal level, about the gospel itself

(1 Corinthians 1:10–13). That division showed up signiﬁcantly in the perversion of the

communion table (1 Corinthians 11:18). The people were using the Lord's Supper to feed their own individual appetites rather than caring for one another (11:20–21). When this happens, the act of communion becomes something other than "the Lord's Supper you eat," the apostle warned. To restore their fellowship with Christ and with one another, the church had to gather at the table, the way King Jesus invites.

This has everything to do, I think, with the alienation and loneliness we see among so many Christians today. For too long, many American evangelicals have deﬁned communion inordinately in terms of what we don't believe about it: that the elements metaphysically become the body and blood of Christ, and so on. We've emphasized the "remembrance" aspect of the Supper (which is signiﬁcant) without emphasizing the communion aspect of the Supper. But an overemphasis on memorial can easily turn the Supper into an act of individual cognition. The believer sits, alone, in the privacy of his own thought world, trying to think about the gospel of a broken body and poured out blood.

But there's something in the way that God designed us that won't allow us to evacuate our need for a communitarian supper. Evangelical churches that "celebrate" (and, if you've been to very many of these typical services, you'll know why I put quotes around that word) a curt communion every three or four months will try to ﬁnd something to replace it. There might be a "Family Night Supper" before a mid-week service, or a Sunday after-church "Dinner on the Grounds." At the very least, there will be coffee and doughnuts before the Sunday school classes, and gatherings

Russell Moore

(16)

Russell Moore (@drmoore) is the President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the moral concerns and public policy entity of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. He is the author of Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel.

of believers eating in some restaurant after worship at the local steakhouse. These moments of fellowship are important, part of the hospitality the Bible calls us to, but they can't replace the Supper Jesus has given to us. In the Supper, we confess ourselves to be sinners, together, and we proclaim, together, the gospel that restores us to right fellowship with God and with one another. We experience Jesus in our midst, serving us the kind of meal that connects us with the upper-room in Jerusalem past and with the marriage feast of the New Jerusalem future.

Part of the problem is with the way we present the elements themselves. Most contemporary evangelical churches distribute chewing-gum size pellets of tasteless and oppressively-textured bread along with thimble-sized plastic shot glasses of grape juice. This practice hardly represents the unity maintained by a common loaf and a common cup. It also strips away at the reality of the Supper as a meal for a gathering, not just a prompt for individual reﬂection. The meaning of the Supper would go a long way toward recovering a biblical focus on gospel community if we asked our churches to tear apart a common loaf of bread and to drink from a common cup, practices that were common in New Testament communities.

Now, I recognize that such a thing would prompt wrinkled noses from many in our pews. They would ﬁnd it "gross" to get that close to someone's saliva and whatever germs might dwell within. But that's precisely the kind of Western individualism communion is meant to tear down. The church isn't an association of like-minded individuals. The church is a household of brothers and sisters. Indeed, the church is an organic system, a body connected by the nervous system of the Spirit of Christ himself.

As we serve the table of Christ's communion each week, we are calling the church to a different kind of community. The kind of community that cannot be dissolved by petty conﬂict or disagreement. As we eat together around the table of Christ, we're called to a recognition that we are at the table of a kingdom. And we are called there to recognize the presence of the King — not so much in the elements themselves or in our individual spiritual reﬂection but in the body he has called together, a body of sinners like us. Only then will we really get what the Scriptures mean when they call us to "fellowship."

Perhaps if our churches intentionally recovered the communitarian focus of the Lord's Supper, we might have less and less need for professional conﬂict resolution experts called in to consult with us on how to overcome our divisions. After all, for Jesus and for the Apostle Paul, the starting point for unity in the church, and for the

sanctiﬁcation of the Body together, was a common gospel and a common table. It could be again.

In order to get community right, we must reclaim communion.

________

Get Desiring God in Your

Inbox

A nightly brief of new resources, and peeks behind the scenes from our editorial team

Email Address Subscribe

3315.5 px

Grumble-Free for His

Glory

When we set aside grumbling and complaining during hard times and take up joy in the Lord, a watching world sees stars shining in a dark world.

