Hi, SL. The answers to this depend, to a great extent, on which kind of POV and denomination we associate with--the traditional or the memorialist. The latter is mainly associated with Anabaptist, Baptist, and similar churches. I'll give the answers from the first of these, which is more-or-less the way the majority of Christians see it.
Hi Albion.
Thanks for your contribution. Yes, I know that the P'sOV differ. (You know where i stand on that) but I thought if we
studied the Scriptures on it maybe we could come to some revelations. See, I always just did what they said when I was Catholic, then again when I went protestant. Now that I'm Christian only and SS (as you know) I want to do it, not RC's way, not CRC's way, not the Methodist's or Baptist's way, but God's way.
Who should? Christ, at the Last Supper, seemed to indicate that it was for all disciples, therefore, all churchmen and women. This is the view taken by the first churches. The question remains as to whether this was for all people who show up at the church for worship or, OTOH, if it is for only baptized members. The Bible isn't clear about that,
If the Bible is silent, we do well to stay that way too.
IF, we'll see what other's have found.
except that we're warned to be in the right frame of mind when communing, so the early church thought that this was a very special act, a "sacrament," to be guarded.
The "right frame of mind" is indeed reverent and yet, that's not "exactly" what He said, but yes, a very special act.
Certainly Christ doesn't need guarding though. IMO>
It does say to "let a man examine "HIMSELF" .. so that's what we should probably do.
As a result, it was not be made available to all people without distinction. We are less concerned about this today when the church service doesn't have to be guarded against the police of a pagan and decidedly anti-Christian government like the Roman Empire.
That's not what I've found around these here parts! lol
http://www.christianforums.com/threads/can-closed-communion-be-pleasing-to-god-2.7727077/
The rule was to allow only baptized members to be present at that time of the worship service. Since, however, there is a disagreement about whether to baptize infants or only older people who've made a profession of faith, there's still that dispute.
So... maybe no babes should get to receive communion.
Jesus is known to say to bring on the kids.
How to? Bread and wine are standard, but some churches use leavened bread and others unleavened. Symbolism aside, the main difference there concerns whether the Last Supper was a Passover meal or had only been intended to be one but actually wasn't one. A good argument can be made on either side of that argument. Whether it is to be placed into the communicant's mouth or given to him to eat and drink is less an issue than some of the other aspects of the sacrament/ordinance.
I received communion at a catholic church couple times last year and they put it in your hand now.
(Yes, I know, my bad. God overrules priests and He told me to "Do this in remembrance of Me" so
i did. sigh) The homily just happened to be about unity in the body of Christ.
When to? How often to? Jesus said, "as oft as you...." so it's administered weekly or even daily in some churches but only monthly in others and only quarterly in many. The argument there comes down to whether one's church thinks that it's so beneficial and special that frequent communion is a good idea...or if OTOH taking it too frequently leads to taking it for granted.
And those are good things to consider!
I guess, though, if He said, "as oft as" we better let HIm worry about us taking Him
for granted. Heck, we do take Him for granted in many ways.. imo.
Thanks for the great response Albion!
You really know your stuff!
I find that, when someone replies to a dormant thread, to something I wrote only a couple of months earlier, I often don't recognize my own words or what the conversation was all about.
