|
More Communion – Please?
by Colonel
Richard Munn
Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke
it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for
you; do this in remembrance of me.’
Luke 22:19
Last month we celebrated Valentines
Day. Apparently,
teachers are the recipients of the most cards and gifts.
Husbands and wives celebrate love for each other.
Young men and women take the opportunity to send a
signal of interest – sometimes anonymously – to that special
someone who makes their heart beat just that little more
swiftly, and if all goes well a spark of romance ignites into
full blown ardor.
As any discerning suitor knows a
candlelight dinner setting with exquisite food, soft music and
unhurried service provides an admirable opportunity for
closeness and intimacy.
Such is the fabric of sweet romance!
A Meal Together
Even removed from this idealized
setting, the act of simply eating and drinking together
provides genuine intimacy amongst people.
It brings people closer together. Other social barriers
are removed and relationships are strengthened.
A type of bonding takes place.
An invitation into someone’s home to eat is a special
grace of kindness and hospitality.
Add to these dynamics the notion of a
last meal together, and you have a pretty powerful event.
The meal becomes even more meaningful.
Close relationships become more intense. Lifetime
memories are indelibly imprinted both during highly stylized
final High School and college graduation banquets, or in the
quiet family breakfast before a son goes off to war.
Even someone facing execution is given the choice of a
last meal.
It is in the drama and intimacy of such
a setting that Jesus chooses to teach the disciples some of
his most important lessons. The result is a life changing
closer communion between Jesus and the twelve.
We can picture the scene; close friends
sitting around a table in a home celebrating the annual
Passover, stopping in the middle of a good meal to remember
God’s saving act to the people of Israel in slavery – talking,
laughing, giving thanks, singing and praying together.
Ritual
Over the centuries, from this one event
and the words of Jesus, ‘Do this in remembrance of me,’ has
grown one of the central rituals, if not the central ritual,
of the Christian Church – The Eucharist; the sacrament of the
Last Supper; Mass.
It is a ritual much beloved by millions
of Christians all over the world.
From the wine and fresh bread used in the Pontifical
High Mass in the cavernous austerity of St. Peter’s Cathedral
– to Welch’s grape juice in a paper cup and Ritz crackers
given to prisoners by the visiting chaplain.
Some churches observe communion every
single time they meet for worship – taking more precedence
than any other part of the worship service.
Others do so the first Sunday of the month; still
others only once a year.
Some churches only allow baptized
members to join in communion.
Some only allow ordained male clergy to administer the
Blessed Sacrament.
Some believe passionately that ‘intinction’ is the only
way to perform the ritual – dipping your bread in the shared
cup. Others downplay the ritual – small nubs of cracker with
minute thimbles of juice taken in the company of dozens,
hundreds and even thousands suffice for them.
Salvation Army Distinction
Into this cosmopolitan expression of
faith enters The Salvation Army.
If there is one genuine theological distinction of the
movement, it is this; that her congregations around the world
do not observe the sacraments as part of their regular
worship.
This is a cause of genuine celebration
in some; and a cause of veritable consternation in others.
For some it is liberating and a point of attraction;
for others, it is disconcerting and is the singular feature
that prohibits them from ever becoming an enrolled soldier.
I have met fellow Salvationists who
have joined our movement from other traditions who rejoice in
the freedom from ritual that was so empty for them for so many
years. I have
talked to other individuals who have told me they would join
The Salvation Army, but they cannot abide the thought of
surrendering communion.
For them the church is communion.
Do away with communion, they say, and you do away with
the church.
One thing is certain – The Salvation
Army as a denominational body is in the great minority in this
matter. Only the
Society of Friends – the Quakers – joins us in this.
Were the body of Christ represented by a pie, we could
not even cut a slice to show the percentage difference.
Born and raised in The Salvation Army I
was never baptized; and I never took communion.
It wasn’t until I was a young adult that the matter
first faced me. I
would look at my Seminary chapel program, scheduled three
times a week, and inwardly groan when communion chapel was
scheduled on a particular day.
