Last autumn, my twenty-five year old nephew visited from the
Mid-West to attend to some business in New York City. As it happened, he
was with us over a Sunday, so I invited him to attend the CPC Worship Service
with us. Then I remembered that it would be the first Sunday of the
month, when CPC regularly offers Communion as part of the Sunday Worship
Service. I thought I had better mention that to Harry.
Harry confessed he did not attend church much, but he said
he did not remember "Communion." He wondered if it might be the
same thing as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which was celebrated in his
parent's church. I told him they were essentially the same thing ----
each with a slightly different emphasis.
At CPC, I told Harry (not unlike his parent's church) we
observe Communion because Jesus told us to do so, and naturally we do try to
observe the commands of Jesus.
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus had met in an inn's
upper room with his disciples to eat a meal with them. The Bible tells us
(1 Corinthians 11: 23-26) :
"The
Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and
when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my
body,
which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same
way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new
covenant in my blood; do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance
of me.' For whenever you eat this bread and drink of this cup, you
proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."
Then, in 1 Corinthians 11:28 - 29:
"Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the
bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks
without discerning the body of Christ, they eat and drink judgment
on themselves."
At CPC, I told Harry, we regard Communion (the Lord's
Supper) as a Sacrament of the New Testament, and that by taking the bread and
wine (grape juice), those that make themselves "worthy" by silently
confessing their sins to Jesus Christ, communicate directly to him for their
spiritual nourishment. At the heart of the Communion is the
"conversation" with Christ. Importantly, there is
self-examination taking place, because it would be hypocrisy for us to pretend
that we are in communion with the Holy One while actually cherishing known sin
in our hearts. We each seek to identify recent sin and beg
forgiveness.
Harry asked whether during observance of the Sacrament, the
bread and wine really become the body and blood of Jesus? He wondered,
when one is seeking to be in communion with Jesus, how could Jesus
participate? I told him that there are three different Christian views on
this question:
---- First, that the bread and wine become the actual body
and blood of Christ.
This is the Roman Catholic belief, and it is called Transubstantiation.
Before the Mass, the elements are merely bread and
wine. But during
the Mass, through the ministrations of the priest, they are
changed so that,
although worshipers perceive only the bread and wine, they
nevertheless
actually eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus.
---- Secondly, that the bread and wine are unchanged elements,
but Christ's
presence by faith is made spiritually
real, in and through them. This was
the view of John Calvin particularly, but also of other
Protestant Reformers
---- that Christ is present in the Communion Service, but
spiritually rather
than physically. Rev. James Montgomery Boice tells us
that Calvin called
this "the real presence" to indicate that a
spiritual presence is every bit as
real as a physical one.
---- Thirdly, the bread and wine are completely unchanged,
but are used as
symbols representing Christ's body and blood, in remembrance
of his enduring
sacrifice. This theory assumes Jesus is not present
at all, at least no more
than he is present all the time and in everything. To
those who hold this view,
Communion takes on an exclusively memorial character.
It is only a
remembrance of Christ's death.
In his book, Foundations of Christian Faith,
Rev. James Montgomery Boice discusses the merits of these three theories, as
follows:
"To
begin with, we must say that there can be no quarrel with the memorial
theory, since it is true as far as it goes. The only question is whether
more
than
remembrance is involved. The real division is between the view of the
majority of Reformers and the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
Those
who
favor a literal, physical presence (and Luther was one, though he did not
accept the theory of Transubstantiation), argue from a literal interpretation
of
Christ's words: "This is my body." (Mark 14 :
22) But that hardly decides the
matter, because such expressions occur frequently in the Bible with obviously
figurative or representational meanings."
I told Harry that we (at CPC) speak of "the real
presence" of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
Communion Service as far as we know it, and
we seek to respond to Him and to serve Him.
But, we readily admit that there are times when this is
difficult and the Lord does not
seem to be present. Whether because of our sin, our
fatigue, or simply our lack of faith.
Sometimes, Jesus does seem to be far away.
Though we continue on in the Christian life,
and in service, we long for the day when we will see Him
face to face, and be like Him.
Our Communion Service is a reminder of that day. It is
an encouragement to our faith and
an impulse to reach for a higher level of holiness in the
daily lives of each of us.
_________________________________________________________________________
These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to
encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth
this summer at CPC.
___________________________________________________________________________
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