The magician waved a white handkerchief in the air before stuffing it into his top hat. He waved his hand above the hat and exclaimed the words, “Hocus pocus!” He reached into his hat, and pulled out a fluttering white dove! What a magical transformation! All because of the magic words: Hocus Pocus.
But did you know these words find their source in the ancient Communion liturgy?
Last week in our Communion class, we talked about transubstantiation, the belief that the bread and wine are transformed into the actual physical body and blood of Jesus Christ, a belief that is more prevalent throughout history and the world than you might think. Imagine yourself back in the early 1600’s, sitting in a magnificent cathedral made of stone. The echo throughout the sanctuary makes the music completely surround you, almost what you think heaven will be like; and spoken words, especially spoken words in Latin, were unintelligible – and quite mysterious. Imagine that the priest stands at the table, with his back to the congregation, lifts the bread which will become the actual body of Christ, and utters the words, “Hoc est meum corpus.” This is my body. As the words echoed around the room, they may very well have sounded a bit like “hocus pocus.”
Whether the phrase “hocus pocus” came into being because of misunderstanding, or as a deliberate corruption of the words of the Latin Mass, they have always carried the implication of changing one thing into something else.
Some of the Reformers held a slightly different belief about what happened with the bread and wine called consubstantiation. The bread and wine are truly bread and wine, but the physical body and blood of Christ is also present with the bread and wine. This is also sometimes called “Real Presence.” Other reformers rejected the entire idea that Christ was present in the elements, and viewed Communion as a memorial, or sign of Christ’s death, with the focus on fellowship and servanthood. Some denominations that support that view call the Lord’s Supper an ordinance.
John Wesley fell somewhere between these two views. While he did not believe that Christ is physically present in the bread and wine, he believed something happens that is more that just a memorial. For Wesley, it is a real means of grace. He believed that when we come to the Table, “there is a real communion with the living Christ and a real reception of his body and blood, albeit in a spiritual – not physical – manner.”[1] As Methodists, we believe in Christ’s “Spiritual Presence” in the bread and wine.
Wesley taught that the Lord’s Supper is a “converting” sacrament, in that we fully experience the grace of God through receiving the bread and wine – it is a means of preventing grace to restrain us from sin; a means of justifying grace to show that our sins are forgiven; and a means of sanctifying grace to renew our souls in the image of God. In his sermon “The Duty of Constant Communion” John Wesley says: “As our bodies are strengthened by bread and wine, so are our souls by these tokens of the body and the blood of Christ. This is the food of our souls: This gives us strength to perform our duty and leads us on to perfection” (Works 7:148). Sanctification is the lifelong process by which we are transformed into the image of Christ, and conformed to his likeness. Communion is a means of that grace.
I guess you could say that there is a little “hocus pocus” going on – but it is we who are being changed from one thing into something else through the Spiritual Presence of Christ.
[1] p.241 The Sacred Actions of Christian Worship, Vol. VI The Complete Library of Christian Worship, Robert Webber, ed.