LO O K AT THE BO O K

John Piper

Every Good Parent

Will Have Regrets

Parenting exposed every spiritual weakness within my soul, my marriage, and my family. It even created some new ones.

ARTI CLE

Dave Harvey

(18)

Learn more about Desiring God

D E S I RI NG G O D J O HN P I P E R

E MAI L UP D ATE S

Donate Permissions Privacy Careers

(19)

About

By

Matthew Kustenbauder

August 8, 2005

A fact of our time is the rise of Southern Christianity. Its emergence heralds the birth of a truly dynamic world Christianity, marked by the axial shift in mass and direction of the religion’s center from North America and Europe to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific, a phenomenon that has occurred only in the second half of the twentieth century.[1] In 1900, over 80 percent of professing Christians were European or Euro-American. Today, over 60 percent of professing Christians live in the non-Western world.[2] Those ecclesial bodies that operate on a global scale have already felt the resultant tremors of these tectonic movements. In the Anglican Communion, where Nigeria and Uganda represent the two countries with the largest number of practicing Anglicans, Southern hemisphere bishops comprise a staunch conservative majority, regularly voting down their liberal Western counterparts on issues of doctrine. In the Catholic Church, it is estimated that a majority of the cardinals eligible to vote in the next papal election will hail from Southern nations, making the prospects of a future African or Latin American Pope not unlikely. The demographic shift in Christianity has propelled a fundamental revolution in religion, politics, and culture by dismantling the Western philosophical and metaphysical edifice. The result is that the West has ceased to be the exclusive culture of reference for the rest of the world. Philip Jenkins describes the pervading character of this emerging revolution:

Worldwide, Christianity is actually moving toward supernaturalism and neo-orthodoxy, and in many ways toward the ancient world view expressed in the New Testament: a vision of Jesus as the embodiment of divine power, who overcomes the evil forces that inflict calamity and sickness upon the human race.[3]

(20)

African Contributions to the World Church

Christianity’s most vigorous growth is in Africa, where today there are well over 380 million Christians out of a total population of 810 million. With roughly 47 percent of the continent professing Christianity (compared to only 25 percent in 1965) and a current yearly growth rate of 2.4 percent, Africa is well on its way to becoming a Christian continent.[4] Christ’s seed of faith, cultivated in fertile soil, has sunk deep roots in the collective African consciousness. With this in mind, I want to explore the main issue at stake in this article: how African understandings of the Eucharist as a communal meal might enrich and deepen the world church’s own theology. In Africa, Christian theology and liturgical rites have been dynamically enriched and informed by African traditional religion.[5] It is my hope that the witness of a vibrant African Christianity will inspire hope and infuse life into the world church, especially in the West where Christianity is in decline.

African Meal

A meal is perhaps the most basic and most ancient symbol of friendship, love, and unity; food and drink taken in common are signs that life is shared. In Africa it is rare for people to eat alone—meals are communal activities. Hands are washed before the meal begins, usually by a child who pours water over the cupped hands of the adults in the group. Everyone sits around a common dish of cassava, maize, or plantain. Each person takes a portion, shapes it into a ball, and then dips it into a single dish of relish, soup, or greens. If there is meat, the best portions are first offered to visitors or elders in the group. Drink, also, is often served from a common bowl or cup, which is passed from one to another. The meal concludes with another hand washing. Eating a meal together is the most basic way of sharing common life; it restores what has been lost and gives strength for what lies ahead.[6]

