One Bread, One Body

This morning we took communion at church. I wish my church did it every Sunday. I believe it is very important for a Christian to not only participate in it, but to also understand it. These are a few thoughts of mine about communion and the United Methodist understanding of the real presence. First, it is a mystery. Paul mentions several mysteries of the faith, some revealed, some not yet revealed. Many we have some understanding of, but not all understanding. An example of that would be in Ephesians 5 when he speaks about marriage and it representing the Church and Christ. He says it is a profound mystery. We are given the idea, but not the full understanding of it. Communion is the same way. We are given a lot about it, but we are still unable to completely grasp it. But Christ will give us full understanding when we share the meal with him at the heavenly banquet. Part of the mystery is that Christ shares the Last Supper with his disciples before he is dead. He gives them bread, calls it his body, then gives them wine and calls it his blood. The bread being his body and the blood being shed for our sins. He has not died for our sins on the cross yet, but he gives his blood to the disciples. Christ tells them to do it often in remembrance of him. So we do communion as a way of remembering. This is similar to things we have seen in Exodus, where God tells the people to take the bread as a remembrance, or erect stones as a remembrance. God gave specific rules for these remembrances. He does so also for communion. Paul expounds on these, particularly in 1 Corinthians. He tells the people that if we take communion in an unworthy manner, we profane Christ. It would be hard to profane Christ if it was just bread and wine. He tells us that when we take the cup and take the load, we are participating in the blood and body of Christ. Now it is still bread and wine, and we do it to remember Christ's death, but somehow we are also sharing in that supper with Jesus 2,000 years ago. We are sharing in his death. We do not see it has a requirement of saving salvation, but it is certainly something that is good for followers to do. Christ tells us that he is the bread of life, that is being represented in the loaf. We know his blood is sacrificed for our sins, represented in the wine. When we take communion, we take bread and wine to remember Christ, we join with him and all followers in his death, and we partake in his body, the bread of life, and the wine, the blood spilled for our sins. Christ is with us in communion. We take symbolic bread and wine and somehow are sharing a meal with Christ many years ago and remembering what he has done for us.