Posted by Ir (Helen) on: 04.27.2006 /
I love the concept of communion. According to one dictionary communion means an act or instance of sharing; also, intimate fellowship or rapport.
The word also has a specific meaning in many churches.
There’s a part of the Jesus movie (to use Jim Henderson’s term) where Jesus is having dinner with his disciples. It’s not just any dinner; it’s a special one that Jewish people get together with family and friends annually to share. It commemorates and celebrates the time God rescued the Jewish people from slavery to the Egyptians. (According to their sacred writings) It comprises readings and ritual activities with a break in the middle to eat dinner.
According to the movie Jesus doesn’t just read the traditional Jewish readings. He adds some words of his own.
Here’s a movie clip:
Jesus and the twelve apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, “I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat it again until it comes to fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.”
Then he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”
Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you–an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.”
(Luke 22:14-23, New Living Translation)
Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me.” What was he referring to by “this”?
Evidently most of the churches I attended think Jesus meant the following. At some point in the church service minute portions of something symbolizing bread and something symbolizing wine are distributed to those present and ‘eligible’ to participate. The atmosphere is reverent and solemn; there might be some background devotional music. There is NO talking to one another. People are encouraged to pray or reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross on their behalf.
Many churches call this ritual ‘Communion’.
When I was mentally ill I was sort of catapulted out of the ROAA (Range Of Acceptable Answers -see yesterday morning’s blog entry) and wondered how Jesus would rate the church’s attempt at ‘doing this in remembrance of him’. I wondered if he maybe was thinking more along the lines of, say, a birthday party?
I’d like to hear your answers to the following questions whether you believe the stories or not. You don’t have to believe them to have opinions.
What was Jesus (and/or the author) referring to by “this”, when he said “Do this in remembrance of me?”
How well do you think the church has captured what Jesus (and/or the author) meant?
Why is the church ritual so different from the Jewish ritual meal?
How well does ‘Communion’ describe the church ritual?
Please note: if all you can think about after reading this is, say, how stupid Christian beliefs about Jesus’ death are, please take that to the discussion board and post the link in the comments section. I can relate and it’s not entirely irrelevant but I’d rather keep the focus here on the questions above.
Comment by: NCxian
1I’ve thought about this too. I think Jesus would give us credit for trying, but he would think we sure have taken the fun out of it! I believe there are those in the emergent movement (and perhaps at other times throughout the ages) who have taken this to heart. We do refer to it as “celebrating” communion.
At the same time, even the way we solemnly do ommunion is often meaningful to me, in the sense of it being a shared time within my community, focused collectively on most important things. Not just shared with the community around me (although that is cool) but shared by Christians around the world and throughout time. Ritual is critical to a local community and extended community, I think.
Seeing as how Jesus was reporting about his impending death, the particular passover meal that is described above probably was originally a pretty solemn occasion (at least at the point where he was saying the stuff above). So I guess the thinking is that we should remember it solemnly.
Comment by: TXatheist
2It’s a ritual. Jesus meant, imo, that when you eat this remember that I made a sacrifice for you. It sets up a good precedent for others to at least think about doing something for others and hopefully they act on that. I don’t know about the church capturing the message. I think the kingdom of heaven to jesus was peace on earth. I think that has gotten construed to mean xians will be in heaven in the sky and the reunion with jesus will take place there instead of utopia being down here. I don’t know why the Jewish ritual is different but xmas to xians, and even us atheists, is similar in that we feast, and get together with family. (Ir, that may or may not be a good topic:religious/secular holidays xians/atheists share) I really don’t know how well churches do communion but I know the Catholics get wafers every week so that’s the place to go if you need a snack:)
Comment by: Ir
3TXatheist, wow! I had never thought of it that simply. Thanks.
There are probably churches out there somewhere which make it a meal. However, the ones I went to give you miniscule amounts that wouldn’t be much help in staving off hunger. On the other hand, some of their adult Bible classes had excellent refreshments :)
Comment by: Jim Henderson
4I think the protestant and catholic communion rituals evolved(darwins influence?)over time out of a need to send one or all of these messages…
closed-(for insiders only)(very important that your religion has something no others do)
obsessive focus on the death of Jesus - this will keep us coming back.
I find it hard to believe that the ritual you descibed (accurately) has anything to do with what Jesus meant when he said do “this”.
