the Means of Grace: Holy Communion

 The Sacrament of the Table goes by many names in the Christian faith.  Various groups call it Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper, The Eucharist (which means "thanksgiving"), or The Mass, among other titles.

 The Lord's Supper plays an extraordinary part in the theology of John Wesley. As a matter of fact, one of his most widely- quoted works is a sermon called "The Duty of Constant Communion."

 Wesley understood Communion to be both a command and a mercy. He recalls the institution of the Lord's Supper, where Jesus says, "Do this, as often as you drink it, as often as you eat it, in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:14-23) At the Lord's Table, we remember so many things: we recollect Jesus' sacrifice as the paschal lamb of the new Passover; we remember that he has said that he will not partake again of the fruit of the vine until he drinks it anew with us in heaven, as he anticipates the fulfillment of God's rule and the gathering of the saints at the Messianic banquet; and we call to mind Jesus' abiding love and ongoing presence - when we hear the words "This is my body, this is my blood," we are reassured of Christ's ongoing accompaniment with us. So pronounced has been the significance of Holy Communion that it is sometimes referred to simply as The Sacrament by some of us.

One of the happenstances in our history that was a great positive force also had its negative impact upon our understanding and practice of Eucharist. When Methodism first came to these shores, it was a movement that was very much dependent upon lay leadership. There were class leaders and society presidents who took the great burden of leadership upon themselves. The church of England was not very quick in ordaining and dispatching priests — and we must remember that Methodism originated as a reform movement within the Anglican Church — who would come to America. It was over this issue that The Methodist Episcopal Church in this country originated. 

Wesley ordained preachers to come to America and to see after the members here. But, those early ordained ministers were few and far between. So, the preaching and care of souls from day to day was carried out by lay ministers. These folks could do almost everything an ordained clergyperson could do, except administer the sacraments. 

To receive Communion, the people had to wait for the ordained minister to come around. That might be once a month, or once a quarter, or it might be just whenever. So, while we are the spiritual descendants of John Wesley, with his emphasis on constant Communion (Wesley himself took the Sacrament several times each week), because of a personnel shortage, we Methodists fell into a pattern of infrequent Communion. This is a tragedy, since the biblical pattern of worship is that Christians should share in the Sacrament of the Table whenever they assemble. Likewise, the Anglican Church out of which we emerge still maintains this practice. Now that we have enough preachers to go around, perhaps we should consider changing our practice, and returning The Eucharist as the centerpiece of our worship.

 Wesley fought throughout his life to clear up two misunderstandings regarding the Lord's Supper. First was the objection that some folks raised, saying, "Oh, but I'm unworthy! And scripture says that whoever takes the elements unworthily eats and drinks damnation upon himself!" (1 Corinthians 11:27- 29) Wesley calls those people to read the whole chapter. It was the practice of the Corinthian Church to have a community meal, and to include the bread and wine of Communion as a part of that meal. The problem in Corinth became when some people had a full banquet in front of them, and some didn't have any.  There would come a time when some people had so gorged themselves on other breads and other wine that they didn't have any idea when the sacramental loaf and cup were being passed. These practices made them unworthy, and it was these behaviors against which Saint Paul warned.

For, in regard to being worthy, who can ever say that they are worthy? If you were worthy, you wouldn't need the Sacrament. Who is it Jesus says needs a physician? The healthy? No, the sick. Who is it that needs the Sacrament? The righteous? No, the sinner.

 The water gets muddied further by some of the earlier English translations of the Bible that used the word “worthy” rather than the more accurate “worthily.”  “Worthy” is a state of morality or entitlement.  “Worthily” is a state of awareness.  That to which Paul calls us is an active discernment regarding the solemnity of the moment. 

 The other difficulty Wesley contended with was the belief of some people that said, "Oh, no, I don’t partake of Communion too often. I surely wouldn't want my church to do it every Sunday. That would take some of the special away from it." Let me ask you this. Those of you who are married or who have a "significant other" in your lives, what if that other person were to say to you, "I'm only going to hold your hand once in a while. I'm only going to embrace you on the first Sunday of every month. I'm only going to kiss you quarterly. I'm going to hold off on saying 'I love you,' because I don't want to wear out the special." How would you feel? When you love someone, you want more and more hugs and kisses and hand-holding.

 Can you ever hear "I love you" too much? The Eucharist, and all the Means of Grace, are some of God's ways of saying "I love you."

 And we never tire of that.