The current issue of Christianity Today magazine has a nice piece about the Christian practice of communion–The Lord's Table. He covers a lot of ground in a small number of pages. I think you'll find some excellent food for thought––insights, reminders, meanings, and challenges––on this often misunderstood and potentially divisive meal Jesus gave us.
Table Manners: Why We Take Communion Every Week
At the Communion Table, we grasp the grace of God
and our need for each other.
John H. Armstrong
Christianity Today / September 12, 2014
I attended church twice a week growing up. I had no choice. It’s not that I disliked church. But like many children, I struggled to understand much of what went on. Easily growing bored, I found ways to entertain myself. I doodled on the bulletin and occasionally timed the pastor’s sermon. I counted the overhead lights, wall panels, and segments in the stained glass windows. While I occupied myself with trivial activities, two details caught my attention: the baptismal pool situated above the choir loft behind the pulpit, and the white table at the center-front of the sanctuary, etched with the words, do this in remembrance of me. Something about the white table got me thinking: Why do we eat bread and wine at the table every few months? And who can eat it?
My church celebrated the Lord’s Supper (also known as Communion or the Eucharist) four times a year. I remember asking why we celebrated it so infrequently. The answer I got never satisfied, and it still doesn’t: “If we do this very often, it will lose its meaning.” Precociously I thought, It doesn’t seem to mean much to us anyway, so why worry about it losing any more meaning? As I grew older, I discovered some churches took the meal weekly. I was then even more dissatisfied with the answer I had received...
GO TO THE CHRISTIANITY TODAY WEBSITE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
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