I do however suspect that this ritual of sharing bread and reflecting on Jesus is the only verifiable act (other than baptism) that he implied we should repeat. The simple act of bread and wine representing God is very humblng and tells us he is ordinary, humble and available
I still personally find the communion ritual lifeless and very hard to connect with - but my wife really likes it
Comment by: Ir
5Thanks Jim. I really like that thought.
Comment by: Stephan
6I have sort of an outside-the-box understanding of communion.
I believe that, in a sense, the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross exists in a place outside of time and space. When I partake of communion I am in that place, along with everyone else who has ever taken communion. We are unified by that one act, across denominations, time and space. It’s a way for me to connect my faith with the faith of my grandfather, and my immigrant ancestors, and believers in other countries that I will never meet. It is the one act that unifies us all.
We are all covered by God’s grace as demonstrated on the cross, and we are all unified by remembering that in communion.
Comment by: Ir
7Wow, neat, Stephan.
That reminds me of watching a Catholic funeral service years ago - what struck me was their talk about the ‘communion of the living and dead’. It’s a neat picture (for believers) of the connectedness of the church past and present. I think that helped me understand that ‘praying to the saints’ maybe is a bit like if you ask a friend to pray for you. The ’saint’ is sort of a friend who is alive somewhere else, I guess. I hadn’t thought of it in those simple terms until then.
Comment by: Winn
8It seems that in the context of the passage you quoted in your post that “this” means “partaking of bread and drinking of wine.” This action would become a powerful “symbol” in the ongoing story of God’s redemption of humankind. There are two question that we should ask when reading a text in the story presented in the Gospels. What did the person speaking mean by what he/she said, and what did the author intend for his audience to hear when the story was being relayed. Most of our reading of the text spends time speculating about what the person, in this case, Jesus said while ignoring what the author, in this case a person named Luke, may have intended his audience to hear.
Passover, was a “symbol” that the Jews were entirely familiar with, it was part of their life culture. It cannot be limited to just the meal. It included other actions of God in the story their forefathers keep alive through “doing” this meal. In the Exodus story it had to do with God “passing over” the homes of the Jews that had “blood” on their doors. It was one of the many signs of “rescue and deliverance” on their way out of Egypt. To produce blood something had to die, another part of the symboling. All of this “stuff” that happened in the Exodus story around the release of the Jews from captivity was rehearsed in the annual Passover meal. Jesus impregnated the meal with a nuance of meaning that placed him in God’s bigger story as the one through which “rescue” could occur.
Symbols are a powerful way of remembering. When I was younger, I pastored a church in SoCal that had a cramped auditorium with traditional, for the group of churches that this one associated with, altars in front of the church. The altars were symbols to the people of the church around which many of them had prayed. For me they were a hazard for walking around. On more than one Sunday a choir member had tripped over them when making his/her way off the platform to the pew. So I removed them. Not only did I remove them but I put them in the men’s locker room in the gym so the guys would have a place to set while putting on their gym shoes. Needless to say, all hell broke loose. I had desecrated their symbol. A lesson hard learned.
So, in my opinion, Jesus left a symbol for his followers to participate in, hence the word “do.” One remembers by doing. So for me, participating in this symbol, is remembering that I have been “rescued” and placed under the “rule” (kingdom) of God. For me it’s not so much about how or where one participates in this symbol or even what one uses for bread and wine, it is in the power of what the symbol means.
I think that for Jesus he wanted his small band of followers to understand that there in the middle of history, so to speak, the end of history, i.e., God renewal of humankind, was transpiring among them. I think Luke wanted his reader(s) to comprehend that even though this event had transpired, that while the power of evil still raged, their rescue was secure.
Comment by: Lisa W.
9Jim, you said,
Would you clarify then what it is that you think Jesus meant when he said, do ‘this’.?
thanks
Comment by: Lisa W.
10In my church we have several ‘worship stations’. One is where you can participate in the ‘communion’ ritual. You can do this whenever you want during the ’service’. Twice a month I prepare the communion table. One time I had committed a faux pax like Dr. Winn. We were out of red wine so I figured, what the heck, I’ll use white wine. Who cares? Well, people cared. Some couldn’t see it in the glass because they were expecting something dark. Others were a bit aghast because they needed it to look dark like blood (which didn’t occur to me and kind of grosses me out).
