What Is Communion?

http://www.gbod.org/worship/thm-bygc.pdf This is the link to get to a pdf copy of the document "This Holy Mystery", written by the Council of Bishops a few years back. It was written to raise awareness of "The United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion." This was the source for the beginning of a new Sunday School class at 11:00 a.m. this past Fall. Only one faithful soul showed up to share in that understanding.

We have undertaken observing weekly communion at our early service. There are some that view it as a meaningful practice that offers strength and healing and centering for their lives on a weekly basis. Others have commented that it seems a too frequent practice that only diminishes its meaningfulness. Well, let's talk about it.

Communion is aptly referred to as a mystery, a Holy mystery...which means that through this sacrament God is able to convey things that are beyond our capacity to reason. One of those "things" is grace. Grace is the gift of a new beginning, the true knowledge of being forgiven, the gift of knowing that God loves and cares for you no matter where you are or what you have done. Can we come to know that too many times?

We have two sacraments - baptism and communion. And we only have two because they are the two things that Jesus told us to carry on. "As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me" and "Go forth into all the world, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." In baptism we are brought into the family of God, in communion we are sustained for the journey in that family. Can that be watered down? To make an analogy - is every time the family gathers around the dinner table less and less meaningful?

When communion is viewed as only a remembrance - simply an act like blowing out the candles on a birthday cake to mark another year of life...then I might concede that a birthday cake every week would get old. But - we believe God's presence is in the juice and bread - God is with us here and now, as he was in the first century, as he will be in the days to come...

John Wesley advocated that we should participate in the Lord's Supper as often as we are able to. Can we imagine - as we take in those elements and kneel to pray, that God's presence is all around us, a hand on our shoulder; and as we rise the places that have been broken are mended, the relationships where we have been angry or separated are now approachable, or the source of our confusion - becomes a bit clearer...can we get too much of that?

So as has been said, the move to weekly Communion is simply to provide an opportunity to grow closer to God - nothing more - open your hearts and minds to the mystery of God in your life - and be transformed by that love.