Communion
i've been thinking a lot about communion recently. and what would ya know, but it popped up in my reading. i was in matt. 26 tonight. katie and i were hanging out last saturday and she asked my thoughts of communion, since i'm a quaker. quaker heritage generally denies the sacraments, directing followers to the heart rather than ritual. this was largely due to the way in which many sacraments had become abused rituals in the church at the time when the Quaker faith was founded. since then, both the Church and the Quakers have changed, and many now do communion, baptism, etc.
anyway we were talking and she brought up how misunderstood communion is, which i totally agree with. one of the most oft-quoted scriptures in relation to communion is Paul rebuking the church in Corinth. but what many fail to realize is that he was speaking into a specific time and place of significant abuse. it's so often quoted as saying "check your hearts and don't come unworthy." but as i understand, that's just the point: we can only come unworthy. it's only in the amazing grace magnifying, sin defying feat of Christ's body being broken that we can come.
then today in church we took communion. now i have strange ideas about communion...like that i think that it would still best be practiced as part of a meal, and that in the church setting it often loses some of its significance. i'm not saying that we should cease practicing it...just that there may be a better way. but today was great. Zac Derr, one of our interns and an amazing man, shared about being careful to remember the significance of the moment...that maybe it's just a cracker & some juice, but in that moment of communion we're harkening back to the very blood and body that was broken, and recalling a sacrifice of the utmost significance. it was good.
so then i read about it tonight and it made me think of all these things and write this.
posted by joeldaniel @ 11:22 PM
2 Comments:
Dave de Vries, the Pastor of Christ Presbyterian, talked about communion today too. He mentioned that some people think of the bloody cross and the sacrifice of Christ while partaking in communion. He suggested some other ideas: recognizing our individual connection to a body of believers, remembering our baptism (and progressing journey of faith - see "After Baptism" by John P. Burgess), or simply the joy of connection to God.
I think of the actual word communion, specifically to commune with God. Yes, the aspect of food, particularly the idea of being spiritually "fed" is important, but I feel that the most relevant aspect of communion (at least, for me) is the direct connection to God. (but you are right Joel, it can be lost in the ritual). We have begun to take communion in multiple ways, sometimes we will take it intinction (sp?), which requires those who are able to go to the front of the church (similar to Catholic mass [i'll explain in a minute]) and sometimes just sitting in the pews (or drive-thru, as some of us know it).
The thing about intinction is that it becomes a physical action based upon belief. Sure, there could be arguements for or against this (the church only began drive-thru service about 100 years ago, prior to that, it was intinction), but theologically, if we are to communally (there's that root word again) meet with our Lord, I think action is required. Action is what separates real Christians from the 80 some percent of people who claim to believe in God, yet don't know what to believe about Him. Action is what makes us followers.
I guess this turned into an argument for intinction. Sorry.
GAR! I was halfway through this comment once already when my computer locked up. GAR!
Anyways: probably my most meaningful communion experience was at a meal. Ben probably remembers: the prayer walk preceding Easter last year. We turned out the lights in the youth room, lit it with candles, put down a low table with pillows, broke matza and drank grape juice while listening to Christ's words from the last supper. That was pretty dang cool.
Anyways, I think some of the contradictory ways we do communion are actually pretty cool. We can go up to receive it or it can be brought to us. Kinda like grace: God freely offers it but we still have to work for it. I like both ways because they both capture half of that idea.
I know back in the olden days of Presbyterian tradition communion was a HUGE deal. None of this making up your mind minutes before the plate is passed, you had to go the week or night before and sit down before the Elders who would grill you on your heart and your knowledge before you were deemed worthy. Definitely had to be purposeful about that!
Communion is a cool thing, glad we have that apart of our tradition. Even though it's vaguely cannibalistic :)
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