I like the communion ritual because it helps me feel connected to the greater xian community, like NCxian mentioned. It also helps me center on that moment in time when Jesus did this. I do some time-travelling in my head.
Comment by: Cully
11During my “World Tour” of xian denominations, before I left the church, the differences in communion was one of the things that fascinated me. In my experience the more towards the “fundamentalist” end of the scale I got the less importance communion had, and the more baptism took on. In the Pentecostal church I was a member of we never celebrated communion, but had almost monthly baptismal rites. In the summer in a river, in the winter in a steel tub in the church.
I dabbled in Catholicism briefly towards the end of my journey and attended a conversion class that discussed the Eucharist (as they call communion). I was FASCINATED by the concept of transubstantiation and the idea that at the moment the priest lays the bread on your tongue in BECOMES the flesh of Christ. This was a concept completely unlike the dry ritual that the protestant churches I had attended practiced. What a wrinkle! I wasn’t in the church long enough to participate, not to mention that I never fully converted, but at that moment I WANTED to, something I can’t say I ever felt in a protestant church. One of the things about religion that appealed to me was the ritual and here was not only a ritual but one where actual magic was being performed!
I know there is probably history involved with the reformation that explains why Catholics and Protestants see this so differently, but it’s one of the things that I wondered about when I was working through everything.
Comment by: cindy
12I don’t think the birthday party notion is so far off base. By this, I do think Jesus was referring to the ritual of Passover, but in a broader sense. I think he was giving depth and completion to the traditional Jewish understanding of passover/salvation. “Now realize that the salvation of God has come once and for all through me, the Lamb of God,” or something like that. He was helping the disciples get a handle on the notion of him as passover sacrifice-so that later they’d be able to work through it and teach how He was the ultimate sacrifice.
I don’t think the Church has done a particularly good job of capturing Jesus’ intention.
I don’t know why “communion” is typically so different. Having participated in a seder (passover) meal for the first time this year, I think we miss out on a lot by ignoring aspects of the ritual.
I don’t think “Communion” is a very good description for what we typically do. The word communion sounds more celebratory than what we do. Which is a shame. It should be much more of a celebration.
Comment by: Jim Henderson
13Lisa I think this is one of the better and less talked about spiritual practices Cs do with communion
Per what Jesus really really meant with “this” I have no idea - I just find the mainline approaches empty and ritualistic - I have never personally really been into the whole communion thing myself- nor do I much care about baptism either - Just not an external ritual kind of guy I guess - but I think most people are and so I support them however they like to do it.
Which is one reason I was relieved when I didnt have to pastor anymore since I always felt kind of like I was pretending to care or trying really hard to care about the external/historic identifier stuff. I am all about Jesus just not the church stuff that has gotten added on over the centuries BUT I do not think I am at all mainstream with these ideas and don;t think churches will ever stop these practices (nor should). If they are fake then they should stop for a few years and reassess their validity. Contrariwise - those who “look down” on Cs who are more ritualistic should “try” some of these practices on just out of respect and friendship sake.
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
14Ir wrote:
Ir, you keep saying that. But I’m beginning to wonder if, rather than an episode of mental illness it was an episode of mental clarity! ;-)
I think you are onto something here. First of all, Passover is a solemn occasion (not frivolous) but it is not a sad or dour occasion. It is a time for joyful celebration of the “mighty acts of God” in deliverance and the establishing of Israel as a nation.
I think the “this” is a reference to His own symbolic use of bread and wine as symbols of sacrificial brokenness and death. So the typical piece of matzoh cracker or wafer or bread, and the little cup of wine or juice is sufficient to possess the same symbolic value. But that, to me, doesn’t mean that that is all we eveer need to do. In our small group study, we share dinner everytime we meet. Nothing fancy, sometimes even just bringing leftovers to share. But the enjoyment is in the sharing and the community together.
I once did a thorough study of all of the appearances of any reference to “bread” or “wine” in the entire Bible. I later added “grain” and “lamb” (since bread is made from grain and lamb is the featured entree at a Passover seder.) It was a very interesting study to trace the symbolic content of these staple foods.
BTW, I once heard of a communion service held on a beach after a church youth outing. The idea came up spontaneously as they were getting ready to leave at the end of the day. So communion was done around a campfire using Coca-Cola and Fritos. That story has always stood, for me, as a great example of communion at its finest.
