Communion :: in the everyday

Standing on the cusp of Holy Week, I've been thinking a lot lately about what we celebrate this time of year.

When i was a kid growing up in a small church in rural PA, we had a very special custom. Twice a year we celebrated a religious observance called "communion." If you've attended a church for any time you probably know what i'm talking about... but lately i've been challenged to take another look at the practice and i'd love to share with you something that's been on my heart.

The practice involves sharing in the breaking of Bread and some juice or wine. These symbols were given by Jesus to help us remember his sacrifice, the bread to recall how his body was broken and the cup to remind us of his blood poured out. While at first reading this sounds very morose and a little dark... we need to remember what the sacrifice of the bible is all about.

I'm by no means an expert but what I gather from Scripture is that the sacrifice was given each year for a two-fold purpose. On one level it was to atone for the sins of the person that they had committed. The Holiness of God required atonement to be made for each person. On a very similar note the second purpose was to remind the sacrifice giver of the high cost of being separated from God by sin. Something literally had to die as a substitution for sin.

Sin in ancient times was an archery term that meant literally "missing the mark" when it came to shooting at a target. Anything outside of perfection was sin, in the very same way that's what sin is in our relationship with God. Anything outside of Holy is sin. This seems harsh, what kind of loving God wouldn't accept us just as we are? It's because of God's Holiness that he has to demand holiness of us in order to be in fellowship with Him. Anything less than Holy would taint his Holiness and thus He'd cease to be perfect.

This is the essence of why a cleansing sacrifice needed to be given. Romans 6.23 tells us that "the wages of sin is death." Something had to be offered in atonement for the stain of sin... but these yearly bulls, goats and doves were never enough to cleanse fully... something else had to come that could fulfill it completely. Communion and Easter are the celebrations which remind us of the greater sacrifice that was given on our behalf. God being Holy needed something HOLY to be offered to set right the imbalance and imperfection of sin, so HE came... GOD HIMSELF. The absolute, ultimate act of love. The perfection stepping down into the imperfect to journey with us, to be human, to save humans. To save you and me from the stain we could not shed on our own.

By Jesus' broken body and poured out blood we were made clean, a substitutionary atonement for our sin. This is what we're celebrating when we take communion in a church service. But something strikes me as I read the passages in the Gospels that speak of this meal and the way the church looked after Christ's ascension... This wasn't a once a year, month, week occurrence... it was a daily thing. In the upper room (see Luke 22.7-20) Jesus used very basic, common meal items of the day to serve as symbols of his sacrifice. Symbols of remembrance, things they'd eat every time the ate together. Then if you take a look over in Acts 2.42-47 it says these words:

42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

They enjoyed fellowship together, COMMUNITY. Every day they were together, doing life together but also remembering the tie that bound them all. Our practice of communion isn't bad but we should also be "communing" together every time we eat with one another, or see each other at school or work, or on the streets or in the grocery store... every time we see another who follows Christ we should celebrate the One who binds us all together. 

This is much more intense than just going to church... the church isn't bad but if our spiritual lives only exist from 9-11am on Sunday mornings then we're not really following Jesus. I'd also argue that if we're not doing life with other believers then you're not growing... at least not in the way that GOD intends us too. The commitment is so much higher, but then when we compare it to the glorious perfection of God's loving sacrifice for us, it seems only natural. To give ourselves up for the one who gave himself up for us! 

May we be the church that God intends us to be. A beautiful bride waiting for her groom. 

IF you made it this far, congrats I'm done... but i wanted to just share some of what God's been putting on my heart this Holy Week. 

Much love

pb