Page 24 - AECA.org.uk ¦ Koinonia 66

of the new and risen life we have in Christ, and yet, the focus of this risen life,
seems carried out on earth, that is, is concerned with sanctification and
witness. In connection with this is the eternal life, but that this is something in
the future, following death. This is also interesting because the liturgy generally
seems to emphasize the death of Jesus as also the way of his resurrection, thus
the connection between death and new life is emphasized in the liturgy. We can
particularly see this connection in the second of the four acclamations, and in
the Eastertide preface. Death and life are two sides of the same coin: Jesus has
18
destroyed death and Jesus’ resurrection has restored life. The confidence we
have of Christ’s second coming, his return, the liturgy also roots here,
especially the aforementioned acclamation. We can be confident of his return
because of our knowledge of his death and resurrection. Importantly, the
acclamations generally highlight that it was not only significant that Jesus’
resurrection and death happened to him ‘but that, as a result, our lives have
changed too’. 19
As to where the assembly should be looking in the liturgy, the rite seems
20
to point to heaven ‘above’, to God’s throne, and the words of the Sanctus join
the Church on earth with ‘all the company of heaven’ to sing God’s praise.
Here perhaps is one of the only places in the rite where the cosmic character
of the whole event is emphasized, for ‘heaven and earth are full of your glory’,
thus God’s glory extends to the whole of creation, including the angels. Paula
Gooder and Michael Perham in their book, Echoing the Word, write that ‘the
combination of the Sanctus with the Benedictus explicitly joins the songs of
heaven (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) with the songs of earth (“Hosanna”), and reminds
21
us that in the Eucharist heaven and earth are joined in their praise of God’.
Although not to the same degree as witnessed in the Orthodox, where the
kingdom, the heavenly realm is announced as the destination of the liturgy
22
from the beginning, we do get some allusion to a meeting of heaven and
earth, where the assembly joins the saints and angels around the heavenly
throne. As to conveying that sense of a collapse of time characteristic of the
Eucharistic liturgy, the Extended Preface for use with Prayers A, B and E for
Sundays in Ordinary Time does this very well. It weaves together themes of

18 Paula Gooder and Michael Perham, Echoing the Word (London: SPCK, 2013), p. 48.
19 Paula Gooder and Michael Perham, Echoing the Word (London: SPCK, 2013), pp. 42-43.
20 Consider the Sursum Corda and the reference to Lamentations 3:41. See also Gooder and Perham,
Echoing the Word, p. 37.
21 Paula Gooder and Michael Perham, Echoing the Word (London: SPCK, 2013), p. 41.
22 Schmemann, The Eucharist, p. 52.

22