African Culture and the Eucharist

While the rich diversity of the African cultural landscape makes it difficult to generalize about particular African cultural and religious practices, failure to examine the broad continuities that exist on the continent has prevented Western theologians from learning anything at all from Africa. Particular beliefs and customs may be diverse, but the depth dimension of the African worldview is strikingly consistent, a fact that is apparent to anyone who goes to Africa. This is the deep level of culture. In collating responses to the Lineamenta on the Synod of Bishops, Special Assembly for Africa, Chukwuma Okoye observes that there is a striking similarity in descriptions of the African traditional religion coming from all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Probing beneath the surface layer of diverse practices, a careful observer finds similarities in the models, meanings, and interpretations of African life.[7] Because the Eucharist deals with this depth dimension of meaning rather than the superficial level of practice, it is possible to identify “communal meal” as a root metaphor in African celebrations of the Eucharist. For instance, the Ndzon-Melen Mass of Cameroon incorporates aspects of Beti culture and is a celebration of shared word and meal within a reconciling assembly. African theologian Elochukwu Uzukwu describes this experience as “the totality of the human person/community (in all its tensions) in dynamic union with its universe, choreographing before the giver of life to whom the fruit of life is joyfully presented.”[8] This description reveals that the symbol of gathered assembly, with its accompanying notions of human community, divine-human communion, and thanksgiving to God, is deeply rooted in African consciousness.[9] African spirituality may therefore contribute toward a more communal

understanding of the Eucharist in the West.

A Meal of Covenant: Sharing in the Eucharist

(21)

relationships. The Igbo believe that when two or more persons eat or drink together from the same bowl they have entered into a covenant. They have licked their common saliva, which has a spiritual quality in Igbo culture. With it, one may bless or curse, express friendship or enmity. Sharing a meal affirms the holy value attached to life and unity in relationship.[10] The covenantal dimension of the communal meal in African culture, of which the Igbo are but one example, speaks directly to contemporary ecumenical conversations on Eucharistic sharing. It reminds Christians everywhere that we share in a communal meal at the Lord’s holy table, not the table of any particular church. In the Eucharist, we affirm our covenant with Jesus Christ and with others. Practices that exclude Christian members of other denominations from partaking in the Eucharist are a serious hindrance to establishing authentic Christian community.

A Meal of Unity and Peace: Achieving What it Signifies

Church historians have pointed out that the Reformation made possible a religion that could be practiced in private, rather than in community. The Enlightenment in the West has fashioned in its own image a Christianity distinguished by individual choice, privatized religious belief, and abstract intellectual and philosophical concepts. In contrast, African Christianity most often resembles the pre-Reformation churches, insisting that faith must be framed in a communal context. In the Orthodox Church, the Holy Spirit functions to actualize the unity of all things in Jesus Christ. For this reason, the Eucharist must be understood communally, not just in terms of Christ and the individual. “By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Eucharist at once actualizes, symbolizes and anticipates the unity of all things in Christ.”[11] The Eucharist reminds us of our interdependence and unity as children of God. Catholic Bishop Joseph Ukpo of Nigeria suggests that African Christianity offers a unique perspective – one informed by traditional African values and experience – that can enrich the world church’s understanding of unity. In his address to the Second Nigerian National Eucharistic Congress, he said:

Jesus celebrated the last supper within the context of a community meal [. . . .] The love manifested in the traditional breaking of Kola nuts can enrich the Christian understanding of the Eucharist as a communion, as agape. We can offer the world a Christianity that is operational in Africa as a communitarian family where unity and peace reign supreme in justice and love. We can offer [. . .] the African understanding of mutual dialogue where every individual is challenged not only to justify everything but to deliver the best and most profound communitarian values. We can offer the world authentic feeling for the sacredness of human life and offer for purification and adoption our cultural values of kindness, simplicity, openness, hospitality, burial ceremonies, collective labor, festivals, visits and co-operation in social works and among members of the extended family, the sick, the aged, chiefs and elders. This may be our humble, but authentic approach to the realization of [. . .] a Church that is truly Christian.[12]

African Christians take the covenantal and communal dimensions of the Eucharist seriously. Because the Eucharist has the potential to become both blessing and cursing for the participants, this heightens its gravity and significance. As Onwu has observed, “Participation in the Eucharist makes believers not only more committed to their Lord but also more responsible for one another in mutual service, love and unity.”[13] In his book, Christianity Rediscovered, American Roman Catholic missioner Vincent Donovan relates how he “rediscovered” the gospel message among the Masai in Tanzania. Their faithful observance of the Mass moved him deeply. Donovan recalls how he never knew if the Eucharist would emerge from his visits to the villages. The elders were the ones to decide. “If life in the village had been less than human or holy, then there was no Mass. If there had been selfishness and

