The introduction to the book is explicit: this is not a doctrinal book. In this is meant that proofs and arguments are not going to be laid in front of the reader to tread down for consumption or trashing.
Instead this books works on presuppositions. It is a "proof in the pudding" type of work as Dr Leithart likes to call it. And I'm going to bring a few small spoonfuls of the pudding to my blog.
In the introduction Dr Leithart speaks of the supper as soteriological and eschatological. Ignoring the later, the first one struck me as beautiful. Working on the assumption that union with Christ truly is the fullness of salvation (a quirk some evangelicals may not like), the Lord's Supper as "communion with Christ" must represent everything pertaining to salvation. How often are we able to bring the full scope of salvation to the church in our practicing of the Lord's Supper?
The kicker was the soteriological fulfillment of Jesus Christ. The giving of Jesus by the Father is well seen as the climax of salvation history. Jesus Christ is faithful in His life but the true giving is the simple giving of the Son. And what do we find offered to us in the Lord's Supper? The Son.
This sacrament, for it should be called nothing less, is in fact the ultimate testimony of God's efforts in salvation. And far from being a simple reminder, we recognize it is in fact the communion that delivers salvation to each one of us.
I'm not one for puns. But "chew on that."