Friday, April 3, 2009

Communion: Act of Remembrance or Something Much Deeper?

I don't have a long post to put on here today. It is Friday. We are all looking forward to the weekend. I do have a question for you to ponder and even give some feedback on: is Communion, Eucharist, or Lord's Supper (whichever you call it) simply a remembrance meal or is there something much deeper going on? I'm sure whatever your church and denominational background is has something to do with your answer. What kind of meaning do you place on the sacrament?

The reason for my question is that The Journey Church, the church I pastor, is about to transition from celebrating Communion bi-monthly or quarterly to each week. This is not a practice that I grew up doing very often and has been one I have learned much more about in my studies of Christian theology and church history. There have been great debates around this topic on both sides of the spectrum. The first 1600 years of Christianity, the church celebrated Communion weekly. I know many who think it should be done each week and others who say it becomes a ritual and loses its meaning. My biggest challenge to those who speak against doing it weekly for fear of it becoming a ritual is: should we not read the Scriptures, pray, attend church, and serve others daily/weekly out of fear that it will become a ritual? I think something becomes a ritual or loses meaning when we quit giving it the meaning it deserves. It is in our own brokenness we minimize the value and importance of the acts.

I want to resurrect the meaning and value of the Lord's Supper in my own tradition. I want it to be a meaningful act we do each week, just like worshiping and reading of the Scriptures are. What does Eucharist or Lord's Supper mean to you? Does doing it weekly minimize the value or give it its proper place? I would love to hear your thoughts.

2 comments:

  1. It has a deep spiritual reality that is rarely experience, because for so long the church has been taught that it is just a remembrance. We need to return to the depth of His presence as we confess our need and trust in Him in the midst of communing with Him and those of the Family of God

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  2. James, well said...I agree completely with you

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