What is Communion or The Lord’s Supper?

“Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

The Lord’s Supper is an important ceremony in the life of the people of God. It is one of two great ceremonies that, along with baptism, Christ left the church in order to strengthen its life and proclaim salvation in Jesus Christ.

There is a sign and a promise in the Lord’s Supper. The sign is the bread and the cup; the promise is salvation in Jesus Christ. The sign reminds us of Christ’s costly sacrifice. His body was broken for our sakes; his blood was poured out. For that reason, during the sacrament we always break the bread and pour the cup. This is a visible and earthly sign that we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands. Because of our human weakness, Christ gave us this earthly and visible sign to remind us of invisible and heavenly things. The earthly signs remind us of the heavenly promise of salvation that we receive in Jesus Christ.

Christ is present with us in the sacrament. During his earthly ministry, they said of him, “He eats with tax collectors and sinners.” We believe Christ still eats with sinners because he is present with us in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. By his Holy Spirit, Christ is with us in the supper. He fills our hearts with his presence, forgives our sins, renews our faith, and binds us to one another. Christ still comes to sit at the table with sinners, and we are grateful for this wonderful promise. He reaffirms his promise of salvation to us in the sacrament when we eat the bread and drink the cup.

The Lord’s Supper provides us spiritual nourishment in that it renews God’s promise of salvation to us. The challenges and struggles of life test our faith. We need a place for it to be strengthened and renewed; that place is the church and particularly the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The reason we celebrate the sacrament over and over is that our faith is always in need of strengthening. In some way or the other, our faith is always weak. Therefore, we come to the table over and over. We are always in need of God’s grace and help.

The New Testament says that we should examine ourselves as we come to this table. That means that we should not treat the sacrament casually or indifferently. In it we remember the great sacrifice of Christ on the cross. We remember the costly death of our Savior. For that reason, we should come to the table humbly. We do not come because we are worthy; we come because we are unworthy. We come because we need to be forgiven. We come because we need to commune with Christ. We come to remember the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ.

There are different views within Christianity about the exact nature of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. In spite of these differences, however, all Christians understand the importance of the sacrament. It is celebrated by all Christians, in every place, and has been since the time of Christ. It points us to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb that will take place at the Last Judgment. The church will then be truly united to Christ, its Savior, Lord, and Husband. The Lord’s Supper is the earthly sign of that great, heavenly, and future promise. It is a reminder of the very great promises we have in Jesus Christ.