Communion
Meaning of “sacramental”
Part 7 of 8-part series
The Christian Church considers Communion to be a sacrament. “Sacrament” literally means “a thing set apart as sacred”. In Church practice the term has come to mean a religious ceremony instituted or endorsed by Jesus Christ. The two principal sacraments are baptism and communion, though the Roman Catholic Church considers confirmation, penance, extreme unction, holy orders, and matrimony to be sacraments, as well.
It appears that Christ’s specific commissioning elevates the two sacraments above the others, but it is not difficult to see how the other sacraments found their way into church practice, given that all of the activities have roots in Christ’s teaching. That being said, it is not the aim here to debate which of these activities should be considered sacraments. Rather, the intention here is to consider the meaning of sacrament, noting that the different applications illustrate how difficult it has been to come to consensus in the matter.
One tempting thought is to completely disown the term, given that it cannot be found in the Bible. But there is something in the word that warrants preservation, i.e., the principle that Christians themselves are called to be sacramental (persons set apart to be sacred). One of the wonders of the Christian story is that God took on human flesh when he was born as the baby Jesus. He was incarnate. Chile con carne, is a Spanish phrase that means chili “with meat”. Carnivore means meat eater. It was a strange but critical act that God took on flesh and became fully human (even as he remained fully God).
Christ was the first among a nation of humans to be clothed in flesh and yet to be perfectly guided by the Holy Spirit. The establishment of the Kingdom of God is primarily the creation of a society of people who trust in God, who recognize his goodness, and who want to live in obedience to him and in harmony within that society. This is sometimes referred to as shalom. It is also expressed as loving the Lord God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. It can also be described as living sacramentally. For the Christian, all actions are validated by their holiness. Unholy actions are rejected as harmful and inappropriate. When the Christian lives physically in a way that is harmonious with the Holy Spirit, the result is a sacramental life. Our physical selves are gloriously designed and there is nothing inherently evil in them. But our bodies are terrible decision-makers. When a body is in charge, that body will abuse itself to death.
Christians should be walking around in an aromatic cloud of holiness, spilling cleanliness onto all they approach. Sometimes Christians are successful at this; often they display all the irritating and dangerous characteristics common to the human race. Mother Theresa famously responded to a question about her detractors, “Whatever they may have to say about me cannot be as bad as the truth.” Her answer was derived from the Christian doctrine of “original sin” (which explains that it is not possible for humans to act purely until they die and are resurrected in Christ, incorruptible). Christians experience deep frustration dealing with their own conflicted desires. Christians struggle to do what they should. Christians don’t necessarily recognize when they’ve made a bad decision.
But it is also true that Christians are far more glorious than they or others appreciate. This lack of recognition is partly due to fallen natures that impede human’s ability to see. The faith God gives us is our proof that he has forgiven us, that he sees us as pure, and that the actualization of that purity is a future certainty. At any rate, the Christian’s objective is not to evidently live Christian lives; it is to live Christian lives. Good living is not about making a good impression. Goodness is not good unless it is sincere.
But now let’s consider the idea of sacramental relative to Sacramental. The difference is essentially this: while all Christians are called to holiness in everything, when the corporate Church is called to action, these actions are reasonably recognized as Sacramental. Such things as prayer, singing Psalms and spiritual songs, studying the word, listening to the Word preached, or corporate service could easily be included on a list of Sacraments. How do we explain that Communion is a sacrament when praying is not? The literal, continuous feeding on Christ seems to be the characteristic that has elevated Communion above other corporate Christian activities. Without the belief in a literal feeding, perhaps this would not be the case.
Without getting too sidetracked, there is another example that illustrates the questionable mystical regard for Communion. In John, chapter 13.12-15 we read of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” It is intriguing that John includes this ceremony in his Gospel, and that it took place either near the same time or at the same time as the first Communion. Why isn’t foot washing a sacrament? More puzzling, why did John omit any reference to the Communion ceremony? It’s unimaginable that John would have omitted the Lord’s Supper if he thought there was a literal feeding on Christ inherent to the ceremony. And yet it is in John that we read, “Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.’” – John 6.35
Something really does happen through Communion, however. When someone offers someone else a cup of cold water, that person’s thirst has been addressed; that person’s body has been nourished with necessary fluids; that person has been strengthened to continue with life’s activities; that person has received encouragement and has been reminded there are others who care and will provide support. There’s a lot that can be said about the transfer of a cup of cold water from one who possesses it to the one in need.
This brings us to how it is possible for Communion to be sacramental. Recall that the first Communion service took place within the context of a meal. Our abandonment of the meal has been a mistake. If the point of sacramental is to put the Spirit into the flesh, when we take away the “flesh” the work of the Spirit is impaired.
So, what does a meal (if you’ll pardon the expression) bring to the table? The meal is many things:
Most fundamentally it is the eating of food and the drinking of drink, which we do for the sake of nourishing our bodies. Like the cup of cold water, it is provision for life.
But food is not like the sad stuff of science fiction—phosphorescent green, bland nutrient goop. No doubt, eating this way would be more efficient, but food and drink are also for enjoyment. There are many fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, grains, spices, sweets, and there are thousands of ways these items can be combined to give us enjoyment. And then there are drinks; not just water, but milk, juices, sodas, teas, beers, wines and other concoctions. God designed our nourishment to be pleasurable.
There is also an implied peace between those who sit down at a table together. Certainly people who hate each other have had meals together, but the very act of sharing a meal is an implied statement about sharing in the benefits of life. Swords are unbuckled and leaned against the wall. We place our hands above the table where they cannot deceive, and they are filled with the peaceful utensils of eating. There is fellowship, even if only for a while. Shared stories facilitate understanding and encourage empathy. And while this practice of peace does not guarantee peace, good practice tends to drive good results.
