All this talk about communion got me thinking

[Henhouse]

Jesus said "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup..."

How do you take this? Does this mean 'whenever you do communion'?

Wasn't the particular bread and cup he was handing out the Jewish Passover meal? So should we, really, only have communion once a year?

(My church usually has communion once a month. I've been places that do it every week.)

Biblically and historically, what do you think about the frequency of communion (or that Eu... word y'all old-fashioned types use )?

 

[JVAC]

The Early Church did it every time they came together. Holy Communion was the sole purpose of these gatherings. For this reason and this reason alone did the early Christians risk getting caught. They could meet individually and talk about Jesus any time, but only when they all got together could they commune. This is what we know today as Church Service or Mass. The service where the body comes together to commune.

 

[Gooney1]

Communion can be like every time we break bread together, so basically every time you eat with fellow Christians you should dedicate it to God and be reminded of his sacrifice for you.

Communion in the direct form of bread and wine should be done whenever it is called for there is no definate structure like do it twice a month. It is just an intimate way of remembering Jesus' sacrifice for you, in public!

 

[Knight]

Our church practices this about once every 5 weeks. Often enough not to be forgotten but not so often that it becomes an empty ritual.

 

[EdmundBlackadderTheThird]

In the early church bread was blessed and taken home by the congregants and eaten throughout the week. They communed as a family once a day actually, it was more than when they gathered to commune as a body. I wish we would do this today as well.

Our church practices this about once every 5 weeks. Often enough not to be forgotten but not so often that it becomes an empty ritual.

We commune every week, and it is not empty ritual. The best argument I have heard against this is easy. I have a picture of my wife on my desk. I have it there to remind me of her. I do not put it in a drawer and take it out every so often and look at it, I leave where it is so that I am always reminded.

 

[Kelly]

Communion can be like every time we break bread together, so basically every time you eat with fellow Christians you should dedicate it to God and be reminded of his sacrifice for you.

I agree completely. My church does it once a month but many of the small groups do it every time they meet, etc. Works for me! (btw, after seeing "The Passion" will you ever take communion half heartedly ever again?)

 

[Knight]

We commune every week, and it is not empty ritual. The best argument I have heard against this is easy. I have a picture of my wife on my desk. I have it there to remind me of her. I do not put it in a drawer and take it out every so often and look at it, I leave where it is so that I am always reminded.

There was no offense intended. I said that was why our church did it this way. I did not intend to imply that having communion more often was, by default, an empty ritual.

 

[EdmundBlackadderTheThird]

Oh I didn't take it that way. Sorry if it came across that I did, just presenting another viewpoint

 

[Knight]

Oh I didn't take it that way. Sorry if it came across that I did, just presenting another viewpoint

(sigh)
Such is the nature of message boards.....
It's impossible to infer any emotion or inflections in this format. Oh well.

 

[Knight]

(btw, after seeing "The Passion" will you ever take communion half heartedly ever again?)

I don't know. I haven't seen it yet. (Planning to go on Thurs.)

However, we shouldn't be doing this in the first place. I see what you mean though.

 

[Kelly]

I don't know. I haven't seen it yet. (Planning to go on Thurs.)

However, we shouldn't be doing this in the first place. I see what you mean though.

It didn't happen every time, it's just, you know, those occasional Sundays when your mind might have been elsewhere. If the movie did anything for me it reminded me of the sacrifice and renewed by spirit in certain ways.

 

[Knight]

I understand. I was not trying to accuse.

A friend of mine, not too long ago, realized that he was not in the right frame of mind to partake of the Lord's Supper and refused rather than do it half-heartedly. A wise decision if you ask me.

It's difficult to maintain focus sometimes. I said difficult not impossible. As a deacon in our church, one of our duties is to serve the Communion elements. Needless to say, this can be a distraction to the true meaning of the Lord's Supper. It takes discipline to really focus on the significance of this while fulfiling the duties of office as well.

Like I said, difficult not impossible.

 

[augustine32]

I believe that the command to examine yourself before the Lord's Supper is meant to make us reflect upon our sins and come to the Table realizing we are sinners. If we examine ourselves and realize that we are not in the right frame of mind we should not refrain from the Table, but partake realizing that Christ will forgive even our lack of attention and it may be that in the taking we will be refocused on Christ's death. The problem with the Corinthians was that they were not examining themselves so that they were thinking that they were coming prepared to the Table when really they were full of many sins they had not confessed nor even realized were sins. It is the examining that prepares us to partake of the Supper and not the idea that we could examine ourself and find no sin or perfect concentration because that is hardly possible and would have us not partaking more times than we partake. My view is to examine yourself and whatever state you are in to come afresh to Christ in repentance and remember again His death.

