Bread and wine

By Tyler Tankersley

A few years ago my wife and I were serving as leaders for a Christian retreat for college students. Along with our American students, we also had a number of Chinese students who had just landed in the United States. Many of them had electronic translators with them so they could hone their conversational English. On the last night of the retreat, our main speaker was leading us through Communion together. As they were going through the normal words of institution, my wife noticed the Chinese students were hurriedly typing into their translators, they were feverishly whispering to one another and they seemed quite disturbed. My wife leaned over and asked them if they were OK. One of them took a big gulp, pointed toward the chalice, and in a fearful voice asked, "Is that blood?"

Communion is an odd ritual. Along with baptism, it was the spiritual practice that most differentiated the early Christians in their early centuries. The logistics and metaphysics of Communion have caused divisions amongst Christians since the earliest days of the church. In fact, the Apostle Paul has to step into a conflict regarding Communion when he writes his first letter to the Christian church in Corinth.

Evidently, the wealthier members of the church were arriving early for the practice of the Lord's Supper and were consuming most of the food before the poorer folks could get off work. Paul reminds them the practice of Communion should be about unifying the congregation. In fact, Paul writes to them that if they do not allow Communion to bring them together, then they are taking it in an "unworthy" manner (see 1 Corinthians 11:17-34). When I was a kid growing up in a Southern Baptist church, taking the Lord's Supper in an "unworthy" manner meant that I had to completely grasp what I was doing before I ate my bit of bread and drank my plastic shot glass of grape juice. However, that's not what Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 11; instead, he is encouraging the Corinthian Christians to not forget one another when they take the bread and cup. When we neglect community in our spiritual practices, we perform them in an unworthy manner.

Sometimes I will have parents of young children in my congregation who come to me and ask, "Should I let my children take Communion? I mean, they don't really understand it." My response is always: "Do you? Do you understand it? Because I don't totally comprehend it." Perhaps that is why our Orthodox sisters and brothers refer to the Eucharist as a holy mystery. To take the bread and the cup is not about completely understanding what it means; it is about allowing God's grace to wash over us.

Different churches practice the Lord's Supper in different ways. Some see it as a sacrament; others as an ordinance. What matters most is that we take Communion in a way that reminds us of the immense depth of Jesus' love for all of humanity.