Once, as classes ended my interest was piqued when a
colleague overtly enthused, ‘Man, this is just what I need,
some communion!’
I simply could not match the eagerness.
Around that time our Salvation Army
band visited an Episcopal church for Sunday worship.
As communion was observed, and the elements passed
around the bandsmen were all thrown into a theological tizzy –
should we take part, shouldn’t we?
Some did. Some didn’t.
Far from being unifying – it mildly splintered the
ensemble.
So, what is going on here?
What are the issues involved?
The Sacraments
‘Sacrament’ is one of those words that
is important to Christians, and yet is never found in the
Bible – like Trinity!
Sacraments represent an inward truth by
outward symbols; outward signs of inward graces. They express
spiritual faith – which can’t be physically seen – outwardly
and symbolically.
The Roman Catholic tradition has 7 sacraments.
The Protestant tradition has 2 – baptism and the
Eucharist.
The point of mystery and intrigue is
the relationship between the physical and the spiritual.
For some the bread and wine simply evoke a memory – a
remembrance of what the Lord Jesus Christ did at a very
special time in his ministry.
For others, there is much more of a connection between
the bread and the wine and the actual body of Christ.
The connection is real; to partake in the elements is
to mysteriously partake of the body of Christ.
For some the bread and the wine ‘become’ the body and
shed blood of Christ.
So, literally in the bread and the
wine, by faith, the grace of Christ is mediated to the person
who partakes.
This is very powerful teaching.
We can see why communion is so important to some
people.
Ceremony
Now, we should pause a minute here.
Because we’ve come a very long way from the Luke text
where a close group of friends in the faith, eating a meal
with the master teacher they love, gather in a home, talking,
giving thanks and praying together.
Does it appear from the text that Jesus
is instituting a ceremony here?
A ritual?
It generally seems that Jesus was wary of religious officials
who invested a lot of stock in outward ceremony.
A ceremony can so easily become an end in itself, can’t
it?
The meal in the upper room is fraught
with spiritual meaning, and Jesus certainly intended it to be
remembered as such.
We should remember the meal.
It just seems a long way from ‘the meal’ to a
‘ceremony,’ from a ‘home’ to a ‘sanctuary,’ from ‘communion
with friends’ to ‘communion given by a male clergyman only.’
It is precisely this – and, I believe a
more accurate interpretation of the New Testament – that The
Salvation Army represents.
Salvationists are not ‘anti–sacramental,’ just
‘non–sacramental,’ moving communion from the ‘High Altar only’
to the humble meal table; from the sanctuary and back into
society. In so
doing it may actually be closer to its origins.
General Coutts said it well; ‘We believe in the Real
Presence.’ What we seek is not less communion, but more.
Bramwell Booth, second general of The
Salvation Army writes of his visitation with an elderly man he
called ‘Old Cornish.’
He recalls that these humble meals with a simple man
were communion in the deepest sense.
Here with this converted drunkard, remorseful of his
former drunken treatment of his wife, eating sacramental fried
bacon and potatoes and drinking tea, Bramwell remembered that
when they knelt to pray Old Cornish was so uplifted it seemed
that he was another man.
Bramwell writes, ‘There came to me, in answer to those
prayers … a new feeling of relationship to the souls of
people, a directional impulse, impelling me to love and suffer
for the sake of others.
Again and again I have come down those old squeaking
stairs feeling as though I walked on the wind, and have gone
out to Mile End Waste to speak and pray with sinners in
altogether a new and self–forgetting fashion.’
Pragmatism
If there one thing that can be said
about The Salvation Army is that it is a practical group.
The genius of the founders, William and Catherine
Booth, was their ruthless pragmatism.
Shockingly so!
‘If it doesn’t work with real people, forgo it!’
‘If they don’t know the church songs, put Christian
words to the bar room songs they do know.’
‘If they won’t ever go through the doors of a church,
meet in the dance hall that they do know.’
‘If the sacraments are not necessary to salvation,
dispense with them.’
That essentially is the theology – shockingly
practical.
Taking communion to ensure salvation is
surely faulty thinking.
