An Encounter with the Holy Trinity
In the beginning God intended holy communion to be our normal way of life. As it was in the Garden, intimacy with Divinity was intended to be normal for us. We are dragged down from the Transfiguration Mountaintop because in this fallen world there is work to be done. We are distracted by the needs of others and the care of our own temporal bodies. Our health fails us as does our moral temperament. Therefore, before Christ left us, he restored a way for us to return regularly into the divine presence. It was always intended that we should.
At its core, the Lord’s Supper is a divinely appointed means to encounter God. On the night he was betrayed to a willing death, Christ opened a gate of heaven and instituted a new way to come into the presence of God. Whatever else may be implied in Christ’s words, “This is my body,” it must include “This is my body.” Through whatever lens we interpret his declaration, “This is my blood,” it may not result in our hearing “This is not my blood.” In the Lord’s Supper, we come into the real presence of Christ. To avoid misunderstanding, we define real as real and presence as presence.
At the Lord’s Supper, we encounter God whether we recognize him or not. During the earthly ministry of Jesus many people came into his presence and saw nothing more than a man, yet he was still the Christ. Some of his disciples recognized he was sent from God. To a few, it was given to cry out, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus remains divine whether kings and crowds recognize it or not. In the Sacrament, Christ is truly present regardless of the perception or opinion of any person.
At the Lord’s Supper, Emanuel promises to be with us in a way that is qualitatively different from the way he is with us at other times. How he accomplishes this a mystery which is not our concern. A sage once said of the mystery of the Trinity, “To explain the Trinity is to deny the Trinity.” The imminence of transcendence is part of the mystery of faith. To explain it is to deny it. Christ is truly present in the entire Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. He is accessible in the consecrated elements, the consecrated time, the consecrated space, and every consecrated heart. He is present in the word and in the sign. He is the bread and the wine. The real wonder is not in how it is possible for Christ to manifest his presence through the elements but in how the bread can appear to remain mere bread.
In the Sacrament we are in the presence of Christ, true God from true God—God with us. We are enveloped in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life. We are in the presence of God the Almighty, the creator of all things seen and unseen. A gate of heaven is opened, and the Church Militant, together with angels, archangels, and the Church Triumphant are in communion with Divine Trinity,
What is the Lord’s Supper? It is, first of all, an encounter with the living God. Come to the Supper and prepare to meet thy God.
A Sacred Rite
It was “the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So, Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.’”
Jesus selected the time, place, manner, and purpose for opening a new means to encounter God. “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you…” Jesus has foreknowledge of this night. He has been guiding the disciples to a particular Passover that would come on the night before he suffers. He directed the details for preparation. He commanded his disciples to attend. Each of these details is significant.
This is not a dinner party. Of all the nights that Jesus could have selected, he chose the night that was unlike any other night. The Passover is no mere dinner party. It is a sacred ritual. God himself chose the time for the Passover rite, selected the participants, prescribed the menu, ordained the prayers and actions, and commanded its observance to fulfill God’s purpose. Jesus chose this sacred ritual, observed on a night that was unlike any other night, in the shadow of the cross, to institute and command the perpetual observance of a new sacred rite to fulfill his purpose. When we come to the Lord’s Supper, we do not come to a dinner party.
What is the Lord’s Supper? It is an encounter with the living God in a sacred rite instituted of Christ.
Provided to His Disciples
The first Sacrament was not open to the public. The Lord’s Supper is provided for the benefit of disciples and entrusted to their care. This is not a casual fish fry by the lake. The Passover rite which Jesus selected for the first Lord’s Supper is a ritual closed to all but Jews. “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it.’” Only those of the household of faith may fully participate in the Passover (modern practice not withstanding). Jesus further restricts attendance at this Passover to his own disciples. He specifically commands them to attend. Jesus could have instituted the Lord’s Supper on a hillside with five thousand random people. He did not. While it is not customarily advisable to argue from the negative, it is worth contrasting this point with the venue and the audience which Christ did choose to institute the Sacrament.
It is only his disciples whom Jesus commands to keep a perpetual observance of the Lord’s Supper, just as it is only his disciples whom Jesus commands to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It is only to his disciples that Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” His disciples gather at the table to obey his command and fulfill his mission.
On the night he was willingly betrayed, in the shadow of the cross, Jesus instituted this Sacrament for the perpetual comfort and care of his disciples.
What is the Lord’s Supper? It is an encounter with the living God in a sacred rite instituted of Christ for the benefit of his disciples.
