Holy Common Union

Sacraments are rituals with special religious meanings. I think of Sacraments as sacred moments. Something spiritually important is happening or if you are less mystical, it is a reminder that something spiritually important is happening. Both Baptism and Communion are called sacraments because in these rituals, something spiritually important is happening.

Communion is a sacrament commanded by Jesus at the last supper he had with his disciples on Thursday night. This supper was the yearly Passover meal that the Jews held, to remember their rescue from Egypt. That rescue was a result of the Covenant that God made with Abraham, and in the desert God renewed that covenant through Moses.

Jesus was the master teacher. He often used common everyday objects to teach deep spiritual truths. He used the water in the well, to teach about the living water, the treasure in the field to teach about the Kingdom of heaven, the bridesmaid and so on. In John 6, he referred to himself as the Bread of Life who imparts eternal life to whoever eats it.

"Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

At the supper table with the disciples, he used the dishes on the table to teach them and as an aid to remind them of his impending capture, torture, death and resurrection. The Passover meal described in Exodus 12 consist of lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They would have eaten the meal with wine. Jesus used the wine and the bread in this teaching. What about the Lamb and the bitter herbs? The Lamb is Christ himself, the Lamb of God slain for us, the herbs are the bitter suffering and torture that he would undergo and used to prepare his body for the tomb.

Thus the ritual of Communion reminds us of the entire works of Christ. However, I believe that Christ wants us to remember only the bread and the wine because he wants to point us forward and not back. He wants to point us to life after the cross, after the sacrifice of the Lamb.

Therefore, may I suggest that 3 things should happen first before communion?

Firstly, we must be believers. We must believe that the Divine God was incarnate as the Word of life, took flesh, lived among us and died sinless.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Cor 15:3-4

His death and blood shed for us gives us forgiveness and rescued us from eternal death. His resurrection means that we can have eternal life as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.

Secondly, we must come in humility to ask forgiveness and in thanksgiving receive that forgiveness. We come to communion not as sinners but as forgiven sinners. So we need to prepare our hearts for communion and make right our relationship with God and fellow believers before we come to communion.

Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24

Peter reminds us that Christ body was literally broken for us. Communion reminds us that it is his body broken by torture and hung on the cross that brings us healing.

Finally, we have to be in unity to have communion; in unity with God and with one another. The communion is a sign of the reality of our oneness in faith, life and worship.

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

So we can think of Communion as Common Unity. We are united with Christ and the participation in his suffering, in his death, burial and resurrection. We are also united with other believers in this church, in Hamilton, in Aotearoa and to the corners of the world.