"The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
This week, some of my closest friends are coming to my home, and we are going to eat together. Afterward, we are going to take the Eucharist together. I am very excited, and I want to share just a few thoughts on the meal our Lord has given us. I should say by way of disclaimer that I am no theologian, and I am ready at any time to be refuted by the authority of the Holy Scripture; but by God's grace, I hope that will not be necessary.
To begin, as it regards the meaning of the sacrament, I have little novel insight to offer; but the significance that presents itself to me the most readily is the idea of Christ's sacrifice as a meal for us. It always brings back to my mind the state that I was in before I surrendered to Him. The fact of it is that when I wandered in a barren waste, hungry, and even starving to death, the God of all creation, driven by no need and bound by no obligation, broke His body to give me bread. He fed me, and saved my life. It's life-changing. But that's not all. When I was miserable, and depressed; when everything was gray and gloomy, and I had no happiness, and no joy, Christ spilled His blood to give me wine--to make me glad, to lighten my heart. Parenthetically, that's why I prefer to have real wine in Communion, as opposed to grape juice--I just feel like it loses a little bit of significance when you take the alcohol out.
Second, I take a mystical view of the Eucharist; that is, I believe in a real presence of Christ in the bread and wine. I don't believe in transubstantiation, mind you--but certainly not mere symbolism, either. I believe that when we take the Lord's Supper, we partake in a real way of His sacrifice for us; that He meets us there, with sustenance, with forgiveness. I'm not prepared to defend this view with Scripture (though I'm sure there are those who can); and am indeed prepared to drop it if suitable evidence can be produced against it. But the fact is that there's a difference in me, between the weeks that start with me at church, taking the Eucharist, and the weeks that I don't get it; just like there's a difference between the person I was before I was baptized and the person that I am now. I believe there's real power in the sacraments.
Finally, I love the unity that the Eucharist brings. In the passage that I quoted at the beginning of this, St. Paul seems to hang the unity of the church on the fact that we all partake of the bread that is Christ's body, and the wine that is His blood. When I gather with my friends to share the meal that our Lord has given us, we will all be remembering Him together; and in turn, we will be joining in with the larger body of Christ around the world, that remembers Him in the same way; and I think that's a beautiful thing, and I'm thrilled that I get to be a part of it.
I hope that God has used this to give you something to think about, or teach you something new, or remind you of something old; I hope at the very least that I've spread no falsehood. Thank you for reading. May the God of peace be with you.