For the Forgiveness of Sins
It is essential to the meaning of what we do to acknowledge that Christ institutes the Sacrament in the shadow of the cross. “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” There are very few things of which Jesus says he must do. The number is in the low single digits. His one great “I must,” is that on a Friday afternoon in Jerusalem he must be on that cross. Immediately upon the revelation of his divinity, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and essential to that identity, is Christ’s proclamation of the cross, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” At another time, he taught that the coming of the Kingdom first requires the cross, “But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” Then at the table, on the night that is unlike any other night, he begins by calling to mind his often-repeated expectation of the coming of the cross and declares his long-awaited intention to open this means of grace on the night “…before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Later in this sacred rite instituted on this sacred night he draws us still nearer the rising cross, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Every Lord’s Supper occurs in the shadow of the cross which is now baptized in his blood. The cross marks the gate of his kingdom. Here is the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, expiation, and propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Through this blood and this body, his disciples are promised forgiveness of sins and all other benefits of his passion.
What is the Lord’s Supper? It is an encounter with the living God in a sacred rite instituted of Christ for the benefit of his disciples through which we receive forgiveness of sins and all other benefits of his passion.
Entrusted to the Care of the Church
Before there were ecumenical creeds, even before the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of a single word of New Testament scripture, Christ left his disciples with three things: The gathered community, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. There is no way to make the New Testament scripture older than the Church and the Sacraments. We do not rely upon the Church and Sacraments because the scriptures tell us to. We rely upon Scripture because the called apart community of disciples who practice Baptism and the Lord’s Supper tell us to. It is the Church of the sacraments to which God entrusted the Word. It is then the Church of the Word to whom God entrusts the Sacraments.
The Church is the steward of the Supper. This divinely appointed means to encounter God is an essential element of the Church, so that whether it is present and properly superintended is determinative as to whether we are Church.
“The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ’s ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.” (Article XIII of the Articles of Religion for the Global Methodist Church.)
“…(The Church) is the redemptive fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by men divinely called, and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ’s own appointment…” (Article V, Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church)
“…the church is of God and will be preserved to the end of time, for the conduct of worship and the due administration of his Word and Sacraments…” (Order for Confirmation and Reception, The Book of Hymns 1964, phrasing received through the EUB.)
The definition of church requires not only that she administer the Sacraments, but she must deliver them as a faithful steward under Christ’s appointment. When we say the Sacraments must be “duly administered” then we must recognize that they can be unfaithfully, inappropriately, and invalidly administered contrary to Christ’s ordinance.
The Church must deliver the Sacraments to the people in a reverent manner consistent with their nature while avoiding any frivolity or controversy that is repugnant to the Word of God. “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.” If the Church fails in its stewardship, then she fails to be Church. Without the Sacrament duly administered according to Christ’s own appointment, she is not Church–whatever useful Christian influenced organization she may become.
What is the Lord’s Supper? It is an encounter with the living God in a sacred rite instituted of Christ for the benefit of his disciples through which we receive forgiveness of sins and all other benefits of his passion and which he entrusted to the care and stewardship of the Church.
Unti His Coming Again
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Jesus taught that the cross was essential for bringing about his kingdom. In the Upper Room, Jesus promises to continually come to us in the Lord’s Supper until the day he comes again in glory. God is with us in the Sacrament whether anyone recognizes him or not. When he comes again, many will know him…many will not. Then, it will be revealed whether we have been faithful stewards and participants in all that he entrusted to our care. Until that day, he has opened a gate of heaven whereby we may regularly enter the presence of the living God.
What is the Lord’s Supper? It is an encounter with the living God in a sacred rite instituted of Christ for the benefit of his disciples through which we receive forgiveness of sins and all other benefits of his passion and which he entrusted to the care and stewardship of the Church until he comes again.
That concludes this brief summary of what we are doing.
Prepare to Meet Thy God: A Personal Testimony
It is a fearful thing to enter the presence of He Who Is Holy.
It is a wonderful thing to be immersed in the essence of holiness.
Those who are reading this have experienced his holy presence. If not, then pray for him until he reveals himself. He is already close by. The Kingdom of God is near. It is at hand. I can extend my hand to a brother and reach into it. It is so close that I may kneel where I am and allow the Spirit to overflow me. I may walk away from it just as instantly as soon as I am distracted. Holiness is always within reach. God is always close by. On occasion, the Divine Trinity makes his unmistakable presence known in wondrous encounters that are qualitatively different from anything else. Sometimes, he brings me into the presence of his suffering. Sometimes, he brings me into the presence of his glorification. Always, he brings me into the presence of his holiness, which is divine love.
The hour I was born again.
The day of baptism.
The holy vows of Christian marriage.
The moment he called me to set apart my life to service through his church.
The time of ordination.
On some occasions, his presence warned me away from sin with fear and fire.
On other occasions, he has affirmed my direction with an assurance…a witness of his Spirit with my spirit.
