Church Stuff: The Lord's Supper (Communion)

Church stuff is a new section of "All These Things" that deals with the basics of Christianity and the common practices of the modern Christian church. I am of the Baptist Denomination. Therefore, most of what I write concerning specific practices will be based on what I was taught and what my particular church believes. I will try my best to be correct in my information. However, any input is appreciated. I will never delete a comment or question unless it is deemed disrespectful to God or lewd in wording. Tough Questions are welcomed!

The Lord's Supper, or Communion is the second ordinance of the church (the first being baptism). I thought that it would be fitting to talk about this today because this is the first Sunday of the new month. My church serves Communion on the first Sunday of each month after the sermon. Some churches serve perform this event every Sunday; and some have it every fifth Sunday. To my knowledge, there is not a scriptural reference as to how often you should have Communion; just that you do it in remembrance of Christ. The scriptural references behind Communion are Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, and Luke 22:7-23. It is based upon these scriptures that we celebrate the Lord's Supper.

Communion consists of two parts. The first part of is the eating of the unleavened bread. The bread is representative of the body of Jesus Christ. As noted in the scriptures, Jesus knew that He was going to die for all of us. So He told his disciples that the bread was His body that was to be broken for them. It is important to note that the bread was unleavened because the Lord's Supper took place during the Passover celebration. This tradition goes all the way back to the original Israelites and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The second part of the Communion is the drinking of the wine. Jesus told the disciples that the wine was representative of His blood that was to be shed for them. They did use actual wine for the drinking during the Lord's supper on that occasion. Today, some churches use wine for the Communion, while others use fruit punch. My Church uses fruit punch. I also attended a Communion on an Air Force base that gave you the option of wine or the fruit punch, depending upon your own convictions about drinking alcohol.

A prayer of repentance is usually given before participating in Communion in order to give thanks to God for the bread and wine (as Jesus did at the Last Supper), and to ask for forgiveness for sin. Paul states in I Corinthians that anyone that participates in the Lord's Supper unworthily risks condemnation.

There are number of methods used when adminisering the Lord's Supper. But the most important thing to remember is that the Lord's Supper reminds us of the sacrafice that Jesus made on our behalf. Without His death, burial, and ressurection; we would not have any opportunity to receive salvation. Without his broken body and shed blood, we would be forever separated from God. That is the most important thing to remember.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike









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