If you don't know, Holy Week is an extremely important part of the Christian faith. It is the week leading up to Easter. Easter is not about colored eggs and slightly creepy over-sized bunnies. Easter is about Jesus sacrificing his life, to die on the cross and pay the price for our sins, then rising up from the dead 3 days later. We worship a risen and living Christ!
So how does communion fit into Holy Week? On the Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the Jewish holiday/festival of Passover. The disciples were unaware that Jesus would be crucified the next day, although I'm sure they knew something was coming. As they set down for the passover meal, Jesus explained.
26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the[d] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.Matthew 26:26-30 NRSV
I'm sure this confused the disciples. We understand what Jesus was talking about because we are on the resurrection side of the story. They did not expect Jesus to die.
So now, we partake in communion/the Lord's Supper/ Last Supper as a way to remember the amazing sacrifice Jesus made for us. I talked a little about communion in my previous post, so I don't want to repeat myself here. I want to tell about some of my personal experiences with communion. These are in no real order, just some of the times that God has really spoken to me through communion.
The time wine came out of my nose.
This past summer I went to Macedonia for a month. First of all, in some of Paul's letters, he calls people to Macedonia! So to be in a place where Paul was, stand where Paul stood, and be called to a place where God called Paul to share the Gospel was incredible! Second, church was a house (apartment) church, just like the founders of Christianity did! It was toward the end of my stay in Macedonia and we were having communion that Sunday. Normally, someone would translate worship for me, but I knew enough about communion to know what was going on even if it wasn't in English. There was something so powerful about hearing the prayers and scripture in Macedonian. The act of breaking the bread and taking the cup ties all believers together. It bridges language barriers, closes culture gaps, and links all followers of Christ together. I was sitting in total amazement of God. We broke the bread, pass it around.
Then comes the cup. First of all, it was a communal cup, one cup for everyone sitting in the apartment. I'm not a germ freak or anything, I don't mind drinking after other people, but I had never done communion that way. I thought it was really cool though because that is how I picture Jesus doing it. So the first 2 people drink from the cup, then it is passed to me. So I take a drink. Not a baby sip, a drink, because there is enough to take an actual drink! It was wine. Now, I've had wine before, but NEVER at communion. I grew up SBC, and it was always grape juice. ALWAYS. So the thought that it might be wine didn't even cross my mind. It hit me about a second too late that it was wine. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I immediately started to forcefully choke, which caused wine to come out of my nose! I don't know if you have ever had wine come out your nose, but that junk BURNS! The two Journeymen sitting beside me were trying not to laugh, and I was trying to breath, but hold in a cough. A little wine got spilled, but we made it through. Despite the sensory overload, that was probably my favorite communion I have ever taken part in!
The time it had meaning
I was working at CMV and about 17 or 18. We did communion a lot that summer as a staff. Around mid-summer, we were sitting down to do communion again, and someone sitting next to me said "I can't...I just can't do it again. It's not special anymore." I knew what it was about and understood why we as believers did it, but it was always very much of a tradition for me. I had no problem taking communion over and over because I was going through the motions. I had never thought about the personal aspect, the 'special' mind-set that comes along with breaking bread and drinking from the cup. The issue wasn't how often I did communion, but that I had never seen it as something deeper than just a tradition. From that moment on, my mindset changed, I looked at the bread and the cup differently. It has intense meaning and moved me in a powerful way.
I also love communion with BFA. There isn't one defining moment or time I remember more than others. God has used BFA to grow me and impact my life in ways I can't even explain. I love doing communion there, with my church family.
I feel like I just rambled on about a lot of different things. I hope you got my over-all point though, which is Communion is about remembering the amazing sacrifice Jesus made for us because of his love for us! He broke his body and poured out his blood so our sins can be forgiven!
This isn't a communion song, but I love it and it has been on my mind.
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