Oh, and I think TX is right on when he wrote,
One of the things that is often done in the celebration is for the leader to take a loaf and actually break it as he intones, “This is my body, broken for you.” In order to focus my mind, I pray asking God to make me willing to be broken in like manner for the benefit of others, and I focus on the breaking of the cracker as I chew it.
Comment by: Jim Henderson
15Tom
You are a good guy
Comment by: TXatheist
16You too Jim.
Comment by: Lisa W.
17ok, group-hug.
Comment by: Ir
18Hey everyone, I’m very pleased how this is going. I’m not sure what I expected but I do know the responses have way exceeded my expectations!
Comment by: Nutrideath
19For me, this gets into some very deep doctrinal issues. First of all, it is full of symbols:
-The original Passover itself was full of symbols. As Winn pointed out, the Jewish families sacrificed a lamb, and it was only by their faith in its shed blood (spread over their doorposts) that the angel of death “passed over” their homes, leaving the firstborn of the Jews unharmed, and destroying the firstborn of all Egypt. This lamb prophetically foreshadowed the coming Messiah, Jesus in obvious ways.
-The Passover observed in Jesus’ day also contained bread, but not just any bread. It was specifically “unleavened” bread. Leaven is used in the Bible by Jesus in several places to represent sin. So the unleavened bread Jesus used in the last supper is a fitting symbol of the sinless body of Jesus.
-Another specification involved the lamb. There were to be no bones broken of the lamb, either before, during or after its slaughter. This also represented the sacrifice & manner of the death of Jesus — none of his bones were broken. (Which was unusual, because it was a common practice to break the legs of those crucified to hasten their death.)
Besides those symbols, there were others. If you notice, part of the passage Ir quoted above includes a reference to a “new covenant.” This is the important part, and curiously the part ignored by most Christians today.
Gen. 3:15 is the first prophecy recorded in the Bible. It was given by God himself in the Garden, and deals with God’s promise to provide a “seed” to redeem mankind. How this seed was to come into being & play a part was gradually revealed to mankind by God as time passed. God also instituted several covenants in regard to the fulfilling of this promise.
The first was to Abraham. God made a covenant (or a contract, if you’d rather) with Abraham — partly that a nation would come about thru Abraham’s descendents. But a more important factor of that covenant was that the seed promised before would also come thru Abraham’s line. Much later, once the Jews came out of Egypt, God made another covenant with them — thru Moses.
The Mosaic covenant was replaced by the “new covenant” which Jesus instituted during the last valid Passover, at the last supper. Notice again Ir’s quote: “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you—an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.” The wine was a “token” or symbol of the seal on the covenant — Jesus’ own blood. The covenant was made valid by his blood. The covenant was created “to save you.”
Once you look into the importance of the “new covenant” it is easy to see why Jesus commanded that we “continue doing this.” People observe Jesus’ birthday, and his resurrection, but many times forget to observe the one thing he told us to “keep doing.” They certainly don’t give it the same weight as Christmas — yet Jesus never commanded his followers to observe his birthday.
Imo, this isn’t a time to get together & have a “birthday party,” or celebrate our friends, or drink coke & eat fritos (no offense Tom). There is a time & place for all those things. But, the way we treat the occasion of the last supper and how we go about “doing this in remembrance” is a reflection on how much we value (or don’t) the sacrifice Jesus made, and what it bought for us.
Comment by: Ir
20That makes sense to me.
I think it would be good if Christians/followers of Jesus/whatever were more creative about the words they used. “Saved” has pretty much lost its meaning. I like your word “rescued”, Winn. Ilove what Jesus said when he quoted from the scroll: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” All those images that his followers could be talking about and they reduce it everything down to ’saved’! What a shame. (By the way I wonder why Jesus (or Luke) didn’t quote the line about binding up the broken-hearted.)
I really like how you look at both Jesus’ words and Luke’s intent - I absolutely agree with your comments that both are important.
Comment by: Ir
21Ew, I agree! I had never thought of that either.
I played the communion music once (just me playing violin and a pianist accompanying). I think that was my favorite communion ever because I felt like I was in communion with everyone that day. It was awesome.
Comment by: Lisa W.
22I personally love the use of fritos and coke. It’s a great reflection of the resourcefulness, creativity and intention to fullfill a sacred ritual in the moment, for those teens. imo, It’s not about bread and wine it’s about breaking and taking in
Comment by: Ir
23I think there’s something awesome about the Catholic belief that you’re not just taking in a wafer and a bit of wine, but you’re taking in ‘grace’ as it were. (Maybe I’m wrong but that’s I think their beliefs about communion mean). For what it’s worth, ‘Grace’ is one of my favorite concepts.
