Ever wondered why, in celebrating the Lord’s Supper, we say:
Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord
Richard Muller, in his fantastic Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms writes of the meaning of Sursum Corda:
“Lift up (your) hearts; a phrase from the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper. It is especially important to the Reformed as an explanation of the union (see unio sacramentalis) between the participant in the Lord’s Supper and the resurrected Christ. Rather than argue the presence of Christ’s body in the elements, the Reformed will argue, in effect, the spiritual union of the believer with the exalted Christ, a participation in the thing signified (see res sacramenti) by means of faithful participation in the sign (signum) and the concomitant operation of the Spirit that joins together by grace the uplifted heart of the believer and the person of Christ with all its benefits. ”
I love this explanation of the words we use each week at St. Anne’s in the APBA Prayer Book. What a joy to receive the whole Christ in this wonderfully, yet spiritually mysterious way! Also, as a minor note, it makes me want to learn latin (I’m looking at you Seamus!).
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5 comments
Seumas says:
May 15, 2010 at 10:55 am (UTC 10 )
Of course, the great thing about ‘sursum corda’ is how utterly compact it is: sursum is an adverb meaning ‘up, on high’, and corda is the nt. plural for ‘hearts’. The translation “Lift up your hearts” has to add two whole words to bring out what the Latin implies.
Stay tuned for details in the next week or so on my winter latin school….
Mark says:
May 15, 2010 at 11:27 am (UTC 10 )
Ha, that’s really interesting mate. So, it’s really: “up hearts!” Sounds like a football cheer!
Keen to hear more about the latin mate.
Thanks,
M.
Chris Ashton says:
May 17, 2010 at 1:15 pm (UTC 10 )
I knew that, as a Muller fan, it would only be a matter of time before you got to blogging entries from DLGTT. But it’s an awesome (and interesting) resource.
Chris Ashton says:
May 17, 2010 at 1:17 pm (UTC 10 )
I dig the new design, by the way. It’s easy to miss when you’re RSS-ing.
Mark says:
May 17, 2010 at 3:30 pm (UTC 10 )
Cheers Chris! I much prefer this design too. The old one was … well, hopeless!
Yep, and that Muller book has been invaluable to my doctrine essays, and even as I read along with other serious theologians. That and PRRD are essential items for the theological student!