Holy Communion

My good friend Martyn Layzell recently sent through an article he'd been working on in regards to worship and the Lord's Supper. It raises some interesting questions and considerations for us as worship leaders.

Sometimes we can disengage with some of these issues, but I found Martyn's thoughts challenging and insightful. 
 

The connection between worship and the Lord’s Supper is somewhat unclear from a biblical perspective. Despite being described by many authors and commentators writing on the sacraments as ‘the central act of Christian worship’, it may be true to say that the celebration of the Lord’s supper is in some ways in danger of becoming tragically disconnected from our understanding of congregational contemporary worship. In many evangelical and charismatic churches, communion is often ‘tagged on’ at some point either before or after the sermon. Somebody holding a contemporary view of congregational sung worship might even feel that The Lord’s Supper in fact detracts from the worship and somehow ‘breaks the flow’ of what the Holy Spirit is doing.


I have to confess that I have found myself thinking these things at various times. It can be frustrating as a worship leader to have just spent thirty or forty minutes leading people into the presence of God and just as the music slows or there is a time of silence, the moment of stillness and reverence is intercepted by a resounding and religious “The Lord is here!” More often than not it feels like the lights being turned on at the end of a party rather than a seamless flow of spirit filled worship.


This may be due to unhelpful phrases which have been adopted in the church such as “Now we’re going to worship” to invite people into an extended time of singing or the habitual and sometimes insensitive, religious nature in which communion can be led. Coupled with these issues of course may be a failure to educate and inform our congregations of the depth, breadth and significance of communion and its impact on our worship as individuals and as a corporate body.


A quick tour around some of the most popular internet sites providing teaching, resources and fresh insights for charismatic contemporary worship for the local church, will uncover a frequent failure to highlight and stimulate a discussion on the importance of the Lord’s supper with relation to a predominantly non-liturgical style of corporate worship. These sites can in fact fuel a culture of Christian celebrity, endorsing particular products and conferences and at worst result in misdirected worship and misguided practice. I say these things as someone who is and has been involved in this bubbling ‘industry’ of worship for a number of years.


This is not the case of course in more liturgical traditions where the Eucharist as it’s more formally known is the central act of the worship service, above hymns, chants, readings, offerings, and sermons. Similarly many emerging church initiatives and experiments reaching out into a post-modern generation have found many creative ways to ‘refresh’ communion making it a particularly inspiring tool for worship and evangelism. We must however be careful not to misuse communion in a culture which has an insatiable appetite for spiritual experience. Sometimes it may be the case that ancient ritual, ambient lighting and emotive music can elicit feelings, which can be confused with the presence and touch of God.


As Vaughan Roberts warns “Unless the Lord’s supper points us to Christ and His cross, and thus to the gospel, it cannot in fact draw us closer to God – whether it leads us to us feeling closer to him or not.” He goes on to say that “much of the current popularity of the Lord’s Supper is based on mysticism (the feelings it produces) rather than on the fact that it reminds us of the gospel.” Obviously, this might also be true of charismatic contemporary worship and can be very subjective. Far be it from me to take on the position of the thought police. It is however something to ponder.



I want to look at three characteristics of the Lord’s Supper that must place it firmly back at the centre of our worship.

1. REMINDS US
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."


One of the many roles of a worship leader in my mind is to ‘remind’ people of whom it is they come to worship and why he is worthy of their worship. So much of life is cluttered with the busyness of daily demands. Often people arrive at church and although they physically may be in their seat by the start of the service in actual fact they have left their hearts in the car park, at the breakfast table or in bed. People need to be given time to ‘remember’ what a sacred thing this is we come to do.

...The Eucharist reminds us of why we gather and who it is we worship.


Part of this takes the form of proclamation and thanksgiving. In feeding on him and partaking in this memorial meal we proclaim his death and resultant work of salvation. Interestingly the word ‘Eucharist’ means “Thanksgiving”. This might suggest that instead of being a somewhat disjointed part of our worship service, it should be the very climax of our worship.


