`What is Christian Worship?’ Series: Why do we Celebrate Holy Communion?

1 Corinthians 11: 17-34                                     

INTRODUCTION (use as appropriate with your group)

To understand Holy Communion we need to understand the significance of Passover, one of the 7 Feasts mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures. Passover commemorates God’s deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago (Exodus 12ff).

On the 10th day of the 1st month of the year, a lamb was selected, brought home, checked for blemishes and killed on the 14th day. The lamb was roasted over a fire and eaten that night, along with unleavened bread and herbs. Then the blood of the lamb had to be applied to the doorposts.

Any leaven had to be removed from the home (Ex 12.15), a tradition which is still followed by many Jewish families today. Leaven represented sin so, symbolically, sin was removed from the camp and the blood saved them from death.

In keeping with the Passover story the first meal at the Passover Festival is the SEDAR meal. Even today Jewish families throughout the world retell the Exodus story, remembering the slavery, plagues and miracles that followed. With symbols and song it is still a powerful occasion for children and adults alike.

What we call the LAST SUPPER was, probably, a Sedar meal which Jesus observed with his disciples. During the meal Jesus spoke of what was to happen to him. The unleavened bread and the wine represented his own body and blood, thus identifying Jesus with the lamb that had to be slain to save the lives of the Israelites. As Christians, we now become part of that story as we are delivered from sin and death by Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Paul recalled the Last Supper (1 Corinthians 11) and said that every time we take bread and wine then we are to do so in remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Looking to the future, there will come a time when Jesus the Messiah returns and restores the whole earth to the Kingdom of God.

So we can say that Jesus did not introduce a new tradition, but that he simply revealed the true meaning of the Passover Meal.

STARTER QUESTION: How important is celebrating Holy Communion to you? Do you prepare for it in any way? How often do you think it should be celebrated?

(It would be worth spending sometime on this issue and really hearing what people have to say about the way they feel about receiving bread and wine)

There is no clear scriptural command as to how often Holy Communion should be celebrated. Most of our services at Ashtead celebrate Communion once a month. What are your feelings about this?

READ 1 Corinthians 11 verses 17-34

Bear in mind that worship in Corinth seems to have been of a more informal nature, especially when compared with worship at the Jewish synagogue. People probably worshipped in private homes, incorporating both liturgical and spontaneous elements. It was not in a specially constructed building which remained virtually unused for the rest of the week.

Although Paul had been able to “commend” the Christians at Corinth for their observance of certain traditions he had passed on to them about public worship (11.2) he is not able to commend them now (17, 22).

Q.1 What had gone wrong? (1.12; 3.1ff); 8.1ff; 11.21; 11.17)

Look at verses 23-26. Paul recalled what happened when Jesus shared that final meal with his disciples. He mentions that it was “on the night when Jesus was betrayed” – an incidental challenge to the Corinthians in their own behaviour?

Q.2 How do you think Paul received this revelation?

Q.3 What is the significance of verse 26?

Verses 27-32 have a stern message – stamp out from your worship around the Lord’s table anything which is unworthy (27)!

Q.4 What do these verses have to teach us about the way we celebrate communion together?

The main word Paul uses to describe what has happened is COVENANT. Through the shedding of Jesus’ blood, the paschal lamb (5.7) all people can come to know the glorious freedom of forgiveness and to have a personal relationship with God. At the same time we also enter into a covenant-relationship with fellow Christians, Sadly the Christians at Corinth were undermining this relationship by their behaviour. For them the death of Jesus was not central and the return of Jesus was not dominant.

If Paul was to visit the congregation you attend during a Communion Service, would he see that covenant-relationship clearly at work?

We are an Anglican Church, and this is what the Church of England says about the Service of Holy Communion.

Q.5 Is this your experience at the service you attend? How important do you think the Eucharistic Prayer is? (Not sure if a Eucharistic Prayer is used in all our informal Services – may need some explanation!)

The Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion, the Mass, or the Lord’s Supper), can take many different forms across the Church of England, and it may be understood by Christians in different ways, but at the heart of the celebration there is always a special prayer of thanksgiving, or ‘Eucharistic Prayer’ (eucharistein means ‘to give thanks’ in Greek). This is offered by the priest who presides at the service in the name of all who are gathered, giving thanks for all that God has given us in Christ. 

At a celebration of the Eucharist, the community gathers, asks God’s forgiveness for its sins, and listens to readings from the Bible including a reading from one of the Gospels. A sermon may be preached and the community prays together. Bread and wine are brought to the holy table (also called ‘the altar’), the priest prays the Eucharistic Prayer, and everyone says the Lord’s Prayer together. The community then receives the consecrated bread and wine. At the end of the service, the community is sent out into the world as a ‘living sacrifice’ to live and work to God’s praise and glory.

PRAYER

It would be appropriate to focus your prayers on thanks for what Jesus has done for us, and to pray that we might – as a church and as individuals – be willing to share that good news with others. If you want to include music there are plenty of songs to choose from …

Further notes are offered as an aid to discussion – not as, necessarily, the “right answers”

Although Paul had been able to “commend” the Christians at Corinth for their observance of certain traditions he had passed on to them about public worship (11.2) he is not able to commend them now (17, 22). What had gone wrong? (1.12; 3.1ff); 8.1ff; 11.21; 11.17)

Huge divisions! Personality cults, food offered to idols, snobbishness between the rich and not-so-rich, services doing more harm than good. Paul could not call their gatherings “The Lord’s Supper” as the Christians seemed hardly to be aware of the Lord’s presence. There was no sense of being one family in the Lord with each group keeping to itself. Food brought was not shared in a common pool, but rather “what I brought is for me alone”.

Look at verses 23-26. Paul recalled what happened when Jesus shared that final meal with his disciples. He mentions that it was “on the night when Jesus was betrayed” – an incidental challenge to the Corinthians in their own behaviour? How do you think Paul received this revelation?

The word translated “received” is a technical term for oral transmission, but Paul does seem to claim that its meaning came as a result of a direct revelation. It is quite clear that remembering the death of Jesus is the most important part of the proceedings, and clearly this was not happening at Corinth.

What is the significance of verse 26?

There should be an anticipatory element every time we share in bread and wine. We look back to Jesus’ death, but we also look forward to his return. Is Jesus’ return (2nd Coming) something we still believe in after 2,000 years?

Verses 27-32 have a stern message – stamp out from your worship around the Lord’s Table anything which is unworthy (27)! What do these verses have to teach us about the way we celebrate communion together?

There may be Christians who don’t partake because they genuinely feel unworthy (for whatever reason) – but what about those who give taking part no thought whatsoever? Paul urges us to “examine ourselves” (28), probably a challenge as to whether we are living and acting “in love with our neighbours”. This is not to say we have to reach some moral or spiritual standard of perfection, but that we honestly look at ourselves and the way we have been living.