Holy Communion This Sunday!

On Sunday for the first time in a long time we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion, also known as the Eucharist (Thanksgiving).

Have you missed this experience? What is it about communion that you need and miss?

Why is this meal important? Is it a ritual of remembrance or does Jesus actually show up through these earthly elements in body and blood?

I asked people to share why Communion was important to them and here are two responses from members:

“Holy Communion is refilling/refueling my soul with the body and blood of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that I’m forgiven and receiving Holy Communion is my blessing and assurance.”

“Communion is important to me because it reminds me of the suffering and sacrifice Jesus made for me (for us all) and the love he has form me and is always with me.”

Well said! Luther believed this experience brought Christ’s presence to us and into our very bodies, “in, with and under” the bread and grape juice or wine. While it was in remembrance of Christ, he didn’t agree with other reformers who saw it as purely a ritual of remembrance.

For Lutherans it is the command of God for a specific action, with the promise of grace, connected to a physical and created substance, (water in baptism and bread and wine/juice in communion) that makes a Sacrament truly sacred. We believe that “In Christ’s body and blood given to us, God forgives us and nourishes us for mission” (Evangelical Book of Worship page 93).

God shows up in other places and other ways. We have remembered his promises through baptism during the Easter Season while we couldn’t communion, but I have a feeling that when we share communion again in the courtyard, or connected by the Holy Spirit in our homes, we will be fed in a way that we have missed while we have been apart.