Have I Got a Theology for You...
I have to write my thoughts on communion for my online class and I thought I'd run them up this flagpole and see if anybody has any opinions...
(If it matters, I'm going to try to make a video using this as the "script" for a voiceover - but I might not have time so I might just have to submit this as a paper...)
Holy Communion – a Benchmark
William R. Beatty
October 2, 2006
Sunday afternoon – World Communion Sunday, no less – my three-year-old daughter picked up a little board book about Easter. She flipped through the pages, came to a page with a cross on it and held it up for me to see. She said, with awe in her almost whispering voice, “Jesus died on the cross for us.”
Elie doesn’t really know what that means, but she knows that it is important. She knows, too, that it is holy. When we talk about Jesus and the cross we speak with reverence – this is never the subject of a joke or spoken of casually. Jesus’ sacrifice, that which we remember in Holy Communion, is not a light or simple matter. This is at the very core of our faith.
So, the question is, “How do I understand Holy Communion right now?” Is it too self-revealing to say, “I’m not sure I’ve ever really tried to understand it?” I hope not.
As a child and a young adult, communion was something we “did at church” irregularly. If I remember correctly, we were a “once-a-quarter” church. I confess that I rarely paid any attention to what the pastor was doing before we went forward to kneel at the rail and eat the little squares of bread and drink the little cups of juice. In fact, I can remember walking away as a child being singularly unsatisfied by the “meal” we had shared – wondering why I couldn’t have seconds.
Before entering seminary, I taught at a Catholic school for two years. During the weekly mass celebrations, I became more and more aware of the power of the liturgy we celebrated. Though the priests tended to recite the words in what seemed to me an almost bored monotone, I began to see a power in the connection of these words that have been recited (in Latin until the 60s) for 1600 and more years.
Once I began pastoring (is that a verb?) my first church, I realized that I really had no practical training on communion, and I fumbled through my first services. I read through the service in The Book of Worship, committed parts of it to memory. I drew on my experience in Mass at the school, I watched and assisted pastor friends preside at the Table, and I began to get a feel for the form of the service and a grasp (incomplete though it is) on why we do what we do.
As a youth leader, some of the most meaningful moments of communion have been celebrated in the presence of teenagers. We had an annual weekend retreat which we always concluded with worship and communion and it was in those somewhat casual settings that I became more aware of the importance and the power of Holy Communion. We would “reduce” the liturgy to its core – that is, invitation, confession/pardon, thanksgiving, words of consecration, breaking the bread and distribution of the elements and dismissal/blessing – not using the traditional words, but paraphrasing them in contemporary language. I really try not to compromise on the theology of what I do, though I am almost always willing to evaluate and reinterpret the form of what I do.
Two parts of the liturgy from The United Methodist Hymnal “A Service of Word and Table II” I usually recite word for word because they have such rich meaning for me (though I may paraphrase or re-word the other elements):
“Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, [all] who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.”
“Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine [the cup]. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
“By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world....”
These words, the invitation and the consecration, are foundational in my understanding of what Holy Communion is and what it means to us as we worship God.
What are the chief meanings of the sacrament? Holy Communion is a celebration of our thanksgiving for who God is and what God has done; and Holy Communion is our opportunity to receive, participate in, and thereby remember the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ invites us to His table. We celebrate, in worship and in community, what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in us and for us and through us (and sometimes in spite of us) by the power of the Holy Spirit.
A friend of mine was criticized for allowing children to receive Communion. “They’re noisy and squirmy. They just don’t understand what’s going on. And they don’t come to the table worthy.” His response to the critic was, “A lot of times I’m noisy and squirmy. A lot of times I don’t really understand what this really means. And I’m NEVER worthy of what God has done for me.”
I feel like that sometimes. This really is Holy Mystery. It is deeper than my mind can comprehend, and yet it is so simple that my daughters can accept it. The celebration of the sacrament is deserving of our awe and respect, yet it is not about us. We don’t do anything but accept the grace that God is pouring out to us – and who of us is truly worthy?
During my first appointment, a grandmother brought her 5 year old grandson forward for his first communion and I heard him stage-whisper to her on their way back to the pew, “That wasn’t really blood in the cup. It was only grape juice.” He had a glimpse of understanding, and I talked with his grandmother who had an opportunity to share even more fully her understanding of communion with her grandson after that moment. It was a beautiful moment for them. And a learning moment for me. I realized that while it isn’t the blood of Jesus or the body of Jesus there and then, it becomes for us “the body and the blood of Christ, that we might be the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.”
John 6: 53-58
“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Followers abandoned Jesus at these words, not because he might have been talking about cannibalism, but because he was saying that they had to receive Him completely – they would have to take in His very essence and very being. I don’t pretend to understand fully how this happens, but I believe (and experience) that it does happen.
And I can’t really fully explain how Jesus is present at that table. I believe that in blessing the elements they become items we use for a holy purpose. But they remain items. Still, Christ is present in them – and in us as we receive the bread and the cup. Communion is more than just a memorial service, though we are called to “remember.” The Risen Christ is among us. His power and His presence fill our gathering and when we receive these “items we use for a holy purpose” we are reenacting our receiving of Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives. Communion is a moment of intimacy with the Lover of our souls.
Communion is a remembering of the character and mission of our Savior, and a tangible and real reminder to the congregation of our character and mission as the Body of Christ. Abraham was blessed to be a blessing to the world – and so are we blessed to be a blessing. We are called to share what we have received.