The Lord's Supper expresses the value of Christ by reminding us of him and proclaiming his worth. As we remember we are reignited in our passion for Him. In other words, Christ gave us this simple "Lord's Supper" to help us keep him in memory, especially his blood and body given up in death.
This act of remembering is worship if in the eating and drinking there is an authentic heart experience which says: "We must remember him because he is the most valuable Person in the universe. We must remember his death because it is the most important death in history." Setting out this tangible reminder of Christ time after time in the life of the church will be worship if our hearts feel the preciousness of remembering Christ and tremble at the prospect of forgetting him.



2. ROOTS US


Sadly, in some respects the contemporary worship scene has birthed somewhat of an individualistic approach towards worship. Despite often standing in a large crowd amidst many voices our ‘experience’ of worship can be belittled to being between just us and God. Due to many popular congregational songs being written as a documentation of someone’s own personal journey with God many more songs are written in the first person. This can be a weakness of some of our contemporary songs and promotes an individualistic stance in worship.
Worship however is not just upward. Worship is upward, downward, inward and outward. Louie Giglio in his book “The air I breathe” describes worship as “Our response both personal and corporate to God – for who He is! And what He has done! Expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”


In Relation to the Past the Lord’s Supper is first and foremost a remembrance of Christ’s death as that climatic event which brought about the promise of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God. It deals with the past and with the fact of the removal of the consequences of sin. But there is more than a past dimension. This meal is also a reminder of our present fellowship with Christ and of His presence with us. It is not the recalling of a figure of history that has long passed away, but the proclamation of the death of the risen Lord who is present in the church. He who invited the disciples to share the last Supper continues to be the real Host at each communion service. As such He continues to be the very source of our spiritual life, without which we cannot live the Christian life. He is present spiritually, and eating and drinking of the elements that speak of His Person and work, not only signifies faith in Him and trust in His death, but also the necessity to partake in the riches of His life in continued fellowship with Him in the Word and in prayer. The outward action of eating and drinking, then, are to be an expression of an inner communion and an inward faith of one who is counting on the worth of the Savior as the source of his or her own spiritual life. It is a reminder of our need and His ever-present availability to be the source of our daily life. The real presence of Christ in the Supper is thus no different than His real presence as we might experience Him in his Word or during sung worship. In the one He encounters His people in visible elements and in the other through words that inform the heart.
The Lord’s Supper not only looks back to the first advent of Christ and the cross, but it looks forward with joy and expectation to the future and our partnership with Him in the future kingdom. As believers in Christ, we will be there with Him in that glorious place, and if we have lived by virtue of His life through faith, we will know the joys of rewards, reigning with Him in His glory.


3. REORIENTATES US


Finally the Lord’s Supper serves to re-orientate us around the cross. It can be all too easy, especially in large churches to take our eyes off the centrality of the gospel and become consumed with other goals and worthy causes. Reflecting upon the importance of the role of The Lord’s Supper in worship, we need to be careful however to not let the act itself become the focus of worship and thereby an idol.
In his book “True worship” Vaughan Roberts states that “the Lord’s Supper is meant to anchor the church to the event which lead to its creation: the cross of Christ, ‘lest we forget’.


The issue is not and should never be the significance of the Lord’s Supper but the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross and the resultant work of salvation. Whether you believe in transubstantiation, consubstantiation or have a reformed view of Holy Communion the issue must be Jesus. It must point us to Jesus. He is the object and centre of our worship and it is all for Him, about Him and to Him.



In celebrating the Lord’s Supper we commemorate one man’s perfect act of worship that held the keys to defeat Sin and in so doing gave us access to the Father. It is this access that makes engagement with the Father possible during our times of singing.

First published in 'Mass Culture', edited by Pete Ward, published by BRF,
2008
 
So there you have it. Let me know what you think. How have you incorporated Holy Communion into your services? Why do you feel it's so important? How can we be creative in the way we lead and respond to celebrating Communion?