Remembering

What does it mean to remember?

Sometimes when we talk about remembering, we simply mean thinking back to a previous time or experience. When Christians talk about “remembering” Christ in the Eucharist or Holy Communion, there is a much deeper meaning. The technical word for it is anamnesis (Gk).

Anamnesis is not simply a “bringing to mind” but a “making present”. In Eucharist, we believe that Christ is made present in the meal and in the community which shares the meal. (Different parts of the church place the emphasis in different places, but the presence of Christ is affirmed.) In Eucharist, we are united with Christ in the body of the Christ, the church.

In this respect, the word “remembering” makes more sense if we type it this way “re-membering”. In the sacrament the pieces of God’s story and our story in God are pieced together (words, narrative, symbols, actions, prayers) are parts (members) of a whole understanding and way of being in the world—of being the Body of Christ. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) talked about it this way in one of his sermons:

Let us receive what we are;
let us become what we receive.
The body of Christ.

We sometimes use this as a response in our services of Eucharist when the bread is broken and the elements (bread and wine) are presented to the people. All that Christ has accomplished for us is made present to us in the sacrament.

And that brings us to another technical term

prolepsis

(Gk) which is perhaps best expressed as “re-membering the future”. Not only do we understand the Christ is made present in Eucharist, but we also believe that we catch a glimpse (a foretaste) of the fulfilment of all things in God—of God’s realm. In our worship and particularly in the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist then, we believe that we find our place in “God’s time” which encompasses our past, present and future in God.