I pretty much agree with your take. My current (very small storefront church) is nondenominational but sort of Baptist (how I was raised) we do this once a month although they call it communion. I’ve wondered if Jesus meant “each time you celebrate the Passover” and we should do it once a year at Passover. I dunno. Just wondering.
I was friends with folks who only did the Lord's Supper once a year -- on Good Friday. They were pretty certain we shouldn't do it more often than that. THEIR nondemoninational ccongregation may not need to do it more often, but I prefer it more often than that.
Our church celebrates Passover -- usually on Good Friday, but this year, the Jewish Passover and Resurrection Sunday are nearly a month apart, so our pastor has announced we'll do a seder service later in April. In it, we somewhat combine the concept of a love feast and the Lord's Supper into one. That has deepened my faith. So, IDK, maybe there's a lot of variety in Christian churches because we each hold different cultural values. And maybe it doesn't matter that we do it somewhat differently because Jesus wasn't following the Passover exactly either. He added a fourth cup that Judas missed afterall.
Zwingli, in light of 2 Corinthians 13:5, Romans 8:10, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, Galatians 1:15-16, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 4:19, Ephesians 3:17, Colossians 1:27, and 2 Thessalonians 1:10 is I believe talking about the true presence of Christ within us. Thus the presence of Christ is very real, but the breaking of the bread celebrates that reality. It is no less miraculous than transubstantiation. I look about our sunrise service worshipers. Christ is in us - all of us diverse individuals - all made in his image - now all filled with His Presence and His Spirit.
There is power in a congregation all being focused on the death and resurrection of Christ for the remission of our sins. I know people who really reject that thought -- primarily because they object to the entire thought of a Savior. Jesus, I believe, understood we would need that power to get through the tough times that come against the churches from time to time.
Wonderful and thorough exposition on the Lord's Supper. Better and more complete than any sermon I've ever heard on it. I especially like the way you point out several ways we should prepare our hearts before partaking. I also appreciate the scholarship on Luther, Calvin, and Swingli's views. I attend a non-denominational congregation where we partake every week. Contrary to those who think this would make communion too "common" or something, I find it a logical extension of the purpose of assembling weekly on the Lord's Day - every Lord's Day is a celebration of our communion with Him. Although not specifically commanded, there is a biblical basis for weekly communion. It's Acts 20:7 - "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread,..." I believe the 'breaking of bread' here is the Lord's Supper, and the implication is that it was the central purpose for gathering together. If that's a correct interpretation, it puts the Lord's Supper way up there in importance. For me, it's like celebrating Easter every Sunday. My daughter in Anchorage also has found a congregation where they partake weekly - cca (Christian Church of Anchorage). The weekly observance may not be a clear command, but at least it has some biblical reasoning behind it, unlike any other practice, whether monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually, etc. Your determination to check things out biblically tells me you'd like to read my post "A Thorough Study of Baptism".
I love the variety available to us as believers. We are still bound by the connection of salvation in Jesus Christ, but have freedom in Christ to express our own cultural values. My husband and best friend were raised Catholic and they take communion every week. I learned from both of them that the weekly celebration of communion -- especially (for both) as non-believing youngsters -- rendered it a rote excercise that they didn't understand or contemplate much. Both became evangelicals in their adulthood and neither (by choice) takes the Lord's Supper weekly. That doesn't make it wrong to do so -- just as people who do it monthly or quarterly or randomly are necessarily wrong in their celebration. What would be wrong is to not take it at all, as I've heard some progressive "Christian" pastors preach in favor of. I'm missing it this go-around because I'm waiting on the wind to die down at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. I'll land in Fairbanks right about the time Resurrection Sunday service starts and won't probably clear Baggage Claim before it's over. But that's fine because our pastor (young scholar that he is) has noticed that Pasca is actually three or so weeks from now, so they'll have the relgious holiday twice-a-year churchgoers celebrate today and then we'll have a more congregation-based celebration in alignment with the Hebrew calendar. Best of both worlds.
I too only knew Christianity by "rote", being brought up in a Lutheran church 1/4 mile away because WWII gas rationing made it too hard for my parents to get to their Presbyterian church which was over 8 miles away. After 4 yrs of college, I was an agnostic. It wasn't until I was 27 that I was converted to whole-hearted, all-out belief in Jesus. One other thought about weekly communion: We all meet weekly, but why? It's not commanded. But history confirms it was the practice of the early church. I think weekly Lord's Supper was the early practice also, although I'm not a historian.
