When we abuse this experience by coming to God’s Table incorrectly, we are jeopardizing our chances of living into the fullness of what God wants to show us through his sacrifice, and the ways that help us remember who we are in Him.
It’s easy to read Paul’s warnings and in reaction turn communion into an experience of legalism and fear based on Paul’s description or even turn it into something we HAVE to do, but I don’t think either of these perspectives could be Paul’s intention. I think he was displeased, and he came off intense here due to his displeasure (and rebuking is not the same thing as condemning). If we keep things in perspective in light of the Gospel (“perfect love casts out fear”), that belief in Jesus is the only thing we need to be made right with him, communion simply becomes a visceral way to be reminded of what it means to abide in Christ.
As children of God, our wholeness in God’s estimation is as real as the elements we consume (even if all WE see is brokenness). Our never-ending need for Him is as real as our never-ending need for food and drink. Basking in the wholeness God has given us is what communion is meant to remind us of! His blood and body alone give life, even more so than the food and drink we consume. We are urged firmly to partake, and that is because our need for Jesus in our lives is real, and persistent. Since we become complacent in that knowledge easily, as the hymn famously states, “prone to wander, Lord I feel it,” then we need that persistent reminder!
As we partake, I’d gently encourage you to remember that as we eat the “body” and drink the “blood” of Christ, it is because of His body and blood that we are the righteousness of God. What a breathtaking reality to digest whenever we sit at the Lord’s Table!
Ashley Carr
Teacher