Pentecostal Sacramentality

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the Pentecostal praxis of the Lord’s Supper. The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada’s “Statements” identify the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance, but I contend that the Lord’s Supper is more than an ordinance. I argue that the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada should define the Lord’s Supper in sacramental terms for at least two reasons: first, it reflects a return to nascent Canadian Pentecostalism, and second, it better reflects essential Pentecostal praxis. The term sacrament has been lost from traditional Pentecostal theology until recently, but sacramentality better represents a Pentecostal sense of Christ’s presence at the Lord’s Supper. There are six components to this practice-led, practical theology study: First, the reflexive examination of my experience of Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper performance. Second, a reception history of the Lord’s Supper praxis that uncovers the founders’ belief that the Lord’s Supper was an exceptional occasion to encounter Jesus––a supernatural occasion par excellence worthy of weekly adherence. Third, a phenomenological analysis of the contemporary Canadian Pentecostal praxis. My textural description of the phenomenon is that the clergy participants experience the Lord’s Supper as a momentary, sacred, and mysterious meeting with Christ. At the same time, laypersons understand it as a serious, lingering that connects Pentecostals to Christ supernaturally. Fourth, I bring my reception history and phenomenological analysis into a mutually enriching dialogue. Fifth, I examine the liturgical text most often used by contemporary Pentecostals, attending to three realms of interpretation for the “body of Christ,” the bread and wine, the partaker’s body, and the church body. Sixth, I suggest how the theological implications of steps one to five can better inform Pentecostal praxis. The Lord’s Supper performance would better reflect, contribute to, and perpetuate essential Pentecostal spirituality if, when curating and performing the rite, the presiding minister integrated within the liturgy a well-crafted unambiguous eucharistic epiclesis in connection with reading the words of institution, such that its performance occurs in a manner that reflects the familiar Pentecostal practice-orientation of abiding and waiting. Adding the eucharistic epiclesis shaped by this Pentecostal ethos would be a recognizable way to meaningfully orient participants toward a rich pneumatological experience of the sacrament, an experiential encounter with Christ mediated by the Holy Spirit.