When Christians of various groups gather together, they agree upon many things.
They agree that they worship one God in three persons – God the Father, God the Son who is Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.
They agree that they are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love their neighbors as themselves.
They agree that Jesus promised that followers of Jesus would live eternally and be resurrected in a new body. We are “saved” from God’s wrath.
And they agree that every Christian should be baptized and receive Communion.
It is in the details of these last three things - salvation, baptism, and Communion - though, that we have our greatest disagreements.
How are we saved? Exactly what does that mean? I spoke on this a couple weeks ago.
How, why, when, and who should be baptized? This was my topic last week, and I gave the answer from the perspective of the great Wesleyan and Methodist tradition. In this case, my answer would also be acceptable to most Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and many Presbyterians.
And there are equally loud disagreements over Communion. Who should receive it? How should it be served? What does it mean? Why do we celebrate it?
Today, I’m going to delve into this, once again from our Wesleyan Methodist tradition.
First, a bit of history about the ceremony itself.
The Book of Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament, tells the story of when God brought the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery under the Pharaoh. They were led by Moses and his brother Aaron. You will remember that Moses encountered God and was sent into Egypt to demand the release of the Hebrew slaves, which Pharaoh refused.
And so, God sent ten plagues upon Egypt to encourage Pharaoh to “let His people go.”
Soon, it was time for the tenth plague, which would finally change Pharaoh’s mind and let the people go.
Our Exodus reading today, from Chapter 12, tells of the preparations that the Hebrews/Israelites were to make for their departure. They were to take a perfect lamb into the household and feed it for four days. Then, they were to sacrifice the lamb and smear the blood on the outside of their doorposts as a sign to God that they were being obedient and trusting in God. They were to roast the lamb over a fire, eating bitter herbs and bread made without leaven, which meant there was no need to wait for the bread to rise. (Think crackers). They were to eat standing up, fully dressed, staff in hand, ready to move.
And that night, the Death Angel flew across Egypt, killing the first-born children and livestock of every household that did not have blood on the doorposts. The angel “passed over” those faithful Hebrew households.
The next morning, Pharaoh ordered the Hebrews to leave. More adventures would happen, but the result was that they escaped from Egypt.
For about 1500 years after this up to the time of Jesus, every year the Israelites remembered their escape from Egypt with a Passover meal with lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. It became the first of the big annual festivals held in Jerusalem – and the Passover meal is still celebrated in Jewish households around the globe every year. This coming year, in 2026, it will be celebrated by most on April 1.
The Passover fills much the same family get-together slot as Thanksgiving and Christmas do to American Christians – a time to remember, to teach children, to come together as a family, but also a time to remember what God has done. It was this same Passover Festival that brought Jesus and the disciples to Jerusalem that final Holy Week before He was arrested and crucified.
On Thursday evening, it was time to celebrate the Passover meal, which they did at a particular house in the large upper room of the home, a room about the size of this room – roughly 30 x 40 feet. But now things were a bit different. This meal has gone down in history as “The Last Supper”.
They meal was served as usual on a low central table. Jesus and the disciples reclined on couches and pillows around the table.
The Passover meal is also called a “Seder” meal. Seder means “order” because there is a definite order to the celebration which has been passed down through the ages.
A key part of the Passover celebration is the sharing of four cups of wine, which are passed around and everyone takes a sip. The first cup is the cup of Sanctification when the candles are lit and prayers to God said to begin the Passover meal, the second cup the cup of Plagues, during which the plagues are remembered, the third cup is the cup of Redemption, during which the redemption or deliverance of the Israelites from slavery was discussed, and finally the cup of Praise, where God is celebrated.
A single loaf of unrisen bread was shared, torn apart and passed around.
That night, as the leader, Jesus departed from the traditional meaning of the various parts of the celebration when they came to the time of the third cup. He took bread, gave thanks for it and broke the bread, passing around the pieces. This was still traditional. But then He said, “Take and eat: this is my body.” And I’m sure the disciples looked at Him with big questions in their eyes.
Then, he took the cup, the third cup which is the cup of Redemption, and gave thanks for it. He then passed it around, saying “Drink from it, all of you. This my blood of the newa covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
a. We aren’t positive that the word “new” was in the original text. Some ancient manuscripts have it, some don’t.
Jesus then said He would not drink wine again until the day when He drinks it again with the disciples in His Father’s kingdom. (This story is told in Matthew 26.)
Years later, Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, in Greece, and he taught them more about the Last Supper. Paul said, probably on the authority of Peter and the other Disciples, that Christians were told to remember Jesus in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the wine. And so, this change that Jesus made at the Last Supper has come down to us today as Communion, which comes from the Latin word for “sharing in common”. The ceremony is also known in some traditions as “The Eucharist”, which comes from the Greek word for “thanksgiving”. Still other groups refer to it as “The Lord’s Supper”.