(22)

A Meal of Reconciliation: Identifying the Communal Implications of Sin

Another aspect of the African celebration of the Eucharist as communal meal that may enrich the church is the way in which sin is understood communally. Western definitions of sin are often individualistic, focusing on self, salvation, and one’s own relationship to God. American liturgical scholar Ruth Duck points out that even our corporate confessions of sin “sometimes focus so much on human relationship with the divine (and salvation of the soul) that a short act of confession appears to be a substitute for changed human action and relationships.”[15] As seen in the example of the Masai above, African notions of sin are focused on relationships with others in the community. For this reason, individual sins become matters of communal concern. After watching a video on the Paschal (Easter) feast of the Zion Apostolic Church in Zimbabwe, one Western divinity school student was disturbed by what she perceived to be a violent intrusion upon the privacy and individual conscience of the participants. Before the Eucharist meal, a prophet or prophetess publicly scrutinizes each member of the community. The people are not allowed to participate in the Pascha until they confess their sins to the elders. The belief is that those who do not confess their sins will be enemies of God for an entire year, until the next Pascha.[16] Despite the Western observer’s discomfort, she admitted that there is something refreshing about identifying sin. She wondered if perhaps, by accepting cultural values that privilege individual freedom and privacy over community, we have forfeited the ability to name sin in our Western churches. In African traditional understandings, the public naming,

condemning, and breaking of sin emphasizes the relational aspect of human moral behavior, grounded in the bedrock of life’s interconnectedness. In this sense, the reconciling power of Christ in the Eucharistic assembly works to reconsititute human

communities disaggregated by sin. Broken relationships are made whole again, a concrete symbol of people’s daily struggle against sin within the community.[17]

A Meal of Mystical Power: Experiencing the Real Presence of Christ

(23)

In the celebration of Holy Communion the “whole Christ” is present – as the pre-Easter Jesus whom we remember, the Crucified One whom we proclaim, the Risen One to whom we bear witness, and the Human One whom we expect and await! This [. . .] makes clear that “real presence” is not about a mere object of sense-experience, and still less about a Christological principle. In the sacramental event of the celebration of the Supper, the gathered community is permeated and surrounded by Christ, by the entire richness of his life. The “real presence” of Christ surrounds the community and the entire church as Christ is made present, remembered,

experienced, and awaited in ways that are readily accessible to the senses.[20]

The Eucharist is a communal meal in which Christ is celebrated, and in which Christ gives himself in the form of food and drink. It is this self-emptying, kenotic power of the New Testament—amplified by the African worldview—that reverberates through the African church, offering the West an opportunity to reclaim a meal of mystical power; to structure our celebrations of the Eucharist so that it is clear that here is no mere meal, but a communal act joyfully celebrating the Risen Christ in our midst and giving thanks to God the Father.

A Meal of Participation: Including Everyone in the Ritual Action

The African church may also enrich world Christianity’s notions of who participates in worship. Objects offered in the African assembly are from the local community. Where food is offered, it is from the house, the labor of one’s hands. During the Eucharist, members of the assembly often bring the elements to the table with celebration, dancing, and rejoicing. The Eucharist meal is not something that the priest or minister prepares alone. Traditional patterns in Africa call for greater participation and less rarified matter for the Eucharistic elements, including local symbols of nourishing food and festive drink. Bishop Peter Sarpong draws

upon Ashanti culture to involve all the people in the Catholic Mass of Kumasi, Ghana. The symbols of African life, pre-loaded with meaning, are used to communicate the message of the church. Young women dance through the assembly toward the altar carrying chickens, traditional symbols of sacrifice that will later be given to the poor. Hymns and responsive litanies are sung in the vernacular to traditional tunes. Young men beat drums, providing the rhythms that drive the constant movements of the whole assembly.

