by Demi Prentiss

Greg Pierce’s book The Mass is Never Ended maintains that the most important moment in the celebration of Holy Eucharist is the dismissal—the sending out of the faithful into the world to be alter Christi, “other Christs,” in service to the world in Christ’s name.

The Sunday celebrations of holy eucharist (“thanksgiving”) are not the completion of our week, a reward for our days of toiling in the vineyard. I like to think of our sharing the body and blood of Christ as fueling us for the journey ahead, propelling us back out into the chaos of daily life. Pierce concludes his book with the exhortation, “Stick close to the Mass. Do not let anyone or anything distract you from what it really is. Allow it to forgive you, to prepare you, and send you forth. Leave the church as if you have been launched like a rocket, embrace your mission to help make this a better world, and develop your own spirituality of work to sustain you.”

Our congregations are not the destination as we walk The Way of Christ.  Instead, they serve as “base camps” for our explorations of the world we encounter in our daily lives. If we need rest or healing or encouragement, the church offers resources to equip us, in order to send us out to explore further. Our calling is to the adventure of hiking the mountains, not exploring the amenities of the base camp.

Sacraments—outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, as the Catechism reminds us—are more God’s gift than the church’s invention. The church over centuries has codified them as reliable signposts of God at work. “See that! Pay attention! God is up to something!”  The spiritual practices that the church encourages help train our eyes and hearts to recognize God’s presence working in the world.  Gathering as the Body of Christ, offering praise, confessing our sins, offering peace to all, and celebrating eucharist prepare us to join Christ beyond the church walls, out in the world.  With God’s help, may we seek to catch sight of and celebrate God at work practically everywhere.