from the VCC Newsletter on 9/3: Give Thanks

In the New Testament the bread and the wine used for communion is most often translated from eucharisto.  This is where we get  the Holy Eucharist, which is not as popular among evangelical churches, preferring the Lord’s Supper or Communion. The word eucharisto literally translated is “thanksgiving” or “to give thanks.” Any of the three references are biblical, and each tells us something about the celebration itself.   We say the Lord’s Supper because it is his invitation for us to partake, and the word Communion references an experience of fellowship with Christ and his church. Likewise when we look at 1 Corinthians 11.17-34, we see a picture emerge of the central nature of the bread and the cup to the gathering of the early church. It is a clear articulation of Paul that remembering our fellow Christians and waiting for them is critical to authentic communion and thanksgiving. The implication of its sacramental nature is that partaking without communing, remembering, and giving thanks leads to sickness and death. Whoa!

Isn’t it interesting that all three major schools of thought on the nature of communion (memorial, presence, and sacrament) find evidence in this single passage? And in this same passage it strongly warns about dividing the body of Christ.  Yet all three major schools use this very text as a pretext to divide over how we practice it. How sad . . .

Moreover, isn't it interesting how all of the oldest church traditions practice communion every time they gather, and it is the protestant church who has  reduced it to once a month, once a quarter, or once a year. And why? Well most often they claim if they do it too often it makes it not special. Really? Yet we sing every week (which entertains us),and we preach every week (which also entertains us). Communion does little to entertain us or occupy us. Instead it asks us to think about one another. Instead communion asks us to consider what God has done for us.

In the early church the Lord’s Supper was the centerpiece of the assembly: to gather to break bread and to have fellowship and do life together. But in the modern church we are busy with our videos, our offerings, our comedy routines, and our amusements that we spend little time on reflection or actually connecting.

That’s why here at Vineyard Christian Church we have given all of our offering meditations over to communion meditations, preferring to spend our time worshipping God and connecting with one another. Maybe not just like the ancient church, but considerably less like fleecing the sheep.

Next week we will talk about the altar call and ministry in the assembly.