ST. PAUL
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as a covenant sacrifice, the founding event of the Christian community. Thus the meal, when properly celebrated, re-presents. the founding event of the community and reconstitutes the participants as a covenant comtnunity. For Paul, the interpretation of the Lord's supper as a sacrificial meal of the new covenant had certain definite implications. Like ' baptism, the Lord'ssupper is not merely an individual privilege but carries important social responsibilities. The "Do this in remembrance of me" means not only that we should remember what has been done for us. It also means that Christians are called to imitate the Christ who acted not for himself but for others. Yet baptism and Lord's supper are not only or even primarily images used by Paul for ethical instruction. The symbolic language in which these rites are described shows that they are experiences which transcend ordinary, perceptible experience. They point beyond the senses to the depth dimension of experience. It is this dimension which has power to transform the quality of our lives and to enable us to live ethically. ¡