Thanks for this discussion of all of what I understand are the essential variants of the meaning of the Lord's Supper. I grew up in an Episcopalian church, and I do value their liturgical prayers of confession preceding communion. I think the beauty of the 1620 service's language, which was used until about the early 1970s, formed a great part of my education in and love for language. (It seemed to me then, as I became a Christian, that the modernizers had watered down a lot of the language of the liturgy, and in trying to make it more palatable to less-literate parishioners--more modern, I suppose--they also lost some of the theological content. Irregardless (as illustrates my unfair disdain for modern language murder), I still recall fondly the recounting of "For in the night in which He was betrayed, He took the bread and brake it..." and wish that the less-formal celebrations I experience in the evangelical world contained more of the content. (power outage seems imminent)
I also keep wondering whether I am the only one who toys with the idea that every time we share a meal with others--break bread--and drink whatever beverage--wine was the everyday beverage at every meal at Jesus' time--we should remember Christ's sacrifice for us. "...As often as you eat... drink..." Is it just me, or? Yes, indeed, we must not lightly consider and remember Christ's sacrifice, and the symbolism of the last supper recalls the rare (annual) celebration of the Passover. It's definitely not to die for, but what about the idea that every meal should be an opportunity to honor the Bread of Life?
Many Christians view church socials that way. Many of us obviously interact with the world as well. So, tomorrow afternoon when my supervisor treats our team to pizza in an attempt to buy our liking her (she has issues), I can't consider that communion with God. But I can feel that way about meals with fellow Christians. And sometimes we "break bread" with fellow Christias without actually eating. Whenever two or three of us gather in His name, He is there among us.
I suspect if we held that attitude toward simple socials, it would deepen things for us for a while, but if socials replaced the Lord's Supper (and they have in some churches), we'd lose the specific focus on Christ's death and resurrection for the cleansing of our sins that we need to keep remembering. It would become about Christians hanging out with each other rather than Christians communing with God.
So, you're not wrong, but we do need to make sure we retain a communion that is God focused rather than Christian focused. It's not about congregations fellowshipping. That's important, but churches must not become mere social clubs and that is a risk when we don't keep the love feast and the Lord's Supper seperate. Both are important and I think socials would be greatly improved by a greater spirituality infused into that interaction, but we must not degrade the Lord's Supper by creating an equivalence. That's my thought, anyway.
I pretty much agree with your take. My current (very small storefront church) is nondenominational but sort of Baptist (how I was raised) we do this once a month although they call it communion. I’ve wondered if Jesus meant “each time you celebrate the Passover” and we should do it once a year at Passover. I dunno. Just wondering.
I was friends with folks who only did the Lord's Supper once a year -- on Good Friday. They were pretty certain we shouldn't do it more often than that. THEIR nondemoninational ccongregation may not need to do it more often, but I prefer it more often than that.
Our church celebrates Passover -- usually on Good Friday, but this year, the Jewish Passover and Resurrection Sunday are nearly a month apart, so our pastor has announced we'll do a seder service later in April. In it, we somewhat combine the concept of a love feast and the Lord's Supper into one. That has deepened my faith. So, IDK, maybe there's a lot of variety in Christian churches because we each hold different cultural values. And maybe it doesn't matter that we do it somewhat differently because Jesus wasn't following the Passover exactly either. He added a fourth cup that Judas missed afterall.
Zwingli, in light of 2 Corinthians 13:5, Romans 8:10, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, Galatians 1:15-16, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 4:19, Ephesians 3:17, Colossians 1:27, and 2 Thessalonians 1:10 is I believe talking about the true presence of Christ within us. Thus the presence of Christ is very real, but the breaking of the bread celebrates that reality. It is no less miraculous than transubstantiation. I look about our sunrise service worshipers. Christ is in us - all of us diverse individuals - all made in his image - now all filled with His Presence and His Spirit.
There is power in a congregation all being focused on the death and resurrection of Christ for the remission of our sins. I know people who really reject that thought -- primarily because they object to the entire thought of a Savior. Jesus, I believe, understood we would need that power to get through the tough times that come against the churches from time to time.
