According to the Christian doctrine, the enactment of the last supper is always a commemoration of the communion of Jesus with his disciples and, by extension, with the whole universal church (Mugambi 1998: 160). For in the last supper, he established a communion between his closest followers- the disciples- and those who were apparently less committed, who included the traitor Judas. Since then, the last supper has become ritualised into the central feast of the Christian faith. This is as he said, " Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22: 19). Thus Jesus becomes the chief celebrant in the feast, which unites all Christians worldwide.
As Jesus said during the unique celebration of the last supper, "drink from it, all of you"
(Matthew 26:27), the Eucharist as Christ said is an invitation to all people to be reconciled to him. Unfortunately, in Africa, there is what we may call "Eucharistic famine" (Mutugi 2001:26), whereby the vast majority of the Mainline churches, and in particular my Anglican church of Kenya- Kirinyaga Diocese, are excluded from this very sacrament. In particular, the polygamist and single mothers are excluded from partaking in the Lord's Table during the Holy Communion. Further, those who have not formalized their weddings in the church are excluded from partaking the Eucharist, even, if they have been married for over forty years under the African customary law191. This exclusion seems to go against Christ's own confession, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10: 10). It also calls us to revise our denominational
191I,gathered this infonnation as a result of almost one and half decades in the Anglican Church ministry as a pnest.
theologies and see how best we can accommodate as many people as possible, for it is they whom God so much loved (John 3: 16).
In Eucharistl92Christians thank God for what has been done for them in Christ - that is, God's saving work (Healey and Sybertz 1996:259). "For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God- not the result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The only thing that African Christians can do is to offer union with the whole Christ, head and members, this perfect sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. For indeed, human beings are like the leper who returned to thank Christ for the hospitality that was dispensed to him through his healing (See Luke 17:11-19). Sunday, Saturday or any other day, Christians ought to return to the church of Christ to thank God for what the Lord has done for humanity in Christ. In any case, "what shall I return to the Lord for all his (sic) bounty to me?" (Psalms 116:12). This calls the African Christians to take the lessons from Christ's model of celebration and therefore convert challenges into opportunities as they celebrate the gift of life above every other thing. Indeed, as Healey and Sybertz (1996:275) says, in the African view, the Eucharist as "Assembly" is closely connected to the Eucharist as "thanks giving". For Christians come together to thank God for the great deed of salvation, for Jesus Christ's gift of the medicine of everlasting life. In any case, Africans like to give thanks to God for concrete blessings-fertility of mothers, healthy children, passing examinations (this is a new development) and good harvests (See Healey and Sybertz 1996:275). Thus the Eucharist as a thanksgiving rite should automatically become a holistic celebration of life, in following the example of Christ.
6.7.1 Liturgical model
Just as Christ started his public life with prayer (Luke 3:21, Mark 3: 13-17), he concluded it in prayer (Luke 23:46, Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46). This prayerful life made him totally and wholly involved first with God and then with human beings (Kung 1976: 186f). This impressed his disciples so much that one of them requested him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11: 1). Christ thus offers a structure of prayer, which has become
192The Greek word for Eucharist is 11 thanks giving (see Healey and Sybertz 1996:259).
the standard in Christian liturgy today (Matthew 6:7-15). As a liturgical model, he teaches us how to worship God in truth and sincerity unlike the Pharisees who wanted to be seen as holy and yet their hearts were far from what they were outwardly displaying (Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 23:1-36). He commends the publican who was self-conscious of his low social esteem and humbled himself before God and said, as prayer: "God have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13). He contrasts this tax collector with the Pharisee who stood up and prayed about himself:
God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, and adulterers- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get (Luke 18:11-12).
In condemning the Pharisee who boasted of his superficial religiosity, Jesus gives us the model of prayer and to a large extent, the model of Christian worship- that is-observing the virtues of being honest in all we do- to ourselves, to our fellow human beings and to God our maker
In the incident that may be referred to as the "cleansing of the Temple" (Matthew 21: 12- 13), Jesus demands a separation between liturgy and commerce. Rather than turning the house of God into a stock exchange, it should be preserved as a house of prayer. While giving the guidelines, Christ did not fix a clear-cut formula of worship that must be followed-rather he insisted on the sincerity in liturgy. He sent his followers freely to creatively build on the guidelines that he had given, provided they remained faithful to the prophetic tradition.193 In particular, he did not restrict the power of the Holy Spirit in worship (1 Corinthian 12-14). African Christianity will therefore build on the liturgical model of Christ to engage in a task of liturgical renewal that will contain Schism and the widening gaps between churches, especially in many parts of Africa, as a result of liturgical differences. After all, as Paul wondered: "Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 3).
In any case, "There is one body and one spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father (mother) of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:4-6).
193This comes clear in the book of Acts and I Corinthian 12-14 as Paul attempts to interpret Christ.