Thursday 16 March 2023

Background

One of my earliest church memories is going with my father to set up for communion. He was responsible for preparing the bread and non-alcoholic wine for communion. I stood and watched as he cut the sliced white bread into small cubes. I think I was given the crusts to eat!

Today, ministers often break bread using a roll. This is a far more visible image of being ‘one bread’. It is an important part of sharing. It shows people are together because they are sharing from the same bread. In some congregations the tradition is to wait until all have been given a piece of bread and then consume at the same time. This emphasises sharing together.

Paul sees sharing in this meal as important. “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” (verse 16) These are most likely some of the words used by the Corinthian congregation as they remembered the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the night before he went to the cross. The words have been used down the centuries and Methodism still uses them in the orders for communion today. See the Methodist Worship Book page 196.

In stressing the blessing and sharing, Paul returns to a subject he wrote about earlier in the letter. This concerned eating meat offered to idols. Earlier he stated that doing so may cause problems for the weaker members of the church. In that passage he argues that it is wrong for anyone to share such a meal at all. His concern is that by their actions they are, at the least, distancing themselves and, at worst removing themselves from the people of faith.

To share in communion is the heart of worship. It is to be united with Christ but also with other believers. Paul doesn’t want the Corinthians to do anything which will jeopardise that union and blessing.

To Ponder:

• If you do take communion, what is central to your understanding of eating bread and drinking wine? Why?
• What are the actions today that can jeopardise the blessing Christ offers?

 Prayer

Help me today to find ways to be a blessing to others.