Centre of Worship

I've been doing research on the history and nature of Christian worship for the past 2000+ years, and have learned the following:

* in the early church, the centre of Christian worship was Holy Communion and Preaching;
* in the middle ages, the centre of worship became the administration of sacraments; preaching fell by the wayside;
* during the reformation, Holy Communion has become a mere "memorial" afterthought, in favour of preaching.

Personally, I think the centre of Christian worship should be Holy Communion, because the act transcends my mood, my opinion: Jesus died and rose again, and focusing on that reality is an act of worship that far transcends any mood or opinion.

If preaching becomes the focus, then my attention too often is turned to the preacher: what he says, what he doesn't, how he says it, his sense of humour (or lack of it), his mood, his opinions, his theological views, and the list goes on and on. The key is that he - not Christ - becomes the centre of attention. Or conversely, if I'm in a bad mood, or if I disagree with his views or opinions, again, I'm focusing not on Our Lord, but on myself.

By making Holy Communion the central act of Christian Worship we can never go wrong, becasue the focus will always be on Jesus Christ.

That has been a revelation to me over the past few days.