‘By grace you have been saved through faith,’ writes
Paul to the Ephesians, not ‘by grace and communion you have
been saved.’
Saving grace is mediated to us from Christ alone – not Christ
and prescribed ceremony.
‘Christ is sufficient.’
Approaching the matter positively is
important.
Habitually emphasizing ‘anti’ or ‘non’ nomenclature is
unhelpful; rather, it is preferable to place emphasis on the
‘immediacy of grace’ and the ‘sufficiency of Christ.’
In so doing The Salvation Army serves as an important
reminder to the rest of the Christian world. She has a genuine
theological contribution to make – reminding communities of
faith that ritual easily becomes an end in itself and that
many Christians lead vibrant and spiritual healthy lives
without regularly taking communion.
General Paul Rader says it well: ‘We
believe that the grace of Christ comes to us, not through the
act of partaking of small pieces of bread or drinking small
cups of grape juice or wine several times a year as it is
given to us by certain accredited ministers of the gospel
empowered to do so.
We believe the saving and empowering grace of Christ is
available to us here and now as we reach out in faith to him.’
‘We would rather not squabble over who
can take the communion and who can give it how often it can be
offered and whether it should be bread or crackers, wine or
juice, taken in seats or at the altar rail.
Our concern is whether or not we know personal
communion with the Lord: ‘Jesus said, I am the Bread of Life.
Who comes to me will never go hungry.
Who believes in me will never be thirsty.’ (John 6:35)
The monk Brother Lawrence writes that
he felt as near to Christ when he was washing the greasy
dishes in the monastery kitchen as ever he did at the Blessed
Sacrament.
Salvationists say ‘Amen!’ to that.
We feel communion with Christ delivering food to needy
families, visiting prisoners, serving a thanksgiving meal to
the indigent, or giving a simple gift to a comatose senior
citizen in a nursing home.
This has been called the sacrament of ‘the Good
Samaritan.’ It is
closer to the foot washing in the same upper room as recorded
by John – though through the centuries noticeably absent as a
ritual.
Sometimes it takes a child to provide
perspective. The
story is recorded of a London school boy at the turn of the
19th century given a ‘farthing’ breakfast at the local
Salvation Army corps.
Later in the day a school inspector questions him:
‘Your people do not have the Lord’s Supper, do they?’ ‘No
sir,’ replies the child.
‘Then what do they put in its place?’ asks the
inspector.
‘Farthing breakfasts for starving children, sir,’ says the
boy.
Salvationist Symbolism
It does need to be recognized that
Salvationists are just as symbolic as other traditions.
In fact we rather specialize in symbols!
Flags, uniforms, the crest, enrollments, the mercy
seat, a brass instrument and the red shield are but a few.
We simply believe that grace comes from Christ alone,
not through any symbol.
If you are embarrassed or confused by
this Salvation Army practice, you can cheer up!
‘Our position is not due to any theological
carelessness or slap happy evangelism.
This is a matter of utmost consequence,’ said General
Coutts. We have an important message.
Conversely, if you have looked down on
others who ‘need’ the Eucharist, and you don’t, repent of
spiritual pride.
You are not ‘more spiritual’ than those for whom communion is
beautiful and important.
Conclusion
More ‘communion,’ please!
Cherish the family meal as a place of grace and
closeness. Use it
as a time of prayer, communion and thanksgiving, not just a
rote sentence prayer assigned to a child.
Read scripture before or after the meal.
‘Do this in remembrance of me.’
More ‘communion,’ please!
Extend invitations to others for distinctly Christian
friendship and meals in your home.
Pray and read scripture together on those occasions.
Share intimately in each others lives. ‘Do this in
remembrance of me.’
More ‘communion,’ please!
Serve the needy, the outcast and the powerless.
Clothe the naked, feed the hungry, house the homeless
and visit the shut in.
‘Do this in remembrance of me.’
More ‘communion,’ please!
Frequent the mercy seat when the opportunity arises.
This is the communion rail, so to speak.
‘Do this in remembrance of me.’
Let’s have some communion!
|
