Meaningful Communion
A few years ago, I asked the elders if we could change our communion schedule from monthly to quarterly. In this blog I’d like to explain why.
I grew up in the Catholic tradition where communion was a weekly (and unexplained) ritual. I went through the motions and did what the Church told me to. But such regular observance without any explanation of its meaning robbed communion of its significance. It was just “what you did” in church.
When I came to evangelicalism, communion was monthly – and that made it seem special, along with the fact that our pastor connected his sermon to the meaning of what we were about to do in taking communion. The reminders were powerful and prevented communion from becoming an empty ritual.
Through my college years I attended numerous churches. Communion was monthly but often seemed tacked onto the service as an afterthought. The pastor would finish his sermon and then distribute communion with almost no explanation whatsoever. The congregation then sang a hymn and left. I felt like I was back in the mindless ritual of the Catholicism I had left.
When I became a pastor, I wanted communion to be the meaningful thing Jesus intended. Our little church held communion the first Sunday of the month (I continued that tradition) and I always tried to connect the sermon to communion as my own pastor had done. Over the years I discovered that making that connection was often strained. How do you transition from, say, a sermon in Genesis or Daniel to the Lord’s Table? I really didn’t want communion to be a “tacked on” ritual. I wanted the message to flow into the Lord’s Table so it would be meaningful to everyone who participated.
Neither Jesus nor the apostles prescribed how often communion was to be observed. Throughout history some churches have celebrated it weekly, some monthly, and some only once a year (at Easter-Passover). As its regularity is not commanded, I asked the elders if we could move to a quarterly observance of communion. This would allow me to maintain the flow of my sermons without regular interruption. Observing the Lord’s Table less often would increase its specialness (rare things are special!) and I could devote the message on the day of communion to something that would flow naturally into the significance of the Lord’s Table. The elders approved the change, and it has made my job much easier.
A few expressed that they felt robbed of blessing and chose to attend other churches on the first Sunday of the month to take communion. I would kindly suggest that this is a misunderstanding of communion.
Communion is a group exercise. It expresses the spiritual union that a body of people shares together with the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. It is not about an isolated personal spiritual feeling one might get from consuming the elements. If it were, each of us could eat bread and drink grape juice in the privacy of our own homes!
Yes, you can share communion with Christians in other places but the spirit in which you do it is important. For example, if you are on vacation and take communion while visiting another church, you are professing your union with the body of Christ at large. That is the spirit of the celebration! But to protest your home church’s changed communion schedule and go elsewhere just to eat a piece of bread (no matter how spiritual it makes you feel!) is a violation of the spirit of the shared table instituted by Jesus and a theological misunderstanding of the communion celebration.
I grew up in the Catholic tradition where communion was a weekly (and unexplained) ritual. I went through the motions and did what the Church told me to. But such regular observance without any explanation of its meaning robbed communion of its significance. It was just “what you did” in church.
When I came to evangelicalism, communion was monthly – and that made it seem special, along with the fact that our pastor connected his sermon to the meaning of what we were about to do in taking communion. The reminders were powerful and prevented communion from becoming an empty ritual.
Through my college years I attended numerous churches. Communion was monthly but often seemed tacked onto the service as an afterthought. The pastor would finish his sermon and then distribute communion with almost no explanation whatsoever. The congregation then sang a hymn and left. I felt like I was back in the mindless ritual of the Catholicism I had left.
When I became a pastor, I wanted communion to be the meaningful thing Jesus intended. Our little church held communion the first Sunday of the month (I continued that tradition) and I always tried to connect the sermon to communion as my own pastor had done. Over the years I discovered that making that connection was often strained. How do you transition from, say, a sermon in Genesis or Daniel to the Lord’s Table? I really didn’t want communion to be a “tacked on” ritual. I wanted the message to flow into the Lord’s Table so it would be meaningful to everyone who participated.
Neither Jesus nor the apostles prescribed how often communion was to be observed. Throughout history some churches have celebrated it weekly, some monthly, and some only once a year (at Easter-Passover). As its regularity is not commanded, I asked the elders if we could move to a quarterly observance of communion. This would allow me to maintain the flow of my sermons without regular interruption. Observing the Lord’s Table less often would increase its specialness (rare things are special!) and I could devote the message on the day of communion to something that would flow naturally into the significance of the Lord’s Table. The elders approved the change, and it has made my job much easier.
A few expressed that they felt robbed of blessing and chose to attend other churches on the first Sunday of the month to take communion. I would kindly suggest that this is a misunderstanding of communion.
Communion is a group exercise. It expresses the spiritual union that a body of people shares together with the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. It is not about an isolated personal spiritual feeling one might get from consuming the elements. If it were, each of us could eat bread and drink grape juice in the privacy of our own homes!
Yes, you can share communion with Christians in other places but the spirit in which you do it is important. For example, if you are on vacation and take communion while visiting another church, you are professing your union with the body of Christ at large. That is the spirit of the celebration! But to protest your home church’s changed communion schedule and go elsewhere just to eat a piece of bread (no matter how spiritual it makes you feel!) is a violation of the spirit of the shared table instituted by Jesus and a theological misunderstanding of the communion celebration.