Can you serve the wine today? Assisting with the Lord's Supper, Part 1

The first time I assisted with the Lord's Supper, I was twenty-something, a member of my church's evening congregation, who occasionally led services or singing or youth group.  We were at a conference where almost everyone had a dog collar, and quite a few of them were wearing one.  I wasn't sure why my minister had invited me - we seemed be the only church who had brought some lay people along.  My bishop was 'presiding' - for the non-Anglicans, that means he was the one leading the service of Communion / Lord's Supper / Holy Eucharist.  And fifteen minutes before it began he asked if I would serve the wine.  Yikes!!

But what a privilege to move from person to person, offering them the cup of wine, and reminding each person that Jesus' blood was spilled for them, yes, for each of them, personally.

If you are offered the opportunity to assist with the celebration of the Lord's Supper, please take it as a huge compliment.  And please treat it as a rich and profound responsibility.

In this post, I'll share a couple of thoughts about the Lord's Supper.  I am aware that there are other points of view.

The word 'Communion' (according to the Oxford Dictionary Online) means 'the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a mental or spiritual level.'  Which makes me wonder how it also came to mean (according to the Oxford Dictionary Online): 'the service of Christian worship at which bread and wine are consecrated and shared'.  

Happily the Online Etymology Dictionary helps here;  the use of the word Communion to describe Christians breaking bread together and drinking wine together comes from the idea of unity in something which is shared among all, or participating together in something.  That's OK, the Apostle Paul says "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?  And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16 NIV). In other words,  this ceremony celebrates the fact that people who belong to Jesus share his death;  we died with him (have a look at Romans 6:1-14).  But I'm not sure that the word "Communion" means that to the average Christian today, much less anyone else.

The word Eucharist is from the Greek - ancient Greek actually - for saying 'thank you'.  That's also OK, I hope we are very thankful for Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf, but saying thank you, or even being reminded to be thankful, is not the primary purpose of the reenactment.  Even if it was, I think it's helpful to use terms that are more easily understood.

I prefer to call it the Lord's Supper, because it is a tiny symbolic reenactment of the Last Supper - the one Jesus had with his disciples the night before he was tried and crucified.  Jesus said that as often as his disciples - those who follow his teaching, that is - broke bread together, and shared wine together, as they did that night, they should do it to remember him.  Remembering Jesus, and specifically remembering that he died for us, is the primary purpose of reenacting the Last Supper together.

So that's what should govern how we conduct the celebration of the Lord's Supper.  We should ask ourselves, do the things we do and say help people to remember that Jesus died for them?  Or do they distract people from that fact?

Next time you take part in the Lord's Supper in your church, take notice of everything that happens.  Does it help you remember that Jesus died for you, or does it distract you from remembering?  Look at everything that happens - is this the best time in the service to remember that Jesus died for us?  What should come before and after, to help with the aim of remembering?  Does the place you are in help or hinder?  Does the song before help people to remember, or not?  What about the bread and the wine that you use - do they help, or hinder?  What about the words that are said?  Are there prayers, perhaps before or after the Lord's Supper, or part of it, and how do they help or distract?  Do the items used in the ceremony help them to focus on what Jesus has done for them?