Christians are not just called to be transformed into something "better" or even "good" but to be transfigured into a "new creation"--ceasing to be what they are in order to become what they are not. In The Eucharist's Biographer, Albert Walsh proposes that the path to this "distinctive Christian identity" is through the power of the Holy Spirit, as revealed in the unity of Word and Sacrament. With this premise, he unites two powerful traditions: the Proclamation of the Word of the Protestant tradition and the Power of God's Grace in the Eucharist of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. It is in what Walsh calls the eucharistic-evangel as a whole that the individual and community are subject to the "real presence" of the Christ, who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is the force behind the transformation and maintenance of Christian identity.
Albert J. D. Walsh is pastor of Heidelberg United Church of Christ in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Ordained in 1981, Pastor Walsh has served churches throughout the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference. Pastor Walsh's sermons have been published in
The Minister's Manual (1989-2007) and
INSIGHTS (1991-2010). He is the author of
Reflections on Death and
Grief and United and Uniting.