What Does Communion Mean to You?

The meanings of Holy Communion for Christians are many and various.

To many believers, the aspect of inclusion is very important. Undoubtedly there are many people for whom inclusion of all people overshadows all other meanings.

So if any human being bars another human being from taking Communion, for them there is no meaning in it; what Christ meant to be a uniting sacrament has become a dividing wall.

For other believers, the aspect that in offering Communion and accepting it we are obeying the command and invitation of Jesus Christ himself is the most important thing about Holy Communion.

Jesus said explicitly only twice, “Do this.”

Once was the night before his Crucifixion when he said to his disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

He took bread, and blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, broken for you,’ and “likewise, after supper,” the cup of the fruit of the vine, “the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The other time was at his ascension when he said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Many churches in various denominations regularly follow a plan for making sure that no one is excluded from the worship of God and the opportunity to be blessed by partaking of Communion.

People of the church visit in the homes of people who can’t come to the church building, taking with them the Communion elements of bread and unfermented grape juice, or wine, and hold a short prayer service with Communion, with those of the house.

Ordinarily this visit and this version of the sacrament are taken to those who are too ill or weak to attend the worship service at their church.

The visit, service and sacrament show both the person visited and the congregation that each person is important to the larger body, as well as to God himself. The visit, service and sacrament are an outward and visible sign that he or she is not forgotten by the congregation, nor by God, either.

At the same time, both the visited person and the visitors are remembering that obedience is part of an authentically Christian life.

When Christians grow in their knowledge and enjoyment of the presence of God, other meanings of Holy Communion will become part of their being.

Blest are believers when those other meanings increase in number, depth, and joy.