 

[ByzantineDixie]

I believe that the command to examine yourself before the Lord's Supper is meant to make us reflect upon our sins and come to the Table realizing we are sinners. If we examine ourselves and realize that we are not in the right frame of mind we should not refrain from the Table, but partake realizing that Christ will forgive even our lack of attention and it may be that in the taking we will be refocused on Christ's death. The problem with the Corinthians was that they were not examining themselves so that they were thinking that they were coming prepared to the Table when really they were full of many sins they had not confessed nor even realized were sins. It is the examining that prepares us to partake of the Supper and not the idea that we could examine ourself and find no sin or perfect concentration because that is hardly possible and would have us not partaking more times than we partake. My view is to examine yourself and whatever state you are in to come afresh to Christ in repentance and remember again His death.

Most excellent assessment. Our pastor preached on this last year on Maundy Thursday...spent the whole sermon pointing out how unworthy we were to go to the Table...to the point that I was ready to abstain. Then he shared with us the Gospel portion of the message and told us that that is exactly why we have such a wonderful gift. The Lord's Supper is for us sinners. He basically concluded that if we think we are unworthy to go to the Table...GOOD, we are ready to go. It was one of the most powerful messages I have ever heard.

Oh, and to address the original question...we celebrate the Lord's Supper at our church everytime we hold worship service, Sundays and Wednesdays, except Wednesdays during Advent and Lent (which are times of penitential reflection for us). The increased frequency has really been a blessing for our congregation.

Peace

Rose

 

[Eusebios]

I believe that the command to examine yourself before the Lord's Supper is meant to make us reflect upon our sins and come to the Table realizing we are sinners. If we examine ourselves and realize that we are not in the right frame of mind we should not refrain from the Table, but partake realizing that Christ will forgive even our lack of attention and it may be that in the taking we will be refocused on Christ's death. The problem with the Corinthians was that they were not examining themselves so that they were thinking that they were coming prepared to the Table when really they were full of many sins they had not confessed nor even realized were sins. It is the examining that prepares us to partake of the Supper and not the idea that we could examine ourself and find no sin or perfect concentration because that is hardly possible and would have us not partaking more times than we partake. My view is to examine yourself and whatever state you are in to come afresh to Christ in repentance and remember again His death.

Yes, excellent stuff augustine! I was just reading an excellent piece on this very subject in Fr. Alexander Schmemann's book Great Lent today. He indicates that one should always approach the chalice with the realization that we are unworthy and cry with Isaiah, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips."
The practice in the Orthodox Church is generally and properly to receive the Holy Mysteries every week.
His unworthy servant,
Eusebios.

 

[Phoebe]

I agree with augustine.
I think "as often as you do it" means just that. I don't think there is a wrong number of times to receive communion. I see no point in not having it every week. (just my oppinion )

BTW- The word is Eucharist.

 

[ethereal hope]

Our church celebrates Eucharist only every other week, because we share our pastor with another church about 50 miles away.

I hate to admit that was almost enough to get me checking out other denominations, because (as others have pointed out on this thread) the Eucharist was the reason the early Church met for services, and it has a way of setting me right for the next week (Grace!). I didn't want to give that up.

But then I realized that my desire was essentially for the undoing of another church, just so I could celebrate Eucharist more often, and it finally hit me that I wasn't being overly charitable.

Now, I simply pray that the other church can find their own priest one day! Soon!

 

[Andrew]

Jesus said "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup..."

How do you take this? Does this mean 'whenever you do communion'?

Wasn't the particular bread and cup he was handing out the Jewish Passover meal? So should we, really, only have communion once a year?

(My church usually has communion once a month. I've been places that do it every week.)

Biblically and historically, what do you think about the frequency of communion (or that Eu... word y'all old-fashioned types use )?

No, you can take it as often as you want. I do it almost every day at home with my wife b4 we leave for work.

Some people who are sick, take it like medicine 3 times a day, becos the bread is for healing and the drink for forgivness.

It is interesting that the only reason given by Paul as to why Christians are sick and die b4 their time is that they fail to discern the body when taking communion.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

 

[Andrew]

Most excellent assessment. Our pastor preached on this last year on Maundy Thursday...spent the whole sermon pointing out how unworthy we were to go to the Table...to the point that I was ready to abstain.

There is no such thing as being unworthy to go to the Lord's table. Paul's teaching was "unworthy manner" not "unworthy believer". We are all unworthy in a sense, and only made worthy by the blood of Christ.

The teaching to check yourself if you have any sin before partaking of the Lord's supper is unscriptural and has scared many away and robbed them of the blessing of Communion.

Yes Paul says to judge ourselves, but he is not talking about checking ourselves to see if we have sin (that's just not in the passage in 1 Cor 11) but to check ourselves to see if we are discerning the body of our Lord correctly.

 

[dbwisc]

There is no such thing as being unworthy to go to the Lord's table. Paul's teaching was "unworthy manner" not "unworthy believer". We are all unworthy in a sense, and only made worthy by the blood of Christ.

The teaching to check yourself if you have any sin before partaking of the Lord's supper is unscriptural and has scared many away and robbed them of the blessing of Communion.

Yes Paul says to judge ourselves, but he is not talking about checking ourselves to see if we have sin (that's just not in the passage in 1 Cor 11) but to check ourselves to see if we are discerning the body of our Lord correctly.

Amen! "Unworthy manner" refers to mode, not condition.

DB