After that time, there is no evidence of sacrifice; all worship takes
place in synagogues.
b. From that day to this, there has been and there will be one until the
temple is rebuilt, which most Jews associate with the coming of the
Messiah and the End Time.
c. Meanwhile, every Jew is required to pray three times a day and also
participate in community prayer on certain holy days.
B. Christian Worship
- The Eucharist as Worship
a. The Eucharist was instituted by Jesus during what Christians call the
“Last Supper.” Jesus had called his disciples together the night he was
arrested to celebrate what is possibly a Passover seder.
b. Jesus takes bread and wine, blesses it and gives it to his disciples. He
says that the bread is his body and the wine is his blood and gives them to
his apostles to eat and drink. He says to do this in remembrance of him.
c. Christians continued to celebrate and reenact this event after his death
into modern times. The Eucharist is a basic form of Christian worship.
d. Christians also introduced the concept of Jesus as the High Priest
participating in the sacrificial meal of the Eucharist. The one standing
in for Jesus is the Christian priest (one who is presiding over this
sacrificial meal).
e. Christian priesthood is based on the Jewish priesthood and so also
excludes women.
2.The Mass as Worship
a. The Eucharist, which in the West is called the Mass, is very similar to
the Jewish synagogue service. It begins with a series of prayers. Then
there is the reading of scripture.
b. After this portion of the service, the Eucharist begins with the priest
transforming the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
Then the participants partake of “communion,” sharing the body and
blood of Christ.
c. There are priests, bishops and deacons in the Christian community. A
bishop is the head of a Christian community, and now every bishop is a
priest. The priest’s central task is celebrating the Eucharist.
C. Islamic Worship
- Prayer as Worship
a. Islam represents a revolution in pagan Arab custom, substituting
prayer for sacrifice. Muslims are required to pray five times a day at
very specific times, though not in specific places.
b. A muezzin announces the time for prayer by giving a “call to prayer”
from a tower (minaret) attached to a mosque. Muslims must pray
toward Mecca.
c. The prayer takes about 20 minutes and includes passages from the
Quran and proscribed gestures and postures.
LECTURE THIRTEEN