There is something familial about meals. The most common participants of shared meals are families. When others not of the family are included, there is a sense in which the guests have been brought into the family. To share a meal is to honor one another.
For the Christian, the meal is also a time of worship. The worship may be expressed through prayers, it may be expressed through a specific devotional time, and it may be expressed through discussions guided by the worldview where Christ is Lord. It is a time of thanksgiving to that Lord, as the provider of all sustenance.
So the context of a meal means much to Communion. All that the good meal possesses should be a part of that Meal. The ordinary aspects of the (unhurried) meal provides the communion, while the ritual remembering aspect is critical, as well. The meal is a demonstration of unity and community in the Church, as well as unity with Christ. When looked at from this perspective 1 Corinthians 11 makes much more sense.
When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each one of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not! – 1 Corinthians 11.20-22
The meal is to be sacramental. That is, it is to be a meal of unity. The meal properly celebrated becomes an expression of the Spirit of God. This is why Paul was so exasperated; the Corinthians had lost the sense of the meal’s purpose. He was not suggesting that the meal should be discontinued or that the solution would be to start serving drinks in thimbles, along with airy cubes of bread devoid of nutrition. His point was that the spirit of Communion would necessarily call for kindness and courtesy and a spirit of sharing.
After the verses above, Paul interrupts his exhortation to recount the Communion ritual. Then he returns to his exhortation with these words: Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drink judgment on himself. – 1 Corinthians 11.27-29.
The “therefore” connects the ritual of Communion to the communion meal. The exhortation has nothing to do with self-examination or navel-gazing to see whether there are unaddressed sins in our lives. (It is not possible to peel all the layers off that onion—it’s just onion to the core.) The exhortation is that those in the church should ask themselves whether they are willing to share a meal with the rest of the church in a spirit pleasing to Christ. And if they cannot manage that, then the question is, “Do you know this Jesus you are commemorating and claiming identity with?” The fundamental question has to do with whether the participants belong. There is no fee for entry into this club; the price is a spirit that joyfully adopts the worldview of Jesus.
This is the Jesus who gave up his place in heaven to enter into a broken world. He turned his back on his high position as Creator of the Universe and became the helpless baby pauper, born in a stable to insignificant parents in an insignificant country. The circumstances of his birth were cause for a lifetime of gossip. Most of his family and his hometown folk didn’t recognize anything special in him. His disciples were dedicated to him and yet also baffled by him. The religious leaders who, of all people, should have recognized him, despised him and arranged for his murder. The leading civilization of his day found that defending him was not worth the trouble, and so it provided the means for his murder. His disciples abandoned him in his time of greatest distress. And his heavenly Father turned his back on him at that point at which he became the true Paschal Lamb.
This Christ was utterly driven to maintain a perfect relationship with his Father, which concurrently meant that he would go through all these experiences to save his people, the Church. Communion says you cannot know this Christ; you cannot be united with this Christ if you have a spirit of disdain toward the Church. It is his Church. This is the great mystery of Communion—not mystical presence in elements but the fact of Christ’s self-sacrifice for our sakes. Out of his sacrifice life explodes into Nation.
God created humanity with the aim of forming a people in his image, spiritually and physically. First he created the dust. Out of the dust he created humans. Then out of humans he set into motion the process of sanctification which would exalt these humans even above the heavenly angels. He designed us to have hearts united with his which, by necessity, means they must also be pure. We need to grasp the importance of God’s work, how much sweat and blood he spilled in his effort to make a people with hearts of flesh rather than hearts of stone. He will not be thwarted in his work. He will not be dissuaded or distracted or denied.
If there is mystery, if there is magic, if there is mysticism it is this: that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever would believe in him, to him he would grant everlasting life. It is the deepest of magics and the wonder of wonders. This is the power in the cup and in the bread—that God has allowed, no insisted that we understand and bask in the glory of it all. He has lived his words in the flesh and invites us to join him in being creatures of perfect integrity. This is what the “mere” symbols bring to mind…and then bring to life.
The unity at the meal has sacramental implications, as well. The practice of sharing a meal as a family, of identifying with Christ as a community stands as the foundation point for the life that continues in the interim between Communion celebrations. The radical truth taught by this Communion is that the Church is called to act as Family in the same way that people act towards their families, understanding that the Church is inheriting precedence.
Water is thicker than blood.
This is a difficult concept to swallow for the western Church, particularly Americans who have long idolized the god Independence. It is not apparent to me that God has ever demanded communism or socialism. What he has said over and over and in many ways: “You are your brother’s keeper”.
This is the essence of the Sacrament: the Spirit defines the ritual, which exemplifies the reality, which works itself out in the Church as interdependent community. And the tie-in works backwards as we consider Christ, his life, his work, and his sacrifice. He did for us as he would have us do for one another.
The church has argued for the last century or so over whether the Word of God or Christian service is more central to the Christian life. The conservative church has leaned toward the Word while the liberal church has leaned toward the service aspect. But this argument is irrelevant when considered against the Revelation. Truth must take on flesh; flesh must take on truth. Either one without the other cannot represent the Spirit of God. The Word of God is active. This is the essence of the meaning of “sacramental”.
“The main task of the Christian community, and the greatest service it can render the world, is…to be the Christian community. For the real tragedy of our time is that we have on the one hand an incoherent mass of individual Christians and on the other hand powerful impulses towards new forms of community, but no Christian community. Christians today do not form a true community; and the communities that shape the new world are not Christian. The present-day task of the Christian community is, therefore, not to enter more deeply into the world but to rediscover itself. It must learn to understand again what Christian community means before it can go out an change the world around it.” -W.A. Visser’t Hooft
end of part 7 of 8-part series
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