Thoughts on Communion and the Church Part II

Communion is Inclusive

When Jesus shared the last supper, who was there?

The disciples.

The disciples were an odd bunch. And Jesus invited them to share communion with him. He knew exactly where they’d come from, what they’d done, what they were like as people, even what they were going to do... and he invited them to share with him.

Communion is inclusive. His message was always about including people and communion is no different. Peter was going to disown him; deny he ever knew Jesus. Thomas was going to doubt he was raised to life. They were all going to abandon him when he was arrested... but Jesus included them in the meal.

Some churches are guarded about who can or cannot take communion. They used passages like ‘if you eat/drink in an unworthy manner you drink judgement upon yourself’ as proof-texts to keep their exclusive communion for the ‘righteous’ few.
I think that’s missing the point. Those scary passages are all about inclusive communion not exclusive communion. Yes it’s about taking communion seriously and not letting familiarity breed contempt. A guy called Paul, one of the early church leaders and pioneers; he wrote those ‘judgement’ words to one particular church group in Corinth who were misusing communion. They were having every-man-for-himself communion: some were eating all the bread and leaving others hungry, some were downing all the wine and being carried out drunk... this is clearly not right! They’d missed the community aspect of communion.

Communion is inclusive: the invitation is for all who believe and want to remember what it is that Jesus has done for us. But when we celebrate communion it’s interdependent and it’s inclusive. Communion is Involved Firstly, it involves all us individually. Jesus calls us, elsewhere in the bible, to Love God with all your heart soul mind and strength. In communion he gives us a practical way of expressing that.

We love Jesus and He loves us – that’s our heart, that’s the intimacy we talked about earlier.
It is a spiritual thing – God is spirit and we engage with him in communion, that’s our soul.
We actively remember the Cross and the Resurrection – That’s our mind.
It’s physical food and drink – That’s our strength. We’ve shrunken the meal down somewhat from New Testament times [honey, i shrunk the sacrament]. This would’ve been an actual meal rather than the nibbles we use today.

It involves us completely.
Heart soul mind strength.

Secondly, The act of communion is hands on. This is not a spectator sport.

We actually eat and drink and remember and engage and in doing so we live out our faith in this action. And that living out our faith doesn’t stop as soon as the service is finished... we remember Jesus in communion and we are reminded of everything he taught and everything he did and we should be inspired to live it out every day of our lives in every aspect.

Communion is often called ‘Mass’ in other traditions. And Mass [is not the Motor Accident Solicitors Society, which is what appears if you Google it] literally means ‘Go’ or ‘Mission’.
Communion is our inspiration to live like Jesus lived. Involved in our wider communities, not a holy huddle in this building or hiding in small groups but active and meeting with people outside the church in the estates and the schools and in government and down the shops and on the tube or the bus... living the Jesus story... Communion is Involved.

Communion is Influential

And communion is influential. It’s about remembering everything Jesus has done for us. But it’s also looking forward. It’s the hope we live for. When Jesus said this is my blood, he said it was the seal on a new covenant between God and people. It was the invitation for a fresh start. Believe in Jesus and he’ll take your old, crappy sin stained life and give you a fresh new one that’ll last forever. And that life doesn’t just mean you’ll go to heaven when you die. It can start now.

Communion is influential; it gives us a hope in Jesus that can change the way we live right now, the way we vote, the way we make ethical decisions included. This is more than just bread and just wine/grapejuice.

This is an intimate expression of Love between you and Jesus
This is a meal that builds friendships and communities
This is a meal that welcomes anyone who wants to share in it
This is a meal that involves everything you are and inspires us to live out our faith
This is a meal that can change things.

It can change me and you... it can change this church, it can change this community, it can change this country...

It’s already changed the world.