(If it matters, I'm going to try to make a video using this as the "script" for a voiceover - but I might not have time so I might just have to submit this as a paper...)
Holy Communion – a Benchmark
William R. Beatty
October 2, 2006
Sunday afternoon – World Communion Sunday, no less – my three-year-old daughter picked up a little board book about Easter. She flipped through the pages, came to a page with a cross on it and held it up for me to see. She said, with awe in her almost whispering voice, “Jesus died on the cross for us.”
Elie doesn’t really know what that means, but she knows that it is important. She knows, too, that it is holy. When we talk about Jesus and the cross we speak with reverence – this is never the subject of a joke or spoken of casually. Jesus’ sacrifice, that which we remember in Holy Communion, is not a light or simple matter. This is at the very core of our faith.
So, the question is, “How do I understand Holy Communion right now?” Is it too self-revealing to say, “I’m not sure I’ve ever really tried to understand it?” I hope not.
As a child and a young adult, communion was something we “did at church” irregularly. If I remember correctly, we were a “once-a-quarter” church. I confess that I rarely paid any attention to what the pastor was doing before we went forward to kneel at the rail and eat the little squares of bread and drink the little cups of juice. In fact, I can remember walking away as a child being singularly unsatisfied by the “meal” we had shared – wondering why I couldn’t have seconds.
Before entering seminary, I taught at a Catholic school for two years. During the weekly mass celebrations, I became more and more aware of the power of the liturgy we celebrated. Though the priests tended to recite the words in what seemed to me an almost bored monotone, I began to see a power in the connection of these words that have been recited (in Latin until the 60s) for 1600 and more years.
Once I began pastoring (is that a verb?) my first church, I realized that I really had no practical training on communion, and I fumbled through my first services. I read through the service in The Book of Worship, committed parts of it to memory. I drew on my experience in Mass at the school, I watched and assisted pastor friends preside at the Table, and I began to get a feel for the form of the service and a grasp (incomplete though it is) on why we do what we do.
As a youth leader, some of the most meaningful moments of communion have been celebrated in the presence of teenagers. We had an annual weekend retreat which we always concluded with worship and communion and it was in those somewhat casual settings that I became more aware of the importance and the power of Holy Communion. We would “reduce” the liturgy to its core – that is, invitation, confession/pardon, thanksgiving, words of consecration, breaking the bread and distribution of the elements and dismissal/blessing – not using the traditional words, but paraphrasing them in contemporary language. I really try not to compromise on the theology of what I do, though I am almost always willing to evaluate and reinterpret the form of what I do.
Two parts of the liturgy from The United Methodist Hymnal “A Service of Word and Table II” I usually recite word for word because they have such rich meaning for me (though I may paraphrase or re-word the other elements):
“Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, [all] who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.”
“Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine [the cup]. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
“By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world....”
These words, the invitation and the consecration, are foundational in my understanding of what Holy Communion is and what it means to us as we worship God.
What are the chief meanings of the sacrament? Holy Communion is a celebration of our thanksgiving for who God is and what God has done; and Holy Communion is our opportunity to receive, participate in, and thereby remember the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ invites us to His table. We celebrate, in worship and in community, what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in us and for us and through us (and sometimes in spite of us) by the power of the Holy Spirit.
A friend of mine was criticized for allowing children to receive Communion. “They’re noisy and squirmy. They just don’t understand what’s going on. And they don’t come to the table worthy.” His response to the critic was, “A lot of times I’m noisy and squirmy. A lot of times I don’t really understand what this really means. And I’m NEVER worthy of what God has done for me.”
I feel like that sometimes. This really is Holy Mystery. It is deeper than my mind can comprehend, and yet it is so simple that my daughters can accept it. The celebration of the sacrament is deserving of our awe and respect, yet it is not about us. We don’t do anything but accept the grace that God is pouring out to us – and who of us is truly worthy?
During my first appointment, a grandmother brought her 5 year old grandson forward for his first communion and I heard him stage-whisper to her on their way back to the pew, “That wasn’t really blood in the cup. It was only grape juice.” He had a glimpse of understanding, and I talked with his grandmother who had an opportunity to share even more fully her understanding of communion with her grandson after that moment. It was a beautiful moment for them. And a learning moment for me. I realized that while it isn’t the blood of Jesus or the body of Jesus there and then, it becomes for us “the body and the blood of Christ, that we might be the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.”
John 6: 53-58
“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Followers abandoned Jesus at these words, not because he might have been talking about cannibalism, but because he was saying that they had to receive Him completely – they would have to take in His very essence and very being. I don’t pretend to understand fully how this happens, but I believe (and experience) that it does happen.
And I can’t really fully explain how Jesus is present at that table. I believe that in blessing the elements they become items we use for a holy purpose. But they remain items. Still, Christ is present in them – and in us as we receive the bread and the cup. Communion is more than just a memorial service, though we are called to “remember.” The Risen Christ is among us. His power and His presence fill our gathering and when we receive these “items we use for a holy purpose” we are reenacting our receiving of Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives. Communion is a moment of intimacy with the Lover of our souls.
Communion is a remembering of the character and mission of our Savior, and a tangible and real reminder to the congregation of our character and mission as the Body of Christ. Abraham was blessed to be a blessing to the world – and so are we blessed to be a blessing. We are called to share what we have received.
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