Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Lord's Supper: Right and Wrong...
So... remembering this is just my opinion as someone who has spent their lives in the church of Christ fellowship, I thought I would share what I believe we have gotten right and wrong about the Lord's Supper.
Our theology concerning the centrality of the Lord's Supper in worship is right. As is our weekly observance of it. It seems clear from Scripture that this was the practice of the New Testament church.
I do like that we have historically emphasized the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins. I rarely partake of communion in churches of Christ without someone leading us in a prayer of thanksgiving for the saving act of Jesus.
I appreciate our connection from the "upper room" before Jesus died all the way until he comes again.
I have never thought our practice matched our theology. In most congregations I am aware of, the central act of worship is the preaching. We spend more time on it and we seem to build the assembly around the sermon.
We have badly missed the communial aspect of Communion. Traditionally, we have taken the Lord's Supper individually and in isolation from the rest of those in the assembly. It is as if we decided reverence and fellowship are mutually exclusive.
We lost the sense of celebration that the Lord's Supper should provide. I have heard many men say "let's celebrate the Supper together". Then we move into full funeral mode. Much emphasis on the death, not so much the resurrection.
We made it into an act of worship that needs to be checked off on Sundays. So we have people come just in time for communion and slip out after. We even had Sunday evening worship with communion for those who were "providentially hindered" from attending morning services. As if God kept someone from coming to church. Then they had to take it by themselves. Not very reflective of Scripture.
And of course, we have the Lord's "Supper" with no meal attached. We do the Lord's snack. The Corinthians were taken to task for not being truly communial in their practice. We aren't very communial either. We just abuse it in a different way.
I started this little series with posts on baptism and Lord's Supper for a reason. I believe they are the two things identified most closely with the Gospel -- the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I do gospel (baptized) as an individual when I become a Christian. I then do gospel (Lord's Supper) at least weekly with my brothers and sisters until I go home or the Lord returns. I even tell people the death and resurrection of Jesus is our core belief at Southern Hills and we live it out in baptism and Communion.
So I am thankful for my church of Christ heritage. We nailed the theology. If we only get two things right, these are the two core things. But I hope we will do a better job aligning our practice with our theology. Neither of these are "acts". Not of salvation or of worship. They are the two ways we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So, let me hear your thoughts.
Our theology concerning the centrality of the Lord's Supper in worship is right. As is our weekly observance of it. It seems clear from Scripture that this was the practice of the New Testament church.
I do like that we have historically emphasized the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins. I rarely partake of communion in churches of Christ without someone leading us in a prayer of thanksgiving for the saving act of Jesus.
I appreciate our connection from the "upper room" before Jesus died all the way until he comes again.
I have never thought our practice matched our theology. In most congregations I am aware of, the central act of worship is the preaching. We spend more time on it and we seem to build the assembly around the sermon.
We have badly missed the communial aspect of Communion. Traditionally, we have taken the Lord's Supper individually and in isolation from the rest of those in the assembly. It is as if we decided reverence and fellowship are mutually exclusive.
We lost the sense of celebration that the Lord's Supper should provide. I have heard many men say "let's celebrate the Supper together". Then we move into full funeral mode. Much emphasis on the death, not so much the resurrection.
We made it into an act of worship that needs to be checked off on Sundays. So we have people come just in time for communion and slip out after. We even had Sunday evening worship with communion for those who were "providentially hindered" from attending morning services. As if God kept someone from coming to church. Then they had to take it by themselves. Not very reflective of Scripture.
And of course, we have the Lord's "Supper" with no meal attached. We do the Lord's snack. The Corinthians were taken to task for not being truly communial in their practice. We aren't very communial either. We just abuse it in a different way.
I started this little series with posts on baptism and Lord's Supper for a reason. I believe they are the two things identified most closely with the Gospel -- the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I do gospel (baptized) as an individual when I become a Christian. I then do gospel (Lord's Supper) at least weekly with my brothers and sisters until I go home or the Lord returns. I even tell people the death and resurrection of Jesus is our core belief at Southern Hills and we live it out in baptism and Communion.
So I am thankful for my church of Christ heritage. We nailed the theology. If we only get two things right, these are the two core things. But I hope we will do a better job aligning our practice with our theology. Neither of these are "acts". Not of salvation or of worship. They are the two ways we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So, let me hear your thoughts.
Comments:
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"Reverance" + "celebration" as they relate to the observance, have always contradicted each other in my estimation. In fact, earlier this summer- it was suggested to me in private by a friend that we aren't 'reverent' enough. I took their meaning to be one of the funeral descriptions you mention. Not in scripture that I've found. The word doesn't exist. I believe the 1st Christian body was physically quiet during these observances- but it was more likely due to the threat of being caught and risking their lives, rather than an emotional command by Jesus himself. The emphasis should be on the resurrecting power (life gained), not the catalyst of what ended Jesus' physical life on earth (death). I say crank up the noise, we have MUCH to celebrate! :-)
# posted by 
: 3:34 PM PDT
: 3:34 PM PDT
I was raised by two God fearing parents, and was baptised into the church of Christ many years ago.
Over the past 25 years I have been blessed to attend other churches and observe their practices of communion, and baptism. Out of the 10 different churches I have attended I found one other that did immersion baptism and four that do weekly communion. Of those four all were deeply moving and spiritual. Several offered you the option of prayer time at the alter after you receive your wine, or bread, or cracker.
I have never seen any type of celebration at that time. Each began with the scripture that pertains to "this is my body, and this is my blood" the sadness of the crucifixion, and the great gift we have because of christ's death on the cross.
The celebration of that gift should be reflected in our daily lives.The world should be able to tell we are in Christ by our actions in the community, by our works they will know us.
During communion we need to reflect on Christ sacrifice,and the horrific death he went through on the cross for us.
Just my thoughts
Over the past 25 years I have been blessed to attend other churches and observe their practices of communion, and baptism. Out of the 10 different churches I have attended I found one other that did immersion baptism and four that do weekly communion. Of those four all were deeply moving and spiritual. Several offered you the option of prayer time at the alter after you receive your wine, or bread, or cracker.
I have never seen any type of celebration at that time. Each began with the scripture that pertains to "this is my body, and this is my blood" the sadness of the crucifixion, and the great gift we have because of christ's death on the cross.
The celebration of that gift should be reflected in our daily lives.The world should be able to tell we are in Christ by our actions in the community, by our works they will know us.
During communion we need to reflect on Christ sacrifice,and the horrific death he went through on the cross for us.
Just my thoughts
# posted by : 3:02 PM PDT
: 3:02 PM PDT
SPOT ON, Brother! I laughed and snorted soda out my nose at "we do the Lord's snack!"
I love when I get to have the opportunity to share "Supper with the King" and truly take time to focus on Christ and His LIFE, not just His death, burial, and resurrection. I wish that, as a brotherhood, we would learn to SHARE worship.
Blessings, NevadaMOPreacher
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I love when I get to have the opportunity to share "Supper with the King" and truly take time to focus on Christ and His LIFE, not just His death, burial, and resurrection. I wish that, as a brotherhood, we would learn to SHARE worship.
Blessings, NevadaMOPreacher
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