Communion:
"Sacrament of Continual Renewal"

It may be helpful to the reader if this explanation of the communion is made more pointed by a number of suggestions on what one should think about during the communion and especially at the moment of communion. 

It is common to require of a communicant the he "examine himself" (I Corintians 11: 28) for any hidden and unconfessed sins. To gain full understanding of and make confession of one's sins a requirement for communion is to misunderstand the verse used for support. The examination spoken of is an examination to see if indeed he discerns the Lord's body in communion. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with that. Nevertheless, any renewal of the covenant with the Lord should be a time of heart searching, repentance and confession of sin. It is well to use the moments before the actual partaking of the elements for this activity. 

The individual should be conscious of the proclamation in the communion by which he is setting forth the Lord's person and work. It is often suggested that believers are required to vividly relive the sorrow and agony of the Lord's death for them. The mystics of the middle ages and some of our own era have developed this into a rather exact metaphysical science. However, it is a hard mentality to produce in most people's minds and even when it is produced the emphasis is wrongly on the physical agony of the Lord because we have so little understanding of his spiritual anguish. Yet, to meditate only on the physical suffering of the Lord is to consider what was comparatively insignificant when one remembers the infinite nature of his bearing of sin. One ought to be satisfied with an objective consideration that the Lord "bore our griefs" and "was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities," and that, "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53: 4-6) He should avoid conjuring up a spiritual hysteria which he really does not feel. 

Since the communion is a renewal of a covenant between an individual and God, the best mentality and the most readily produced state of mind at the time of communion is that of covenanting. The communicant ought to tell God that he still believes in Christ the Son of God and still claims Christ's righteousness as his own and still lays his sins on Jesus. He should give thanks that God is once again renewing the covenant with the communicant. He should confess his many violations of the covenant. Such a frame of mind will make the best use of God's sacrament.

Finally, something should be mentioned about communion services. for they greatly help or hinder the proper use of God's ordinance. Even if it is not provable, it is more than likely that the early church served the communion frequently, perhaps weekly. It is an unhappy historical accident that many of the churches which derive from the reformation serve it only quarterly or monthly. On the other hand, if it is a part of the main worship service of the church each Sunday, it may dominate the service in such a way as to make proclaiming of "the whole counsel of God" impossible. On the other extreme is the practice of tacking the communion on the end of a service unrelated to it or of including it in the middle as if it were a necessary but unimportant item of business. In either case it encourages a lax and careless attitude on the part of the worshippers. 

A better solution, I have found, is to have a short but separate service before the main worship time for all who have previously prepared themselves to participate in the communion. Perhaps it might be a good custom to introduce a Saturday night meeting as a communion service. The people of apostolic times began the Lord's day at sunset and so, when we observe them worshipping during the evening hours of the first day of the week, we understand this to be a Saturday night service. If Christians were to do this, they would not only find a time for a weekly communion but would gain an added blessing of an evening preparation before the Lord's day. 

The subject of liturgy in the communion is one which provokes a lot of discussion. On the one hand, the New Testament cannot be used to forbid a liturgical service built around the communion with prescribed prayers, warnings, exhortations and recitations of confessions of faith. Yet, it is clear that the New Testament church had nothing of this nature and it might be questioned whether it enhances or detracts from the real meaning of the ordinance. 

One must consider the possibility that the attempt to make the communion more meaningful by a protracted service actually obscures its meaning. It certainly did this in the medieval church where the usual response of the layman was one of an awesome but confused reverence at the mystery and magnificence of it all. There are accounts of people who were so awed at the holiness of the bread that they merely kneeled and worshipped it without even eating. 

Ceremonies have their place if they are tastefully done. In the dedication of a building, in graduation from university and in the burying of the dead, one feels compelled to provide a ceremony which will allow the participants to savor the occasion and justify their effort to attend. But the communion is pregnant with meaning and the faithful believer partaking of it should be so taken up with the confession of his sin, contemplation of the work of Christ and covenanting with God that he should not need or desire any other agenda. 

A general rule for treasures is that the magnificence of the container should not obscure the beauty of the treasure. A complicated and majestic pageant would enhance the crowning of a king with a jewel-encrusted crown, but the same regality might make ordinary bread and wine seem to be ridiculously plain. In the use of elegant and expensive furniture and vessels for the communion one suspects that the medieval custom of building reliquaries to make relics have more visual force is more at work than an enlightened desire to enhance the communion. These too, should not be allowed to compete with the simple glory of the memorials of the body and blood of the Lord. 