Communion is not described in much more detail in the New Testament, but there are mentions enough made to it throughout the letters of Paul and the other writers, that we know that there is more to it than a traditional snack. Just as with baptism, there are several different ideas about the meaning of Communion.
The ceremony ranges from very simple among many Baptist churches, to very detailed in the Catholic and Orthodox churches, with traditional methods and words that can be traced back hundreds of years, even, in some cases, to the time of the disciples.
But there are two great divisions.
Those churches that were heavily influenced by Jean Calvin take both baptism and Communion to be ordinances of the church, ceremonies that were ordered by Christ, but which have no deeper meaning. Calvinists receive Communion because Christ ordered it, plain and simple. This includes most Baptist, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches.
On the other hand, the traditional churches consider Communion to be a sacrament, a time when God reaches into our world and does something to and for us. This includes the Catholic, the Orthodox, the Anglican and Episcopal, the Lutherans, and the various Methodist and Wesleyan groups. There is something deep, mysterious, and spiritual about receiving Communion when we understand it fully enough.
The ceremony in a traditional church like the Methodists includes liturgy – a series of words said by the leader and responses by the people. The process typically follows this order:
There are words of welcoming.
Then, there is a prayer where each person admits their sins and is then given forgiveness on behalf of Jesus.
There is the sharing of the Peace of Christ, where there is a chance for people to reconcile themselves with other Christians whom they may have offended in some way. Now, the people have been reconciled with both God and other people.
Next, the leader reminds the people of what Jesus said at the Last Supper about the bread and the wine.
The leader then blesses the elements – the bread and the wine. In some churches, a bell is rung as the blessing is completed.
Usually, the Lord’s Prayer is said by all, then the elements are distributed.
In the traditional Methodist ceremony, two people distribute the bread and the grape juice. The one serving the bread says to each person, “This is body of Christ, given for you.” The one serving the juice says to each person, “The is the blood of Christ, shed for you.” It is important to say this, for it not only reminds the person receiving of the sacrifice of Jesus for us, but there is something about saying this 15 or 30 or 50 times to people that gets into the soul of the person serving.
The bread is from a single loaf. The juice is traditionally placed in a single cup, or “chalice” as it is formally known.
(We use grape juice because of the heavy involvement of the Methodist movement in the 19th century temperance movement, a movement which attempted to reduce the great plague of alcoholism at that time, which was also the reason Mr. Welch developed a process for canning grape juice.)
Notice that Communion is a gift from Jesus, so we do not “take” Communion, but we receive Communion. Hold your hands out with the palms up and let the Communion server place the bread in the palms of your hand as a gift. Then eat it.
The same goes for the juice. If we use little cups, receive the cup from the server as a gift. Then drink it.
After you have eaten and drunk, you may want to continue to the railing to pray for yourself or another person. You may kneel or stand if kneeling is difficult for you. After praying, return to your seat.
Now, there are a couple of other methods that are commonly used. There is the idea of “intinction”. In this case, take the bread and dip it into the cup to get a bit of the grape juice on the bread. Then eat it. This was common practice before COVID. Now that COVID is long gone, we may return to that practice. Since only the bread actually touches the juice in the cup, no germs are shared.
There is another method which is often used in small churches. The servers serve the first person. Then, the loaf is passed to the person served. That person serves the bread to the next person, while the cup is also passed along to the person who served the bread previously. Both the bread and cup are passed around the circle, each person serving the next until everyone is served. In some places this is known as “Emmaus Style” because it is commonly used during the “Walk to Emmaus” retreats.
In Catholic and other churches that use wine, it is common for each person to take a sip from the same chalice. The priest then carefully wipes the cup and rotates it for the next person. The alcohol in the wine, combined with the metal of the cup kills any residual germs.
In our churches, we prefer to use a loaf of robust, tasty risen bread instead of wafers or crackers or kibble. We are no longer in a hurry, so we don’t worry about the rising time of the bread. Jesus, after all, is already here. But in other churches, you might encounter the unleavened wafer, which tastes amazingly like Styrofoam, or little piece of kibble bread that look a lot like what you’d feed your dog or cat. When we do a Seder meal, which we hope to do this Eastertime, we will use matzah, which is best described as a Jewish cracker. All are okay. We just prefer to normally use the good, tasty, risen bread that is still in one unsliced loaf.
Why one loaf? It symbolizes that we are also one body, just as the cup symbolizes a single body and is more like the original Last Supper.