Wonderful and thorough exposition on the Lord's Supper. Better and more complete than any sermon I've ever heard on it. I especially like the way you point out several ways we should prepare our hearts before partaking. I also appreciate the scholarship on Luther, Calvin, and Swingli's views. I attend a non-denominational congregation where we partake every week. Contrary to those who think this would make communion too "common" or something, I find it a logical extension of the purpose of assembling weekly on the Lord's Day - every Lord's Day is a celebration of our communion with Him. Although not specifically commanded, there is a biblical basis for weekly communion. It's Acts 20:7 - "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread,..." I believe the 'breaking of bread' here is the Lord's Supper, and the implication is that it was the central purpose for gathering together. If that's a correct interpretation, it puts the Lord's Supper way up there in importance. For me, it's like celebrating Easter every Sunday. My daughter in Anchorage also has found a congregation where they partake weekly - cca (Christian Church of Anchorage). The weekly observance may not be a clear command, but at least it has some biblical reasoning behind it, unlike any other practice, whether monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually, etc. Your determination to check things out biblically tells me you'd like to read my post "A Thorough Study of Baptism".
I love the variety available to us as believers. We are still bound by the connection of salvation in Jesus Christ, but have freedom in Christ to express our own cultural values. My husband and best friend were raised Catholic and they take communion every week. I learned from both of them that the weekly celebration of communion -- especially (for both) as non-believing youngsters -- rendered it a rote excercise that they didn't understand or contemplate much. Both became evangelicals in their adulthood and neither (by choice) takes the Lord's Supper weekly. That doesn't make it wrong to do so -- just as people who do it monthly or quarterly or randomly are necessarily wrong in their celebration. What would be wrong is to not take it at all, as I've heard some progressive "Christian" pastors preach in favor of. I'm missing it this go-around because I'm waiting on the wind to die down at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. I'll land in Fairbanks right about the time Resurrection Sunday service starts and won't probably clear Baggage Claim before it's over. But that's fine because our pastor (young scholar that he is) has noticed that Pasca is actually three or so weeks from now, so they'll have the relgious holiday twice-a-year churchgoers celebrate today and then we'll have a more congregation-based celebration in alignment with the Hebrew calendar. Best of both worlds.
I too only knew Christianity by "rote", being brought up in a Lutheran church 1/4 mile away because WWII gas rationing made it too hard for my parents to get to their Presbyterian church which was over 8 miles away. After 4 yrs of college, I was an agnostic. It wasn't until I was 27 that I was converted to whole-hearted, all-out belief in Jesus. One other thought about weekly communion: We all meet weekly, but why? It's not commanded. But history confirms it was the practice of the early church. I think weekly Lord's Supper was the early practice also, although I'm not a historian.
Thanks for this discussion of all of what I understand are the essential variants of the meaning of the Lord's Supper. I grew up in an Episcopalian church, and I do value their liturgical prayers of confession preceding communion. I think the beauty of the 1620 service's language, which was used until about the early 1970s, formed a great part of my education in and love for language. (It seemed to me then, as I became a Christian, that the modernizers had watered down a lot of the language of the liturgy, and in trying to make it more palatable to less-literate parishioners--more modern, I suppose--they also lost some of the theological content. Irregardless (as illustrates my unfair disdain for modern language murder), I still recall fondly the recounting of "For in the night in which He was betrayed, He took the bread and brake it..." and wish that the less-formal celebrations I experience in the evangelical world contained more of the content. (power outage seems imminent)
I also keep wondering whether I am the only one who toys with the idea that every time we share a meal with others--break bread--and drink whatever beverage--wine was the everyday beverage at every meal at Jesus' time--we should remember Christ's sacrifice for us. "...As often as you eat... drink..." Is it just me, or? Yes, indeed, we must not lightly consider and remember Christ's sacrifice, and the symbolism of the last supper recalls the rare (annual) celebration of the Passover. It's definitely not to die for, but what about the idea that every meal should be an opportunity to honor the Bread of Life?
Many Christians view church socials that way. Many of us obviously interact with the world as well. So, tomorrow afternoon when my supervisor treats our team to pizza in an attempt to buy our liking her (she has issues), I can't consider that communion with God. But I can feel that way about meals with fellow Christians. And sometimes we "break bread" with fellow Christias without actually eating. Whenever two or three of us gather in His name, He is there among us.
I suspect if we held that attitude toward simple socials, it would deepen things for us for a while, but if socials replaced the Lord's Supper (and they have in some churches), we'd lose the specific focus on Christ's death and resurrection for the cleansing of our sins that we need to keep remembering. It would become about Christians hanging out with each other rather than Christians communing with God.
So, you're not wrong, but we do need to make sure we retain a communion that is God focused rather than Christian focused. It's not about congregations fellowshipping. That's important, but churches must not become mere social clubs and that is a risk when we don't keep the love feast and the Lord's Supper seperate. Both are important and I think socials would be greatly improved by a greater spirituality infused into that interaction, but we must not degrade the Lord's Supper by creating an equivalence. That's my thought, anyway.
Great insights. Thanks.