A Fresh Perspective on Communion

Eucharist, Communion, the Lord’s Supper. It has been a central feature of Christian worship—some Christians say the central feature—throughout the church’s history, yet churches differ widely in the importance they give it. Some include it in every worship service, while others observe it much less often.

Christians seem to have widely different feelings about Communion, too. For many Christians, Communion is vital. They get upset if their congregation skips one of its usual Communion times. They want Communion brought to their bedside if they’re too sick to come to church. For many other Christians, however, Communion is something to avoid. They deliberately stay away from church on Communion Sundays.

What makes Communion seem vital?

I don’t avoid Communion, but it’s nowhere near vital to me and I can’t really see why it is vital to so many other Christians. I know that to many Christians frequent Communion is important for very deep reasons, but some seem merely afraid of incurring God’s disapproval by not following a particular Communion schedule or method, and I can’t believe God cares that much about our schedules or methods.

I’ve read and thought a lot about Communion. I’ve experienced it in a variety of settings. I’ve talked with Christians who consider Communion vital. But most observances of Communion still leave me cold even though I see important meaning in what Jesus seems to have commanded.

Give yourself, give your life

The main meaning I see in Jesus’ command to observe Communion comes from the nature of the Bible’s words that describe his last meal with his disciples. In the symbolic language that we find not only in the Bible but also in dreams, the arts, and the rituals and scriptures of many religions, the body often represents the whole self. A visual or verbal picture of someone’s body represents the person’s feelings, thoughts, will, and whatever other traits make up that person. So when Jesus says he gives his body, I believe it means not only his physical body but also his whole self. Thus giving our whole selves is what his words ask us to do.

Similarly, blood often represents life, as in Genesis 9:4, “you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” So in saying that his blood is poured out for others, I believe Jesus is saying he gives his life for others. Thus he is asking us to give our lives, too, following his example.

I, therefore, believe that the language used in the Bible to describe this incident says much more than “Drink a token sip of wine or juice and eat a token bite of bread regularly in worship services, as a reminder that I died for your salvation.” I believe that when Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he is saying, “Give your whole self as I gave mine. Give your life for others as I gave mine. Do this in remembrance of me.”

The meaning gets lost

Although I see that message as vitally important, however, I don’t find it communicated in Communion observances. I never hear it mentioned, and two distracting features of most Communion observances keep me from thinking of it.

The first of those features is the ritual words. Parroting the same words in every Communion service keeps them from meaning much to me. When I’ve heard the same words repeatedly for years, I no longer notice their meaning.

Also, hearing all-masculine words used in our rituals, to refer to all human beings or to God, keeps reminding me that such usage gives an inaccurate and harmful message about the relative value of women and men, even though the words’ users may not intend to give that message. Hearing that false message—that God is male and all people are male— distracts me from whatever other message the words may be meant to communicate.

The use of outdated language in the church is another big distraction for me, because to me it says that Christianity is pertinent only for past centuries and not for the one we’re in now. I think that message is false and thus is very important for our churches to avoid conveying. So when I hear outdated words in Communion rituals, they’re a hindrance for me rather than a help.

Community, or merely being present?

The second feature that for me often hides or even seems to contradict what I see as the true meaning of Communion is the lack of evidence that participants see themselves as a community. It’s the feeling that participants don’t support or even know of each others’ efforts to give themselves and their lives in the ways God is calling each one to give. I get the impression that to most church members, the only community in Communion is merely showing up at the same time and place as other members.

One particular Communion observance made me freshly aware of the importance of words and of community. One observance was part of the main Sunday worship service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which is huge and ornate and beautiful. The words of the Communion ritual were the Elizabethan, all-masculine English of a historic Church of England ritual. Yet they came from about the same time in history as the building, so in that setting they weren’t as distracting to me as they would have been in another setting. As for community, in the sense of knowing each other it didn’t exist in the cathedral service, because the participants were from all over the world and most were strangers to each other. But because we followed a familiar ritual and sipped wine from common cups, I was quite aware that in another sense we were a community. I knew we shared the same faith.

Perhaps that is all that is needed.