Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23-26, ‘The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’

Question: What is the significance of these verses for us? What is your experience of this?

Other questions: What is essential for us to understand about this meal, and its purpose? What is required of us in response to Jesus’ command?

See related verses: https://group.questionsandbelief.org/related-verses-communion/

Our reading shows the early Church had followed Jesus’ commands about this meal, and Paul gave guidelines on its practice, as the wealthy Corinthians were displaying self-centred behaviour in their conduct of the meal, condemning themselves through their deeds that showed a heart that was unchanged.

We celebrate Holy Communion in response to Jesus’ command to “do this in remembrance of me.”

I thought our celebration of Communion last week, led by Brandon, was a perfect model for worship. He focussed on what this meal signifies in relation to our state of sin and need of forgiveness from God, of being made acceptable to God through the sacrifice of Jesus when he took the penalty for sin. That’s the central focus of our faith in Jesus. All singing and prayer and preaching of the gospel only becomes meaningful in the context of Jesus miraculous victory over sin and Satan on the cross, and his resurrection in victory over death. Without His victory, we would remain in our sin, and all our worship, singing, and good works would be nice but would not change who we are before God.

So, I think this is a central part of our worship, it gives meaning to everything else, and it was an essential part of worship of the early church.
Acts 2:42 reads, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”;
Acts 2:46 reads, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts”;
and Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.”

The Churches of Christ aimed to restore the basics of New Testament worship, so they adopted the practice of having Communion every week.

Brandon did not mention anything about the physical mechanics of this meal, he focussed instead on what it means for us in our state of sin, our relation to God, and on what the many bible verses relating to Communion all point to, which is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross 2000 years ago, which changes everything for all time.

To focus on a legalistic or superficial interpretation of these verses would miss their meaning, and would divert us into pointless argument. That is why I included the reference to Gulliver’s Travels and Jonathan Swift; he was a clergyman in the Church of England and included his satire of the Big-Endians and Little-Endians in Gulliver’s Travels as a parody of the fierce religious conflicts that had plagued Britain and Europe for generations.

The Passover Lamb

The related verses I listed from the Old Testament on observing the Passover give an understanding of why Jesus used phrases like “this is my body” and “this is my blood”. His sacrifice on the cross established the New Covenant, which completely replaced the Old Covenant under the Law, which was celebrated by the Passover. The instructions about celebrating the Passover describe in detail the shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb, and their eating of it. Jesus’ made his statements about eating his body to clearly identify himself as the new sacrificial lamb for us, who takes away the sin of the world, not just a household.

Personal View

My personal view aligns with the Evangelical churches which tend to focus on God’s almighty and active presence amongst us which is not limited by space, time, or matter. They use the term “omnipresent” to indicate He is present everywhere at all times. His Holy Spirit changes us from within, and gives us a new heart, without recourse to external physical or mechanical means. While God may choose to use physical objects in His miracles, His powers are beyond the physical, so those churches don’t tend to ascribe or limit His blessings to physical objects and means. But I am aware of the need to respect the views of people from denominations who have a different emphasis.