[21] Consider the well-known Zaire Mass, which also highlights the co-offering of the people through a simple offertory rite in preparation for the Mass. Gifts for the needy are brought to the altar; one of the bearers exclaims: “Priest of God here is our offering! May it be a sure sign of our unity.” Making a sign of gratitude, the priest accepts the gifts. Two people present bread and wine, saying together, “O priest of God, here is the bread, here is the wine; gifts of God, fruit of the earth, they are also the work of man. May they become food and drink for the Kingdom of God.”[22] In both the Ghana and Zaire examples, the Eucharist is centered on the active participation of the entire community. The real presence of Christ – “This is the Body of Christ” – becomes true only through full participation. African Eucharistic celebrations have a way of preserving individual distinctions while maximizing the participation of all in common worship of God. On this point, African theologians do not tire of telling us that the African assemblies are nearer to the worship of the New Testament and exemplify the communal life of the early church.

A Meal of Hope: Proclaiming Christ’s Resurrection until He Comes

The African church celebrates the Eucharist as a communal meal of hope. In African worship, the gospel promise is alive and the sense of expectation is palpable. Throughout East Africa, I have witnessed eager crowds pressing to get into church. Many African prayers voice the hopeful expectation of the coming Lord. A bold proclamation of Christ’s resurrection and firm hope in his return may be found in The Anglican Church of Kenya’s A Kenyan Service of Holy Communion (1989). Excerpts from the dialogue and preface of the Eucharistic prayer and from the closing sentences of the benediction demonstrate creativity and freedom in adapting the Anglican prayer book using traditional African forms of communal address and tribal prayers:

(24)

your people for yourself. Through him you have poured out your Holy Spirit, Filling us with light and life [. . . .] All our problems We send to the cross of Christ. All our difficulties We send to the cross of Christ. All the devil’s works We send to the cross of Christ. All our hopes We set on the risen Christ. Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you and scatter the darkness from before your path and the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.[23]

The Masai of East Africa express their Christian hope in even more concrete terms. They speak of believing as a community rather than as individuals. Instead of casting their African Creed in cognitive abstract terms of the physical and spiritual, of Christ as eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, begotten not made, etc., the Masai speak of a journey of faith and hope in God. They speak of how they once knew the High God in darkness but now “know him in the light [. . .] of his word.” The creed continues with God’s promise in Jesus, “A man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God,” until finally “he was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died.” At this point, the irony of the historical Jesus is clinched with a stunning understatement: “He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from the grave.” The creed concludes on a note of joy and eschatological hope, “We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.” The Jesus of the African Creed is a solid figure, a channel of God’s grace, and present in the world through sacrament, mission, and service.

[24] Lamin Sanneh, historian of world Christianity, suggests that such enlivened, hope-filled language and the theology that inspired it could have reverberating benefits in the West. In Africa and elsewhere fresh materials are “being introduced into scripture, prayers, hymns, and liturgy” which could influence “how people in the West think about the gospel and the church.”[25] Such creativity may provide a much-needed tonic for the enervated churches of the West.

A Meal of Transforming Love: Serving the Poor and Oppressed

(25)

religious bigotry, ethnicism, immorality, and hatred in our midst. African insights afford the Western church an opportunity to rediscover in the Eucharist the love that transforms for service to the poor and oppressed. In a land of plenty, can we make the sacrifices necessary to love and serve others as Christ gave himself for us?