Comment by: Ir
24I couldn’t agree more, Jim.
Comment by: Ir
25Yes indeed. It’s quite amazing how different a typical seder and the usual communion ritual are, I think.
I respect the reasons people are giving for liking it to be solemn. Maybe churches could alternate between solemn and celebratory, to cater for peoples’ different preferences.
Comment by: Ir
26That probably depends who you ask ;)
I literally daren’t say stuff like that myself because it could be very triggering to people around me to imply that I think there’s anything good about being ill. And if I trigger them I will be the one who suffers for it - I have no power when it comes to the subject of my diagnosis - everyone else holds all the cards.
But - thanks for noticing :)
I agree :)
Comment by: Ir
27Hey, this is awesome role-modelling of ‘communion’ on the blog! :)
Comment by: Stephan
28Ir said:
Same for me. I believe grace is the overarching theme of all of Scripture and the reason I love Jesus. Without grace the rest of Christian doctrine and belief is meaningless.
Comment by: Ir
29I respect what you take from that ’scene’ in Jesus’ life.
I also respect what others take from it.
You have the advantage when it comes to church practices, so it seems, because churches (in my experience) emphasize the same as you do regarding the Last Supper.
I think Jesus and the disciples probably had some laughs during their dinner as well as talking about very serious things. In my experience that can still happen even when humans are together in quite sad circumstances. So I’m glad you said there’s a time and place for celebrating our friends.
Comment by: Eliza
30Interesting, the symbolism of eating blood and body is the main thing that occurs to me when I think of communion. I’ve asked a few recovering alcoholics over the years how they deal with taking communion, & seem to recall some of them saying their church would substitute a dark red/purple juice for wine for kids & for adults who didn’t want to take wine. But the color sounded important!
Nice comments, Ir and everyone. I’ve never thought before about the community, interpersonal aspect of “communion” because it has never looked like that when I’ve watched it. It always seems so personal, with the silence, and how people seem to look at the altar or crucifix right after they take it, close eyes, make sign of cross, and (maybe just women) often curtsy. I like the idea of it strengthening connections, to Jesus and to other church members and maybe even to the idea of giving of ones self.
Comment by: Jim Henderson
31Tx
It was kind of you to see something helpful in me - I appreciate it
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
32Lisa, about the coke and fritos — you “got” it. That is exactly the point. To maintain the symbol you need to have something breakable and drinkable. Bread and wine were simply the things Jesus had at hand when He was teaching.
Ir,
You’re welcome, I’m sure. I imagine that some of those people you’re stuck with. But to the extent that you have the flexibility, perhaps the problem is you’re surrounded with the wrong people. ;-)
Also, Ir, you asked about Jesus “sermon” in Nazareth in Luke 4. I just heard something fascinating about this the other day from a guy who knows all the languages as well as the culture and life of first century Israel. He pointed out that Isaiah 61:1-2 includes the phrase, “…and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,…” But Jesus left it out. His hearers would have picked up on that ommission. (What, you mean God isn’t going to punish our oppressors?) And then Jesus talked about God’s care of the gentile widow and the Syrian leper. And that was the final straw. He was telling them that God wasn’t their exclusive tribal diety, He was concerned with all of mankind. And they wanted to kill Him for it.
No good deed goes unpunished. ;-)
Comment by: Peter in Pennsylvania
33Here’s another take on this. (One man’s “sacramental” opinion)
Bread and Wine are both things that take time and effort on the part of man. Jesus didn’t change water and apples, because thy exist in nature as we eat and drink them. No, he chose Wine that takes time and care in addition to something that comes from the earth, and he took bread which also takes time and care.
imho, Jesus is not just redeeming human hearts, he’s redeeming our time, our effort, and our whole fallen creation. When we practice “communion” (I like the term Eucharist myself) we are, in a very real sense, communing with each other, with God, with the soil, with time itself.
This was an awesome discussion, Ir. Thank you!
Comment by: Ir
34Thanks for your comments on Luke 4, Tom.
I agree! I couldn’t be more pleased with how it has gone. It’s good to see you Peter - it seems like you haven’t been here much the last couple of days.