"MASS"

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many.” (I Corinthians 12:13-14)

Danielle Ameden, a reporter for the MetroWest Daily News, authored a moving story about the funeral arrangements for Sudbury’s Lt. Scott Milley which appeared on the front page of today’s paper. It was a well written piece. Like so many in the MetroWest area, my heart goes out to the Milley family in their terrible time of grief and loss.

I realize this is quite a “nit-pick” but reporter Ameden wrote that the “mass” for Lt. Milley will take place this morning. So, I’ve decided to make this into a teachable moment. In Roman Catholicism, most church services are called “mass”. The Catholic church will advertise the times for “Sunday masses”. People say, “I’m going to mass”. When you live in such a heavily Roman Catholic area as Boston, and you grow up in this environment, you can (wrongly) think all religious services are called “mass”. They’re not.

“Mass” is predominantly a Roman Catholic term. I do know that Anglicans and Episcopalians also DO use the term “mass”. I am not sure if the Eastern Orthodox churches use the term or not. In Roman Catholicism, the service is “the sacrifice of the mass” which commemorates Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. The mass culminates in the “Holy Eucharist”, which is Communion. In the “Holy Eucharist” they believe the bread and wine truly becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ and that the communicants partake of that body and blood.

In fact, the funeral service for Lt. Milley will be conducted by Pastor Bruce Hanlon from Crossroads Community Church in Framingham. (Crossroads is a non-denominational Protestant church.) Therefore, the service is not a “mass”. For most Protestants (Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, Assemblies of God,etc.)
we call the times of corporate worship “services”. Many Protestant churches do NOT observe Holy Communion every week....but rather once a month. For most Protestants, Communion is NOT the literal body and blood of Christ, but is an important symbol.

For whatever reason, most modern Americans are quite ignorant about religious and spiritual matters. You see that on Jeopardy. Contestants can master categories such as “Physics” or “International leaders” but can’t answer “Who Wrote the Book of Revelation?” or “Who was the founder of the Mormon Church?”

Well, that’s my nit-pick for today!