There are certain things that are always appropriate in the celebration of the communion. Preaching on the subject is always appropriate. A reading of relevant Scriptures is important as a means of bringing the attention of the communicants to the Biblical teaching on the subject. No one can insist on its inclusion, but it is helpful to have a definitive declaration of the intent of the people present when the elements are solemnly set apart for the use of God's sacrament by prayer or by declaration. When there are unbelievers present they should be warned about the danger of partaking and Christians should be encouraged to participate in a spirit of discernment of the Lord's body and blood. The words, "Do this as often as you do it in remembrance of me," or "This is my body which is for you," or a similar phrase is an appropriate way to invite the worshippers to partake of first the bread and then the cup. 

It is common in non-liturgical churches to read poetry, play gospel songs softly on the organ or otherwise disrupt the ordinance. If Christians are properly instructed, they should not need poetry, nor should they need the message suggested by the hymns being played as background music. They have business to attend to before God. The use of such props in the communion service is a tacit admission that the sacrament, by itself, is without substantial meaning to churches that use them. Because the communion is a sacrament given from God and hymns are obviously an institution of a much lower order of blessing from God, it would seem that the use of hymns to make the communion meaningful actually demeans God's holy ordinance.

The following prayers are included with the thought that they not become memorized or read prayers but that they serve as models which suggest how the believer ought to pray during the communion service.

0 God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, God of all mercy, God of all grace, I thank you for the immeasurable gift of your Son who is to me The Bread of Life whereby I shall live forever. I thank you also, Father, for the rich gift of the sacrament of communion which you have given to all who obey you. 

Forgive my sins, 0 Lord, for they are many. Make me truly repentant for them, I pray, and work the grace of sanctification within me so that I may overcome them. 

I thank you for my salvation and pray that I may be enabled by your Holy Spirit to properly discern the Lord's body and blood and so to partake in a worthy manner.

0 God, I thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead who became man and tabernacled among us. I thank you for his teaching and for his rule over my life. I thank you for his perfect obedience to your law which was imputed to my account when I believed. I thank you for his devotion to me and pray that you will work more perfect obedience in my heart to his beloved lordship.

Father, I believe that you have given Christ for me and I accept this bread as a token that you love me. I take it as the representation of Christ which I again make a part of my very being, even as I claim Christ for my spirit. Truly feed me 'with the Bread of Life. 

I once again consciously recognize Jesus as my only Lord. I dedicate myself to him. I thank you that you accept the imperfection of my repentance and faith and surrender. I accept your seal to me that Jesus is truly mine.

I thank you, 0 Father, for the forgiveness of sins. I thank you that because of Christ's blood, I am "accepted in the beloved" and have access to your holy presence. 

I thank you for the humiliation and suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for my sake and for his glorious triumph over the grave and that he intercedes for me in heaven. 

Dear Lord, I pray that you will work more love in my heart for the blood of the Lord Jesus whereby I am saved.

As I partake of this cup, 0 Lord, I once again renew my acceptance of Jesus as my only redeemer and mediator. I am helpless without him and have no righteousness of my own. 

I accept this cup from your hand, Heavenly Father, as your seal that you have forgiven my sins and that they are laid on Jesus. I accept it as a sign of your faithful covenant keeping whereby you will save me forever. 

As I partake of this wine, and make it a part of my very being, I claim Christ's blessed atonement and make it a part of all that I am.

Thank you, 0 Father, for your grace and mercy. You have provided a means of my reconciliation with yourself and of my salvation. You have given me the riches of Christ for eternity. You have given your church the holy sacrament of communion whereby we might feed on Christ. 

I thank you that I have met you at the table and heard you speak and received your reassurance. By faith, I believe you were here. 

Send me away now 'with your peace and work in me what is well pleasing in your sight.

Alan Dan Orme has been the pastor of two churches, a Bible college dean, a Campus Minister at the University of Georgia and has taught at two state universities, numerous colleges, and several interdenominational organizations in student and staff training. He is a minister in The Presbyterian Church of America, and was formerly in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. He is the author of more than two dozen articles, numerous papers presented to scholarly societies, and the booklet When You Commune. He holds the B.A. degree from Columbia Bible College, the B.D. and Th.M. from Covenant Theological Seminary, and the M.A. in Greek and Ph.D. in History from the University of Georgia.