CONCLUSION

To be sure, the Western vision of Christianity is myopic. At present, many Western Christians miss the depth of the lived experience that our African sisters and brothers offer us. Perhaps the dawning of Southern Christianity – represented most dramatically in Africa – affords the West an opportunity to glimpse, if not the substance of things hoped for, at least a ray or two to pierce the shadows that have fallen on Western Christianity. It would be a misunderstanding to think that this paper argues that the Eucharist in the West be reordered according to the African communal meal. The Eucharist is a robust symbol with multiple paradigms. The multivalent mystery of the meal must be acknowledged or it is not the Lord’s Supper. But insofar as the African experience offers a unique perspective on dimensions of the Eucharistic assembly, the world Church, and especially the West, stands to gain a great deal from dialogue with the African church. If the Spirit calls the Church Universal to a dynamic life and witness through the diversity of its many members, perhaps the African metaphor of “communal meal” offers valuable insights that will enrich Western Eucharistic celebrations and expand (deepen?) Western liturgical theologies. By listening to our African sisters and brothers, we may learn where our own theologies have been wrongly or excessively indigenized, resulting in ossification and impoverishment. By our

conversations, we will help one another – in the fellowship of the Body of Christ – to grow together in unity. The African

communitarian sense, through the Eucharist, may afford the churches of Christ a new way of working toward unity, without which the church’s voice is nothing but a discordant note to the rest of the world.

Notes

[1]I am indebted to Lamin Sanneh, at Yale Divinity School, who first persuaded me that these facts provide a critical organizing framework for understanding the past, present and future of Christianity as a world religion.

[2]David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson, “Statistical Table on Global Mission: 2004,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research28, no. 1 (2004): 23-26. With 2.1 billion adherents, Christianity is easily the largest religion, comprising 33% of the total world population. It is estimated that by 2025, 50% of the world Christian population will be in Africa and Latin America, and another 17% in Asia. The shift is even more pronounced in the Catholic Church, where it is predicted that by 2025, almost 75% of all Catholics will be found in Africa, Asia, & Latin America.

[3]Philip Jenkins, “The Next Christianity,” Atlantic Monthly, October (2002): 54. Jenkins is professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University.

[4]Barrett & Johnson, 25. Christianity’s growth rates on the six continents are as follows: Africa (2.48%), Asia (1.64%), Oceania (1.19%), Latin America (1.14%), North America (0.81%), and Europe (-0.18%).

[5]See Charles Taber, “The Limits of Indigenization,” Missiology: An International Review6, no. 1 (January 1978).

[6]Frances Boston, Preparation for Christian Initiation(Kampala, Uganda: Gaba Publications, 1973), 53.

[7]Chukwuma Okoye, “The Eucharist and African Culture,” African Ecclesial Review34 (1992): 278. Okoye is professor of biblical studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

(26)

[9]It is important to note here that some African traditional experiences, such as those in West Africa, draw upon the very different root metaphor of “sacrifice”. However, in East and Southern Africa, particularly among the Bantu, the root metaphor for the Eucharist is that of the gathered assembly. Exploration of the African Eucharist as sacrifice would also enrich western liturgical theology, however this is a topic for another paper.

[10]Nlenanya Onwu, “The Eucharist as Covenant in the African Context,” Africa Theological Journal16, no. 2 (1987): 151-152. Onwu is a faculty member of the Department of Religion, University of Nigeria.

[11]George Hunsinger, “The Bread That We Break: Toward a Chalcedonian Resolution of the Eucharistic Controversies,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, n.d., 255.

[12]Joseph E. Ukpo, ed. “The Eucharist and Evangelization,” in The Second Nigerian National Eucharistic Congress Held in Owerrie 23-25 October 1992(Catholic Diocese of Ogoja, Nigeria), 16.

[13]Onwu, 156.

[14]Vincent J. Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003), 95-96.

[15]Ruth Duck, “Sin, Grace, and Gender in Free-Church Protestant Worship,” In Women at Worship(Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1993), 64.

[16]James Ault, African Christianity Project(Northampton, MA: James Ault Productions, 2001), video roughcuts.

[17]Witchcraft, for instance, is commonplace in Africa and is a function of broken relationships in the community. Individual sins may have wide repercussions, as sins of one generation are inherited by the next. One person’s jealousy may inflict evil spirits upon another, and the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons (as is the case of AIDS in Africa where women and children are often the victims of another’s sins). The African situation is strikingly familiar with the understanding of sin found in the Old Testament.

[18]Okoye, 286.

