Why Weekly Communion?
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." – 1 Cor 11:23-26
We know from the Bible and early church history (Didache, Justin Martyr, etc.) that Communion (or the Lord’s Supper) was clearly a part of each Sunday gathering of the early church, and even perhaps the central element of the gathering.
Acts 2:42 - "And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."
Acts 20:7 - "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them..."
1 Corinthians 11:20–21 - "When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk."
The only real objection to weekly communion given modernly and even in more recent church history has been that participating weekly can diminish the weightiness and reverence of the table; however, just a moment’s reflection seems to show this objection as specious. We do not make the same argument for weekly preaching, or weekly singing, or weekly giving, or weekly praying, all of which have arguably less clear weekly inference in the New Testament than communion. We know how much we need the word preached, sung, prayed, etc. every week without exception; we would feel as if we didn’t really assemble if we missed one of those. Communion is and should be no different.
One clear benefit that we should take from such an objection is to make sure that we give much effort to bringing the proper weight and gravitas to the table each week that is properly due and refuse to let it become rote or without its power, in the same way we should do with the other weekly elements.
Communion, as the new covenant Passover, is the ongoing covenant sign that is meant to spiritually nourish us and renew our relationship with Christ. We treat Communion as the proper way to respond to the preached and sung Word of God. We, though unworthy, have an opportunity to examine ourselves personally and our relationships with one another, and are together welcomed back to the family table to remember and be nourished by what Christ did for us by breaking his body and shedding his blood. Until He comes again, we eat and drink to remember Christ, to preach Christ, to commune with Christ and each other, and to look forward to feasting with Christ.
We know from the Bible and early church history (Didache, Justin Martyr, etc.) that Communion (or the Lord’s Supper) was clearly a part of each Sunday gathering of the early church, and even perhaps the central element of the gathering.
Acts 2:42 - "And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."
Acts 20:7 - "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them..."
1 Corinthians 11:20–21 - "When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk."
The only real objection to weekly communion given modernly and even in more recent church history has been that participating weekly can diminish the weightiness and reverence of the table; however, just a moment’s reflection seems to show this objection as specious. We do not make the same argument for weekly preaching, or weekly singing, or weekly giving, or weekly praying, all of which have arguably less clear weekly inference in the New Testament than communion. We know how much we need the word preached, sung, prayed, etc. every week without exception; we would feel as if we didn’t really assemble if we missed one of those. Communion is and should be no different.
One clear benefit that we should take from such an objection is to make sure that we give much effort to bringing the proper weight and gravitas to the table each week that is properly due and refuse to let it become rote or without its power, in the same way we should do with the other weekly elements.
Communion, as the new covenant Passover, is the ongoing covenant sign that is meant to spiritually nourish us and renew our relationship with Christ. We treat Communion as the proper way to respond to the preached and sung Word of God. We, though unworthy, have an opportunity to examine ourselves personally and our relationships with one another, and are together welcomed back to the family table to remember and be nourished by what Christ did for us by breaking his body and shedding his blood. Until He comes again, we eat and drink to remember Christ, to preach Christ, to commune with Christ and each other, and to look forward to feasting with Christ.
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