It's not a cracker and a shot of grape juice

One of the things I love about Churches of Christ is that we celebrate the Lord's Supper every week. It doesn't make us better than other tribes because we do it. But I do believe that the Supper is a vital part of our faith walk. It signifies something. It says something. It holds a special meaning in our lives as followers of Jesus.

As I finished reading the Willimon and Hauerwas book Lord, Teach Us, I came across something that reminded me of the significance of the Supper.

At the Lord's Supper by faith we are made participants in God's body so that the world may know that the world is storied through God's presence. We are subsumed into the adventure of God's salvation of the world. Through this meal God united us with one another in a mystical bond. We call this a mystery not because by this meal our intelligence is confounded, but because the more we understand God's unrelenting love, the love embodied and made manifest in this meal, the deeper the mystery such love evokes.

In the Eucharist we are faced with reality that confounds our speech. It is a reality to true to be a mere matter of noble ideas and religious inclinations. This faith does its business in bread and wine. This God transforms all of our lives, even the most earthly and ordinary of our lives, into signs of divine presence. So when asked what we believe about God, we Christians tend to point to a group of former strangers eating together around a table as family called Eucharist. Or we take you to a dark river where folk are descending into the waters, dying to their old selves, rising as new creations, called baptism. The table, a loaf of bread, the bath, all become expressions of the way our Lord has intruded upon the world, claiming it as his own.

The Lord's Supper is more than a cracker and a shot of grape juice. I would even argue that it is more than just a reminder of what Jesus experienced during the Passion Week. It is a living example that God is at work among us. It exclaims that GOD IS ALIVE!

The Supper should remind us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, that God lives in us. We are not our own; rather, we are bought with a price. We are invited into the ongoing work of God in the world, and the Supper bonds us together.

In our Mosaic service, Communion happens a little differently than "normal." Rather than pass trays and sit quietly for the most part, everyone is invited to come to the front of the Family Room (our auditorium) and gather around the "table." We hug, we laugh, we cry, and we pray together. Greetings are exchanged. Struggles are shared. It is family time. I believe this is more like what Jesus had in mind.

I cannot really picture the Twelve sitting around the table in that upper room quietly as Jesus passed the bread. It was the middle of the Passover Meal. A Jewish meal instituted by God centuries early to remind the Israelites that God is in the business of salvation. It was a time of celebration.

In the Lord's Supper, we are still called to celebrate today. We celebrate a God who means what He says and continues to engage in the affairs of this world. As we eat the bread and the wine, as we take a seat at His table, we proclaim that we are participating in the body of Christ, the incarnation of God. We are joining with God in His effort to reclaim the world and redeem it from the darkness of sin. We are reminded that God is not some distant deity waiting to destroy us. Rather, He is a loving Father reaching into this world to show us His grace and mercy.

In the Supper, we state that we are God's ambassadors. We signify that God is more than just an idea or set of beliefs. God is at work in the world today. The next time you celebrate Communion, remember that it's not just a cracker and a shot of grape juice. You are joining with God's people and engaging in God's ongoing effort to being salvation to this world.

shine!
Jason