Seeking Personal Revival: The Battle of Constant Communion

Recently, I have been on a journey of seeking God for a personal revival. I'm tired of living an ordinary Christian life-- when God is anything but ordinary! I want an extraordinary walk with Christ that will make eternal impact in my life and those I have influence with. I want to make a difference.

I think that is a universal desire of humankind. We want to make a difference. We want to leave this world better than when we arrived.

Lately, I been making a special effort to read some of the sermons of John Wesley-- one of the pastors during The Great Awakening. I want to see what woke up the sleeping giant!  This past week I have been reading and contemplating Wesley's sermon titled The Duty of Constant Communion.  I admit, before reading this sermon, I had a different idea of what he would be discussing. As I further read his message I discovered it was not what I thought it would be about at all.  Just goes to show that culture has changed from the 19th century to the 21st century!

I found I disagreed with much of what Wesley was talking about. At the same time, his passion about the frequency of the actual sacrement of communion challenged me to consider how I look at my spiritual communion with God (ie, personal relationship with a living God!).

To generally recap what Wesley's message was in this sermon was the he believed when Jesus said, "Do this in rememberance of me," (referring to the communion of bread and wine/juice) that Jesus was giving a commandment that meant, according to Wesley, that every time Christians were gathered for common prayer that communion was to be served and celebrated. He really took issue with people who used the concern of "taking the communion in an unworthy manner".

As he unpacked his understanding of what that meant-- he made some very good distinctions.  He corrected the idea that people thinking themselves unworthy was not what this was about. But in my opinion, he failed to address other possibilities of what it could mean.

All that to say....this sermon really sent me back to the Lord and to the scripture.  I was both challenged and reminded that constant communion is so much more than receiving the elements of the Lord's supper.

I still find the admonition giving by the Lord in regarding to taking communion to be something we should not so quickly disregard. But that is definitely my own personal conviction on the matter.  I do not believe this passage was ever meant to cause people to abstain from communion because they felt they were unworthy or because they were wrestling with a particular sin issue-- but rather in a much broader scope-- in my understanding, it is about discerning the body of Christ (not just the elements of communion, but the actual body of Christ-- his church.)

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus made no small stir about the issue of being at odds with other believers. It was a big issue with Him!  I know we can never be fully reconcilled to everyone who has issues with us, but it is our duty to go to them and TRY to bring reconciliation. Jesus went as far as to say if we go to make our offering and there remember our brother has something against us, leave the gift at the altar and then go be reconcilled with your brother.

I've often wondered if part of "discerning the body of Christ" does not encompass this as well.  I don't know that there is a clear-cut answer. I know there have been a few times in my life that I chose to abstain from communion on such an issue. It was not that I felt unworthy to receive it, I just felt it would be somewhat...irreverant(?) to partake of the communion when I knew there was an issue with someone in the body of believers that involved me where there was no reconcilliation at the time.  It was a personal call. It was for special circumstances and I did not permanently stop taking communion. It was for a specific purpose with a goal of restoration and reconcilliation within the body.

What I did find challenging in Wesley's message was his passion of celebrating the communion any chance you have with other Christians. As I thought more deeply on the issue-- I can almost see the church political battles over the millenia! I can see the board meetings in my mind now: How often should we celebrate communion? Weekly? Monthly? Quarterly? And I am pretty sure there have been churches split over the issue of frequency of communion....but I digress....

Wesley asked some very pointed questions that deserve an answer-- or at least some deep introspection and contemplation.  He asked, "If the Lord commanded we do this, why would we not do so at every opportunity Christians meet? (I can just hear the deacon board argue now! LOL!  Do you know how much it would cost to do communion every Sunday? Who would take the time to prepare the elements every week?.... can't you just hear it in your mind?!!?)

As I pondered Wesley's question, it reminded me of a time when our family had a Bible study one night with the neighborhood kids. I had bought the juice and unleavened bread and we had communion in our own home. It was a very personal and intimate time with the Lord and his people. In my heart I long to do that more often!  I also remember a church we once attended always had communion elements out so that anyone who wanted to take communion-- it was available to them-- but the church only did communion corporately once a quarter.  That was a win-win!

This morning as I was still contemplating the issue of constant communion (in the spiritual sense) it crossed my mind that I could do that still.  There is nothing stopping me from taking communion in my own home, or during my personal devotional times, or even with the fellowship of other believers. I am coming to the conclusion that like most things in life-- it comes down to personal responsibility. The church, as an institution, does not have the authority to regulate when believers take communion or how they take communion. It is a command of the Lord to do so.  Yes! We can partake of communion with our local church body. We can partake of communion individually, with our family, with fellowship with friends. There is a specialness about the communion and partaking of the elements, and remembering the words of Christ, "Whenever you do this, remember me."

I have come to the conclusion that it should never become an issue of disunity to the point it would cause a church to split-- but rather as Christ-followers, we rightfully take personal responsibility for our communion with Christ-- both spiritually and with the elements.

At the end of the day it comes down to this: communion is about investing our lives in a relationship with Christ. When we receive the elements, it our grateful opportunity to procalim Christ's death and resurrection where ever we are, how often we choose to do so, individually, corporately with the church, or privately with family and friends.

At the end of the day-- it is all about our love and passion for Jesus.  WE REMEMBER! WE WILL NEVER FORGET!