A Meditation On Communion

Thoughts on Communion

There is an idea or concept which is almost universal in Christianity; it involves love, presence, support, concern, fellowship. That notion is represented by the word “communion”. The word is used in many different ways. In the Apostles’ Creed we say, “I believe in…the communion of saints.” In the Roman Catholic Church, local bishops are said to be “in peace and communion” with the Bishop of Rome. Around the world there are national churches which grew out of the Church of England, and as a group are called the Anglican Communion. The uses of the word “communion” are many, but the root meaning seen in all those uses is sharing.

A very early Christian use of the word is found in the second chapter, forty-second verse of the Acts of the Apostles where it is said of the three thousand who were baptised after Peter’s Pentecost address that They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the koinonia, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. (Here the Greek word koinonia is translated as “fellowship” in all three of the Authorized or King James Version, the New International Version, and the New Revised Standard Version.)

The oldest Christian use of the word is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, (tenth chapter, verse 16): The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a koinonia in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a koinonia in the body of Christ? (Here, koinonia is rendered as “communion” in the AV, as “participation” in the NIV, and as “sharing” in the NRSV.)

Koinonia begins when Jesus calls an individual into a relationship of sharing with himself. As in the meeting of Jesus and the rich young man (Mark 10:17-22), there may be others present, but Jesus looks at me, loves me, and says, “Ellis, come follow me.” I am not given the option of just tagging along with the other saints here at Hillcrest; I am to follow, pay what it costs, and each and every day take up my cross—just as Jesus did. I am called to share, to participate in the life, the teaching, and the going about doing good of Jesus of Nazareth. I am summoned to communion in the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of our eternal high priest. And in the end, when Christ will have restored all things, my treasure will be that Jesus has called me his friend (John 15:15).

This is no “Jesus and me spirituality”! Very shortly after Jesus calls each of us by name into communion with himself, he calls us into communion with one another. In John 15:17, Jesus says to his friends, “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” The context of John 15 is the last supper where, according to the synoptic gospels, Jesus broke bread and blessed wine and said the most wonderful thing about them. Not only did Jesus do that; He also commanded us to do that—to break bread and to bless the cup—in remembrance of him. The early Anabaptists did not call this ordinance “communion”. Schleitheim in 1527 and Dordrecht in 1632 called it “the Supper”. They read their bibles well and they knew that the earliest followers of the Way were devoted to the breaking of the bread. It was a community event. Simple, unpretentious, a remembering of Jesus, and a really good way of showing love for one another. The best name for it was “Supper”, where people share food and enter into communion. Late in the last century, Jean Vanier gave a couple lectures at Harvard University which have been

published in a little book entitled From Brokenness to Community. In the second lecture he makes this remarkable statement: I call you to reflect here upon the difference between collaboration and communion…. Communion…is bonding, caring, and sharing which flows and finds its fulfillment in celebration…. Celebration is being a [thankful] people who sing their thanks because they have been called together as one people in order to bring life to others1.

Didn’t you just know it? There had to be a catch! Bring life to others! Just before Jesus said he was giving commands so that we can love one another, he said in verse 16: You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last…

Gathered to grow… Scattered to serve.

I would really like to tell,--to declare, the ways I have seen numerous members of this fellowship out in the world serving, bringing life to others. At best I would embarrass; at worst I would betray confidences. Suffice it to say that after we have been out there at it awhile, we are Judah and have gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude. We are scattered among the nations and we find no resting place. Does anyone thank us for doing what was commanded? Maybe we are worthless slaves who have only done what we ought to have done. And it’s a leadpipe cinch that, just like Jesus, we will have to bring life to ten others to get one to turn and praise God.

For denominations in the Council of Churches, the first Sunday in October is World Communion Sunday, and this year, Mennonite Church Canada has opted in. It has also, in recent years, become quite common for those denominations to follow “the lectionary”, an ecumenical, three year selection of four scripture readings for each Sunday of the year; and so, this year World Communion Sunday and the Lectionary have collided with the dark and depressing readings we have just heard. I am about ninety-nine and forty-four one-hundredths percent certain that back in 1936 when the Presbyterians started World-wide Communion Sunday, they really did not plan to have Mennonites join the celebration to the uplifting strains of Lamentations,--but God did! God wants us to hear Luke 17 because Luke 17 tells it the way it is for us out in the world. At the same time, God is counting on us not to forget Luke 22:14 ff. [Jesus] took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you that I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

We have been trying to do what we have been commanded. We have come in from the fields and the pastures. And here, at this Supper, Jesus indeed says to us, to all of us together, “Come here at once and take your place at table.”

Ellis Earl Brown Hillcrest Mennonite Church 7th October, 2007

1

Vanier, Jean. From Brokenness to Community. New York (1992: Paulist Press), 44-77 passim. Indeed, the second lecture, “Community: a Place of Bonding, Caring and Mission”, has provided the inspiration for these thoughts on Communion.