I have known rapture into the cloud of his being; whether for suffering or glory, affirmation or warning, agony or ecstasy, but always his Divine Love. These times are not meant to be isolated instances. Holy communion is what God intended to be normal for me. In the Lord’s Supper, Christ opened a channel through which I may have constant communion with God.
At the Lord’s table, when duly administered by persons divinely called, I constantly encounter Christ. At times I am not certain if I remain in the earthly sanctuary or if I have been carried to another—or if I am in both at once. Christ may allow me in one moment to feel the weight of the cumulative sin of my life. For just that moment (though time is distorted, and it may be more) I know that if all the sin the world had ever known was just what I have brought to it, then Christ must be on that cross for me. The cross is my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault. In another moment (though it may be longer) I am relieved of all burden—including the weight of the body. I can not perceive anything lying outside the holy love in this cloud of his being. In the dim glass of mystery, he may permit me to see clearly what virtue I lack and the path to its attainment. I am wounded. I am healed. I am broken. I am whole. I am filth. I am loved. I am selfish. I want to love. I have a mission for which I am spiritually edified and supernaturally equipped. Christ left us with that which, in the beginning, God intended to be normal for us: Holy Communion. In the Sacrament, I meet my God. I come to the table, and the Divine Trinity makes his unmistakable presence known in a wondrous encounter. Sometimes, he brings me into the presence of his suffering. Sometimes, he brings me into the presence of his glorification. Always, he brings me into the presence of his holiness, which is divine love.
There is more. I could speak of visions, prophecies, healings, manifestations, epiphanies, revelations, and spiritual things of which there is no counterpart in this world to allow for comparison. This is what Holy Communion is when it is truly communion with the Holy. It is the power for deliverance from all spiritual assault because, at the table and in the blood, how can anything unholy endure communion with the holy. Greater still than all these things, is the mind and heart converted to employ all these things in the charism of Charity.
The Lord’s Supper was not always so for me. There came a season when I realized that I could experience mystical communion with God almost anywhere except at the communion table. It was obvious that I was not alone. The parishioners viewed our communion service as something tacked on to the end of a worship service. We had to do it, but couldn’t we at least limit it to Sundays when we don’t have more important things to do? Teaching and preaching on the subject did little to help any of us except to make it obvious that there was a chasm between what Christ promised and what we were experiencing. Improving the music selections and slight modifications to the service proved useless. Then I had an epiphany. The problem was not with the understanding of the people, nor the preaching of the minister, nor the quality of the music, nor the desires of any of us as disciples. The problem was that we were using a counterfeit ritual. It did not faithfully offer Christ. It did not anticipate an encounter with God. How we do what we do does matter. It was not the Lord’s Supper we were observing.
The “how” of our practice was unrelated to, and sometimes contradictory of, “what” we were supposed to be doing. As promised, I am not going to rehearse the specifics of “how.” I have bewailed and lamented that thoroughly elsewhere. However, I must repeat that a call for the due administration of the Lord’s Supper necessitates we recognize that there exist improper and invalid practices that misrepresent the character of God and the nature of the Sacrament. No work is wrought where no change is sought. God has not promised to honor a counterfeit rite nor act on behalf of a messianic impostor.
I repented. We scrapped the entirety of the rite. We returned to the study of “what” Jesus has entrusted to us. We stopped looking at our worship through the lens of the Woodstock generation. We looked to the ancient treasury of the Church to restore integrity to our practice.
We Must Know What We Are Doing
I do not know if an organization can continue as Church if it does not know what it is doing at the table. Only after discerning the what and the why can we determine the how. If I have understood the “what,” then that should shape “how” I prepare to meet my God. If we are committed to contradictory purposes in the Sacrament, then we are divided at the table and we are not in communion. If I come seeking the real presence of Christ while the minister believes it is essential to exhort the people on all the ways that Christ is not present at the table, then the minister is serving a different purpose than I am. If one searches for the meaning of the Sacrament by journeying outside the Upper Room—away from the shame of the cross—to find its meaning in more palatable meals, then that person and I shall have little or nothing in common in our sacramental practice. If one believes the Lord’s Table is not intended for the care of disciples but is a substitute for baptism as the entry to the Church, then our practices will not be compatible. If one does not expect to experience mystical communion with the Divine but is satisfied with establishing the theological principle of the common union of the Church, then I have no need for that table.
These are the reflections of an academically uncredentialed disciple on what we are doing at the Supper table and why we must do it. If I am true, then we have errors to correct. If I am in error, then please correct me with plain proof of Scripture and the witness of the Church. This is not a trivial matter where we can permit the latitudinarian to prevail. It determines whether we are Church.
Leave a Reply