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Dr. George A. Purnell
October 4, 2009
“Instructions before Supper”
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Today is recognized as World Communion Sunday, which implies unity. Today is set aside to be a day when Christians around the world join in celebrating our oneness in Christ by gathering at the Communion table. And while I do think this day is worthy of being set aside, and important for Christians to observe, it implies far more unity than exists in truth.
World Communion Sunday is not observed by all Christian denominations or Christian churches; indeed, it is observed by a select number of denominations, those generally labeled ‘mainline denominations.’
But our differences as Christians around the Sacrament of Holy Communion are not limited to which groups observe this designated day. It must be surprising to those outside our faith that Christians have long differed in our understanding and ways of observing this powerful symbol.
Our lack of shared understanding of this Sacrament is in part reflected by the various names we use. Sometimes we call it the Lord’s Supper, sometimes the Last Supper, sometimes the Eucharist, and sometimes Holy Communion. It is also reflected in the frequency of observance, with some Christian bodies celebrating this Sacrament every week when they gather for worship, while others celebrate it less frequently. It is also reflected in how different Christian groups understand the fruit of the vine and the bread. Some Christians believe the elements have been transubstantiated and made into the actual blood and body of Christ upon their consecration by the priest, while others see these as symbols of Christ’s sacrifice.
One commentator I read in preparing for today’s message wrote:
“It is interesting that we are told very little about the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. Besides the accounts of its institution in the Gospels and this passage in 1 Corinthians, there is nothing apart from its being merely mentioned a few times in Acts…No wonder it has been the cause of such controversy in Christendom.”
This same commentator adds:
“the fact that the NT says so little about the Lord’s Supper has had the effect of making this passage in 1 Corinthians 11 of unusual importance…it is the main statement about the Lord’s Supper in the NT, so the church has been deeply influenced by it. And, unfortunately, this has led to some unhappy consequences.”
Through the centuries many Christians have misappropriated Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians. His comments have been taken out of their context, and this has caused many Christians over the course of church history to believe that no one should come to take this Sacrament unless his or her house is in spiritual order.
So, we need to place these words of instruction that Paul wrote – words that objected to the way Christians in Corinth were observing the Lord’s Supper – within the setting to which the letter was written.
Much of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians describes how badly fractured the church there was. We know from earlier chapters of this letter that there were divisions around personal loyalties to different teachers. We know that some disputes were settled by lawsuit. We know that there were factions who believed differently about matters such as divorce, remarriage, and eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols.
There were definite divisions of class. Worship services in apostolic Christianity were held in homes, and primarily in the homes of the wealthy. I read in my preparation for today that it would have been natural for the wealthy home owner to invite into the dining room those of his own class, relegating the poorer worshippers to outer sections of the home. It was also common in the Greco-Roman world of the time for guests of high status to be served more and better food and drink than guests of lower status.
This social stratification shaped the practice of celebrating the Lord’s Supper at Corinth.
The rich Christians were flaunting their position and enjoying their fine fare, while the poor Christians made do with much less.
Verses 17-22 find Paul being critical of what he saw happening among the Corinthian Christians. He instructs them to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in a way that does not “humiliate those who have nothing” (v22). He tells them that it would be better for the rich to eat at home before coming to the common meal of the Lord’s Supper.
So it is against this backdrop that Paul’s instructions are given about how to prepare for receiving the Lord’s Supper.
(27) “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. (28) Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (29) For all who eat and drink without discerning, eat and drink judgment against themselves.”
But as I said earlier, Christians over the centuries have taken Paul’s words to mean that those who would partake of the Supper must be spiritually cleansed before coming to the table. Indeed, some Christian traditions have even had elders of the church make visits to members to determine if the person was in suitable condition to take the Sacrament.
This is a terrible misunderstanding of Paul’s instruction to the church in Corinth. There Paul was trying to correct an abuse, where the Lord’s Supper was serving to give tacit approval of the social distinctions and identities that Christ died to eliminate.
I wish I could say that Christians today have a common understanding and common practice of the Lord’s Supper, even if the church of history was unclear and inconsistent in its understanding and practice of this Sacrament. But I can’t. Even among people of the same Christian tradition there are misunderstandings in purpose and practice.
When I arrived at a congregation I served before coming to Bloomington, for example, the weekly bulletin said that the congregation celebrated Holy Communion quarterly. I had that taken off the bulletin, because I said we would celebrate Communion more frequently than four times a year.
This alarmed the worship committee, and they quickly took me aside to counsel me about what it meant to be Methodist. I assured them that I had worshipped as a Methodist my whole life, had gone to a Methodist affiliated undergraduate school, and had satisfied the conference Board of Ordained Ministry that I understood the order and rules of the United Methodist Church.
John Wesley observed Holy Communion each time he worshipped, in the Anglican tradition. This Sacrament was central to his faith and his practice of worship. In Colonial America we began having the Lord’s Supper quarterly; because it was quarterly before the ordained circuit riding preacher would be in worship to serve the Sacrament.
In many United Methodist churches today, of course, there is an ordained elder present each week to serve the Sacrament, so if he was alive Wesley likely would wonder why we don’t have communion weekly.
What became a custom born of necessity took on its own life over time, to the point of declaring it the Methodist way of celebrating the Sacrament.
In every congregation I have served I have had people feel unworthy to come to the table to receive communion. In every congregation I have served I have received the complaint that we don’t kneel to receive the Sacrament, thereby failing to give this act the respect it demands. I have been told that coming forward to take bread and dip it into the chalice does not allow one the opportunity to reflect on the significance of this act…
I share Mary Cartwright’s understanding of this Sacrament, as she told it in her sermon of September 6. Like her, I believe that Holy Communion is a time of thanksgiving, a time of great joy. (It is why we pray the Prayer of Great Thanksgiving each time we prepare to take the Lord’s Supper in worship.) Like her, I believe that all who seek to love and serve the Lord are welcome. No one has to qualify for admission to the table by being pure. Indeed, those who feel unworthy are especially invited to come.
In fact, everyone is invited. So please come. Come and eat and drink and rejoice in the Lord. Come and know that you are worthy, that you are accepted and loved. Come and know that you are part of a great community, part of that cloud of witnesses covering history, and part of the coming reign of God. Come and celebrate that you are God’s very own child, the sister and brother of everyone in the world. Amen.
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