Communion and Community...

This weekend, I have the opportunity to lead communion during the morning services. I'm fairly excited about it...But it gets me thinking about why we do communion. Jesus said to do it in "remembrance of him." And I wouldn't do it for any other reason. Jesus had communion with his disciples and as he passed the bread and the wine around, he was engaged in community with them. He knew each of them so deeply. They had lived life together, had experienced miracles together, had seen people be radically changed together, and the disciples had learned from him again and again. As they sat in the upper room, there was so much going on as he passed the cup and the bread. He was about to die and he was telling his disciples that they needed to remember him once he wasn't physically with them anymore.

Often, I take communion and forget exactly how intimate this is. I drink the juice and eat the bread and think, "That was a nice service." or "I'm glad that we have the privilege of taking communion." The reality is that we have the privilege and the responsibility of taking communion together...in community with the local body of Christ. We get to celebrate him together because he is present...Alive...right here with us and that is an amazing thing! I Corinthians 11 really writes to people that were perverting this concept of communion but Paul uses some great wording as he addresses the issue of communion. He says, "For whenever you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes!"

Wow! As a local body of Christ, we are making a proclamation every time we engage in communion. It isn't just a ritual that is done the first of every month. And it isn't a time only for somber reflection. It is a time for somber reflection and then celebration together as the local body of Christ, proclaiming Christ to the world around us! It should move me. It should make me gaze deeply into the face of Christ and only begin to understand his love for me. His love poured out on the cross 2000 years ago!

God, give me the ability to think deeply about who you are and how you created your church to proclaim you through communion.