Communion
Bread and Cup: Why Christians Disagree About Christ’s Presence
Ask five Christians what happens in Communion and you may hear five answers that sound similar until the conversation reaches the word ‘presence.’ Roman Catholics speak of transubstantiation; Eastern Orthodox Christians…
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Communion in the Early Church: From Jerusalem to Rome
Before Communion had silver trays, altar rails, individual cups or printed liturgies, Christians were already breaking bread in communities scattered around the Mediterranean. The evidence is uneven. Acts sketches patter…
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Communion and the Hope to Come: A Foretaste of the Kingdom
Communion is often explained as looking backward to the cross, and rightly so. But the New Testament also makes the table face forward. Paul says the church proclaims the Lord’s death until he comes. Jesus speaks of drin…
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Is Communion a Sacrifice? How the Language Developed
The word ‘sacrifice’ can make Christians talk past one another. Protestants often hear a threat to the once-for-all sufficiency of the cross. Catholics and Orthodox Christians hear liturgical language that, in their own…
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‘Do This in Remembrance of Me’: Memory, Presence, and Proclamation
‘Remember’ can sound like the weakest possible verb. We remember birthdays, passwords and old songs. Yet in Scripture, remembering often carries moral and communal force: a remembered act of God becomes a reason to trust…
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How Often Should Christians Take Communion?
Weekly, monthly, quarterly, at special services only—American churches can differ dramatically in how often they celebrate Communion. The New Testament gives a command to continue the practice but does not hand every con…
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The Last Supper in Context: What Jesus Was Really Doing
The Last Supper has been painted so often that the painting can replace the meal. In the Gospels, however, Jesus does not sit behind a Renaissance table in a European hall. He eats as a first-century Jew in Jerusalem, on…
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More Than a Symbol: What Communion Really Means for Christians Today
For many Americans, Communion is a few quiet minutes in a Sunday service: a small piece of bread, a sip from a cup, perhaps a familiar reading from 1 Corinthians. The action can feel so ordinary that the question of what…
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Self-Examination and a Worthy Manner: What Paul Really Meant
Some Christians have skipped Communion because they were afraid of taking it ‘unworthily.’ They imagined Paul was saying that only people who had reached an acceptable spiritual level should approach the table. Read in c…
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Who Can Take Communion? Baptism, Faith, and the Church’s Table
Few church questions become personal as quickly as ‘May I take Communion here?’ The answer can touch baptism, membership, conversion, age, church discipline, denominational identity and conscience. Visitors may discover…
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