[19]For instance, African Independent Churches owe much of their recent effectiveness to conscious dramatization and symbolization of God’s mighty presence. Okoye, 275.

[20]Michael Welker, What Happens in Holy Communion?trans. John F. Hoffmeyer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 97.

[21]Ault, 2001.

[22]Okoye, 285.

[23]Parts from Tovey, 141; as well as from A Service of Holy Eucharist of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Marquand Chapel worship bulletin, 16 April 2004, Yale Divinity School, New Haven.

[24]Excerpts from An African Creed, cited in Donovan, 148.

(27)

[26]Mpango, Gerard, Anglican Bishop of Western Tanganyika Diocese, Tanzania. Interview by author, 4 March 2004, New Haven. Tape recording. Overseas Ministry Study Center, New Haven.

[27]Robert G. Garner, “Religion and AIDS in South Africa,” The Journal of Modern African Studies 38, no. 1 (2000): 42.

[28]<Ukpo, 14.

About the Author

Matthew Kustenbauder

Matthew Kustenbauder is a MDiv student at Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, with a

graduate concentration in African Studies. As an undergraduate student at Messiah College, Grantham,

Pennsylvania, he first encountered African Christianity on a semester abroad in East Africa. His interest in

the intersection of theology, ritual, and culture have carried him back to the continent twice since then, most

recently to examine independent church movements in western Kenya. Matthew and his wife, Alice,

currently live in New Haven, Connecticut.

Theology

africa christian christianity church communion continent convenant Eucharist

god meal Peace reconciliation resurrection sin theology

(28)

← Rediscovering the Shock of the Other’s Gaze

– Constructing Identity in the Era of Postcolonial

and Post- Apartheid Africa and in a Globalized

World

The Shame of Darfur →

THE PETITIONARY PRAYER OF GETHSEMANE IN THE EVENT OF DIVINE DESIRE: FAITH’S UNDOING OR REFINER’S FIRE?

Lauren Smelser White

Our practices of petitionary prayer may make us misunderstand the work of the Holy Spirit when we are

passing through the agonies of faith’s Gethsemane.

August 30, 2012 / Theology

18: CELEBRITY

FOOTBALL, FAME, AND FORTUNE

Michael W. Austin

The value of football is found not in fame and fortune, but rather in the potential it provides for cultivating

moral and athletic excellence.

(29)

When Work Is Holy

Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell and Jason Byassee…

The Problem Artificial Intelligence Poses for Humans

Jonathan Tran asks whether humans are…

On Caring for Persons with Disabilities: Reflections from a Disability Support Worker

Daniel Rempel embraces a calling as…

Waking Up with You: Notes to My Second Son

Jonathan Hiskes writes that we cannot…

Baptism

Rita Willet tells the story of…

City and Bliss

Rita Willett remembers the old Saint…

Suffering with the Prosperity Gospel: A Review of Everything Happens for a Reason

(30)

Select Month

Body

$12.80

Celebrity

$15.00

The Spirit of Food

$24.00

Trauma

$14.40

Prayer

$15.00

Marxism

$15.00

Geography

$13.60

Food and Flourishing

$15.00

Remembering the Future

$18.40

Evil

Jason Byassee reviews Kate Bowler’s Everything…

Prostrate

Elizabeth Felicetti describes distractions that interfere…

The Weight and Wonder of Everything We Do Not Know

Lucy Bryan turns to science to…

El Malecón: Remembering Havana

Curator Meaghan Ritchey reflects on the…

$15.00

Email

First Name

Last Name

What emails do you want to receive?

General Notifications Monthly Newsletters New Article Notifications Print Issue Release Notifications Fundraising Notifications

Subscribe

art augustine beauty body capitalism christ christian christianity church community creation culture death derrida When Work Is Holy

Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell and Jason Byassee…

The Problem Artificial Intelligence Poses for Humans Jonathan Tran asks whether humans are…

On Caring for Persons with Disabilities: Reflections from a Disability Support Worker Daniel Rempel embraces a calling as…