The question was asked today why do we celebrate communion? My immediate thought was because at the time, having some sort sacred meal was very culturally relevant and a good way of connecting this “new” religion with the diverse religious communities around, particularly as the passage we were looking at the time was from Corinthians (a cosmopolitan city with a variety of temples and religions). Whilst all the gospels talk about the last supper, only Luke records that Jesus tells the disciples “to do this in remembrance of Him”. I wonder how much the early church read into these words (at the expense of the other gospels) to institute a communion meal that would help people connect and how much we have now read into it to see it as instituted by Jesus rather than by Paul and the disciples. This is not to say it is wrong to have communion or that Luke was not accurate, but maybe its time for a rethink about what we mean by communion and how we find ways that connect with the people today in the same way a sacred meal would have 2000 years ago.
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My favourite point about communion was that it was a shared meal where both poorer and richer Christians could come together at the same time and participate equally. They were supposed to wait for all to be present before starting the meal. The poorer Christians, who perhaps couldn’t afford decent food could participate as equals.
yes, i agree richardo… i’d like us all to have a re-think about what communion is all about… I’m not at all sure if we know why we’re doing it, or, even if we’re sure we SHOULD be doing it… HOW to do it!
I wonder if it always needs to be so very sombre… why can’t we do it as a celebration: whoopie – jesus died, but is alive again… let’s have a big nosh-up to celebrate!
Also… a new thought (freshly formed during communion yesterday at church)… what about the ingredients in the bread and drink… is the sugar fairly-traded?! Sounds petty, but is actually v important, imo. Not sure Jesus would think it’s cool for us to remember his death and res, whilst exploiting the poor of this world at the same time!!
Not always one for poetry, but this was written by a Salvation Army General
“My life must be Christ’s broken bread,
My love his outpoured wine,
A cup o’erfilled, a table spread
Benaeth his name and sign
That other souls, refreshed and fed
May share his life through mine”
Albert Osborn
I’ve been chaleneged lately by a move from the charismatic housechurch movement to the Anglican church, and realised that what I thought of communion as in my housechurch mindset was very different to what the ‘sacrement’ is in the Anglican church.
For me it always used to be a shared meal, between myself and other believers, or between myself and God. There was something about sitting down at a table with God and recieving bread and wine that He provided that was very intimate. Something about His perfect hospitality, about being able to be at ease at the table of someone you are close to, just able to be yourself, share a meal, and not have to explain yourself or anything else.
But according to my anglican friends, that is what they would call an agape, and true communion, the sacriment we share at mass is something totally different. I don’t really understand it but last Sunday I caught a glimpse of it being something to do with us as a church (the wider body of Christ) receiving symbols of Christ’s body and blood, and then being sent out as a body, newly commissioned and refreshed through the receiving of the symbols to serve the world as the body of Christ.
So are these two really totally different things? And if so, which did Jesus institute at the last supper when he said ‘this is my body broken for you, do this in rememberance of me’. What is the place of the other? And Gordon- you reminded me that the Salvation Army do not use communion as a sacrement. Why is this?
Whenever I see practices that exist as a rules based system (e.g. most people’s experience of communion) I start to wonder how the ‘spirit’ of what was ‘in’ communion would work out in practice if there were no rules?
The reason that I wonder this is because I tend to think that we should have moved away from rules (which limit and can never be good enough and don’t give freedom) toward a more spirit lead life. When I see rules based systems I then try to imagine how they could be disposed of!!!
Surely the essence of communion is to recognise Christ’s sacrifice, recognise his provision and to share one aspect of that provision together. If we are ‘living in Christ’ then we tend to be aware of this and we tend to know how to live it out. The difficulties arise because we don’t always ‘live in Christ’ – because we are human and sin.