The Sacred Meal - Nora Gallagher

Communion. Even those who understand little about Christianity know of this unique ritual. The Bible tells us the story of the First Communion this way:

“ ²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." ²⁵In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." ²⁶For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”

– 1 Cor. 11:23-26.

In her small volume The Sacred Meal, Nora Gallagher outlines her beliefs in exactly what Communion is and what purpose it serves. Unfortunately, after reading this volume, I feel that Gallagher’s beliefs completely miss the true essence of what Communion is. Instead of just saying this and moving on, I want to highlight a few of Gallagher’s misguided beliefs and present to you the true purpose of Communion.

I first ran into an issue when she said that Communion was “all about the body...eating what we call God.” (pg 14) She likens it to the “ingesting of spirit” and compares it to other ancient non-Christian rituals. But the Communion ritual was not for us to take “a bite out of infinity,” which if I interpret her correctly (she’s rather vague here)is about acknowledging God in us. But Jesus told us precisely what Communion was for “in remembrance of me.” Paul elaborated “you proclaim the Lord’s death.” Communion is a time for remembrance and proclamation, personal reflection and celebration. It is a practical ritual made for a forgetful people; Gallagher reduces it to a mystical experience wherein we ingest God in order to become more like Him.

A page later, I found something else I disagreed with. She describes Communion as something “devised cleverly by and for human beings, to help us get in touch with the holy.” (pg 15) But the Bible is clear that Jesus Christ – God incarnate – was the Deviser and originator of the practice of Communion. It was His way of giving a forgetful people a powerful and physical object lesson about the sacrifice He would make.

Flip the page once more to where she calls Christianity, Judaism, and Islam “the three Abrahamic faiths.” (pg 16) While not directly applicable to Communion, I found it offensive to the uniqueness of Christianity to be lumped in with these other two faiths, and I am sure that the leaders of those other faiths would agree.

On another issue not related to Communion, on page 21 she suggests Jesus came to act against the Roman empire and that “The cross stood at the end of a long series of choices.” (pg 22) First, while Jesus’ impeccable moral standard did call out the injustices of the Roman empire, the miracles and compassion of Jesus were meant to show man’s depraved spiritual condition, not its physical one. Second, the Cross was a foreknown conclusion from before the beginning of time. To say otherwise undermines the omniscience and eternality of God. Given such an obvious error, I would assume that this statement – with whatever it was intended to mean – probably wasn’t meant to give this impression, but it does.

There is no ambiguity about another one of Gallagher’s statements though. She has that there is “Too much focus on personal sin…Jesus didn’t spend a lot of time talking about personal conduct.” (pg 30) One wonders if Gallagher has read the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), Matthew 19 discusses how to handle conflict resolution, and many more examples good be given.

Further on, I dislike the fact that she favorably mentions Marcus Borg on page 37 as Borg denies the bodily Resurrection of Christ (see his book Jesus pg 184). She insinuates that parts of Christianity are mythical on page 55 when she says “The three Abrahamic faiths are intertwined…sharing a nomadic past, myths and stories…” (pg 55)

We finally get back to the subject of Communion (she actually doesn’t speak too much about the subject, choosing instead to intersperse stories about her personal experiences regarding Communion). She says: “The practice of Communion reminds Christians of a meal and many meals shared.” No. Communion is not the reminder of a meal. It is a reminder of Jesus (Do this in remembrance of ME) and His sacrifice.

When we get to page 62, we encounter what I see as the most egregious error in the book. Gallagher is speaking of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. She completely misses Jesus’ point in His response to the Canaanite woman and concludes that:

“He [Jesus], too, was ‘healed.’ He was opened. He was changed. He was no longer sure of what his job was, what he was meant to do. He met a blind man and was changed by the encounter; he met a woman at a well and Mary Magdalene and a tax collector. The difference between Jesus and us may not merely be degrees of divinity, but also his openness to others and their capacity to bend and awaken his heart.”

This theology is no real theology at all. One of the differences between Jesus and us is degrees of divinity? Jesus was changed? This completely undermines the whole of the Christian message. Jesus knew precisely Who He was. “I and my Father are one.” (John 10:20)”Before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58) Read John 17 and tell me Jesus didn’t know what He was doing. Gallagher’s implication is that Jesus was not divine. First Samuel speaks of God saying “he is not a man, that he should change his mind.” (1 Sam 15:29) Therefore, since Gallagher believes that Jesus “was changed,” she must also believe that He is not God. And if Jesus was just a man, then Christianity crumbles.

I could continue on, but I believe I have covered the major errors in this book, with the most egregious being this last. After this last point of contention, I gave up on this book. I skimmed through the rest of it but only because I felt obligated for this review. I can’t recommend this book at all unless you want to add it to the library shelf marked for heretical books - that’s what I’m doing.

The Sacred Meal - Nora Gallagher