It is the central service of The Christian Community. As a spiritu- al source of the sacraments and all ritual celebrations, it stands in the centre and will be celebrated if possible, in a particular church room especially consecrated for the sacraments.
The Act of Consecration connects the human being, and through him also nature, with the eternal.
The ritual is structured in the four steps already described: (1) the Proclamation of the Gospel, (2) the Offertorium, (3) the Ca- non or Transubstantiation, (4) the Communion.
It needs a full year to be experienced in its fullness (nine festival tides with different prayers and colours of the altar).
The Eucharist was celebrated and initiated on Maundy Thurs- day by Jesus Christ in the circle of the disciples.
Jesus Christ, before his demise, united himself with the substan- ces of bread and wine and handed them over to the the disci- ples as his body and his blood (Matth. 26, 20 ff.; Mk. 14, 18-24; Lk. 22, 14-20). He performed the transubstantiation of the gifts of the earth for the nourishment and salvation of men.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, this Last Sup- per transformed into the 'morning meal' of Christianity (Joh. 21). In its renewed form, the Holy Meal is the centre of the new Divine Service.