And how much bread do we give? We give a substantial bite, for that reminds us that God has plenty of grace to give us – God isn’t stingy and so we won’t be stingy either.
And who is welcome at the table? Anyone of any age.
Some groups have very stringent requirements. Both the Catholics on one hand and the Baptists on the other hand limit the table to those who have been baptized into their churches. Most Churches of Christ require you to be a baptized member of that particular church. Some groups require you to have carefully examined themselves and determined whether you are “worthy” or not to receive Communion.
But the Methodist tradition is that any person of any age is welcome – just requiring that the person wants to be close to Christ. The words spoken explain this:
“Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin, and seek to live in peace with one another.”
You see, none of us are worthy to be close to Jesus. But Jesus has accepted prostitutes, thieves, tax collectors, militant nationalist zealots, rowdy fishermen, and even Paul, who led a persecution of Christians. None of us are “worthy”, but Jesus welcomes us all.
Why do we allow anyone to join in Communion?
One Communion Sunday, we were attending church with a group of our Chinese students from Marietta College. One of the girls, who had been with us for a couple years, realized that she believed in the teachings of Jesus and so she entered the line for Communion. While there, it hit her that Jesus was truly God and when she came back to us, she said, “I want to be baptized as a Christian.” Which was done a week or two later. And so, we pray that perhaps you will truly receive Jesus as you receive His body and His blood.
But what does it all MEAN?
The Catholic and Orthodox churches take Jesus very literally. They believe that when they ring that little bell, the bread and the wine literally change into the body and blood of Christ. The technical name for this is transubstantiation. In this way, you are literally taking in Jesus during Communion, and in their theology, this is NECESSARY for your salvation. So receive Communion daily if possible, but at least weekly, although once a year was once acceptable in a poorer, time.
On the other hand, most of the Calvinist churches, including most Baptists, consider that the bread is bread and the grape juice is grape juice. All they are doing is remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. And remembering this is a good thing. It changes us.
In our case, we believe that the bread remains bread and the juice remains juice, but Jesus becomes spiritually present with us when the elements are blessed or consecrated. In some spiritual way we don’t fully understand, we believe that Communion strengthens us spiritually, like spiritual food, leading us closer to God.
John Wesley was fond of calling different practices “means of grace”. He argued that there are different ways that God takes care of us – these are the “means of grace”. Baptism is one. Communion is another. The reading of Scripture and listening to sermons are others. Anointing with oil for healing, practicing two-way prayer with God by asking advice and listening to the Holy Spirit’s answer are still other means of grace. But Communion is one of the primary means of grace. Wesley suggested that it was best to try to receive Communion as often as possible, monthly, weekly, even multiple times a day if possible.
In the days of the circuit riders, when one pastor traveled a circuit of up to 30 churches – or preaching stations, as they were often known – the pastor only arrived about once every 3 or 4 months. And so, when the pastor came to the village, baptisms were performed and Communion was offered. On the other Sundays, a lay leader would preach.
Over time, the circuits became smaller. My son had five churches on his first appointment. I’ve usually had two. But larger churches can support a pastor or even a couple of pastors. Over time, we’ve moved to monthly Communion – and are encouraged to move toward weekly Communion, since the pastor is available to bless the Elements most Sundays.
Some people say it stops being “special”. Usually, this is because we don’t really understand that Communion is a key way in which we grow closer to Jesus. Every time we receive Communion, we remember and ponder the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Each time we receive Communion, it is special because of what Jesus did for us. Think about it – over the years, more and more of our body’s molecules are replaced with molecules from the Communion elements which have been blessed. And so our body becomes more and more blessed.
And how should left over elements be handled?
Once again, our understanding of the elements affects our ideas. The Catholics actually take blessed wafers and store them in the sanctuary for next time in a small, decorated box with a red light. Extra wine is either consumed by the priest or poured down a special sink which dumps onto consecrated ground, a cemetery of sorts, for to the Catholics, this is the actual blood of Jesus which must be solemnly buried in a cemetery.
Most Baptist churches have no firm procedures.
In the Methodist tradition, extra bread is given to those who need it, or scattered outside for the birds to eat. Children may eat it. Extra juice is drunk or poured outside as you would a good fertilizer to help plants and flowers to grow.
And when there are people who cannot attend the church because of age or illness, it is good for trained people to take blessed Communion to those people at home or in the hospital. See me if you would like to receive this training.
Receiving Holy Communion is a key part of the Christian life. Look upon the elements with reverence, but also with joy, for each time we receive the elements, we are reminded of the great gift of eternal life which Jesus has given us through His sacrifice.
So be joyful when you hear that Communion is to be served. The Grace of Christ is coming to you once again.
Amen.