What about Holy Communion

Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Mass, the Eucharist, there are many different names for this sacrament, or ordinance if your prefer, in the church, but it is something we all do because simply, Jesus said so.  The question is why, what happens and what’s the point?

You may ask, preacher, why even talk about it?  Shouldn’t/t we focus on sharing the gospel, doing good works, work for the social betterment of our communities.  I would say yes to all of that, but at the same time I would argue that Holy Communion is the secret power behind everything we do as a Christian because it is in Holy Communion that we have our closest contact with Jesus this side of heaven.

Now, I am not going to argue about what different denominations believe, the roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine changes into the body and blood of Jesus, Lutherans believe Jesus is in, with, and under the elements.  The reformed and the Presbyterians believe that Jesus is spiritual present and the Baptists and methodists tend to view it as a memorial meal.  Wiser men than I can spill ink over those sorts of technical details.

I am also not going to enter into the wine verses grape juice or the leavened verses unleavened bread when we partake.  That is a long and arduous path that has been tread before and those arguments go nowhere.

What I am going to talk about is this, when we gather together, as the community and the body and bride of Christ and we partake in the elements of Holy Communion together after they have been blessed by a rightly ordained pastor we enter into the presence of God, we are united together as the body of Christ in a special way and we are empowered for service.

When I talk about Holy Communion with my congregation I talk about when I was a kid we as a family, a whole family, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins and friends, would go over to eat at my grandparents’ house.  We would all eat from the same table, same food.  We would all drink the sweet tea my grandmother made.  We would pray together. Talk with one another, laugh and cry, and fight and argue.  We would be united as one family.  Bonds were strengthened and relationships were made.

Holy Communion is the same thing.  We gather at our Heavenly Fathers house.  We eat from the same table, drink from the same cup, the same bread and wine that our ancestors in the faith consumed from.  We are strengthened for the journey through this world, for the fight against the darkness all of us must face.  We are united into one body for one mission, one faith, one Lord, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all.

I encourage churches to participate more often in the practice of Holy Communion.  What this world needs is more unity, especially in the church, rather than less.  We need more spiritual power, not less, we need more togetherness and A LOT less individualism and selfishness.  We need Holy Communion.

We need the body and blood of Christ in us, whether we view it symbolically or literally.  We need this more than anyone can understand.

I know for most of you this probably seems like a stupid thing to be talking about when the world around us is burning down, but I would argue we need this more than ever right now.

Join with your brothers and sisters in the faith, around your Father’s table, eat and drink and be brought together as a family.