Communion
I had a thought when I read the section on Communion. It wasn’t something that Ashton (with Davis) directly said but it had to do with it. I caught myself thinking back to four different churches (three of which were different denominations) that I have attended that have done communion in four different ways.
In my first non-denominational church they had communion in the back of the building where if you wanted to participate in it you could go and take communion at the end or even during the service in the hallway or even take the to-go communion cup and bread home with you (I know someone is going to make fun of the ‘to-go communion cup’, but actually I liked it. Not so that I could take it home but because our family was able to send it to my grandma who watches church on TV because she doesn’t like to drive to go to church. She was able to partake in communion at home with the church on TV).
The next church was also a non-denominational church. We took communion every week. However, the way they did it was by passing a plate around the congregation. Everyone take juice and bread from the plate and sat in silence with God on their own.
The third church was a pentecostalish/baptistish something! There we just didn’t take communion every Sunday. I don’t know if they did it at some point throughout the year but I know that within the time span of a couple months they didn’t take communion.
Finally, there’s the anglican church that I’m at now. Every Sunday we take communion. Everyone individually gets up and walks to the front of the church to receive bread and wine. And then continues back to there original seats.
Ashton mentions that Cranmer did it at a table setting where it was exemplified as being part of a meal. (p. 102) Also, Ashton refers to a comment by David Peterson: ‘The Lord’s Supper, which has so often throughout church history been understood as a means of deepening the personal communion of believers with their means of deepening the personal communion of believers with their Lord, is clearly meant to focus the eyes of the participants on one another as well as on God,” Ashton goes on to explain that when we take communion we see that it is more than us who Christ died for. (p.105) I think that this is a good point. However, I don’t think I’m allotted enough time in the communion part of the service to be able to think about everyone who is receiving communion as well as having some personal time with God.
Do I need to start taking communion on my own so that I can have that personal time with God in remembering what He’s done for me as an individual? Also, me bringing up the different ways of how communion was presented to a body of believers made me think about whether we should change up how we do communion on Sundays? Or maybe even if some Sunday’s we shouldn’t do communion as a body? So is there a certain way we are suppose to partake in communion because of a certain reason?
Whether we should do communion every Sunday or not is a completely different topic so i didn’t want to get into that. So DON’T ANSWER THAT QUESTION! Thanks 
I have enjoyed many ways of taking communion. Generally, it is in the “pass the plate” variety, which I like because we all eat and drink together and while you are waiting, you have time for prayer. I like going up to a common table because you get into a line of witnesses (similar to a cloud) and you are served by the hands and feet of Jesus. I felt disconnected when it was just available for anyone at any time because it felt too individual. When I have been one of the servers of the communion, it has been some of the most special times for me, to be the one that serves the bread of life to those I love. I like the “communion to go” packs for portability to shut ins and camping retreats and the like, but it can be real noisy when 50 people rip off the silver foil at one time! For your grandma, you can buy those at most Christian bookstores now, so that she has a supply. I don’t think communion is something you should generally do in private, though, because that takes away from the “community” element.
I have enjoyed many ways of taking communion. Generally, it is in the “pass the plate” variety, which I like because we all eat and drink together and while you are waiting, you have time for prayer. I like going up to a common table because you get into a line of witnesses (similar to a cloud) and you are served by the hands and feet of Jesus. I felt disconnected when it was just available for anyone at any time because it felt too individual. When I have been one of the servers of the communion, it has been some of the most special times for me, to be the one that serves the bread of life to those I love. I like the “communion to go” packs for portability to shut ins and camping retreats and the like, but it can be real noisy when 50 people rip off the silver foil at one time! For your grandma, you can buy those at most Christian bookstores now, so that she has a supply. I don’t think communion is something you should generally do in private, though, because that takes away from the “community” element.
It is good to have personal time with God to reflect on what he has done for you as an individual. In this time it would be appropriate to pray, sing, read Scritpture, sit and think, write a poem, etc., but it would be inappropriate to “take communion.” In I Corinthians 11 Paul addresses the problems relating to the Lord’s supper that the Corinthians were having. People were eating on their own, one person going hungry and another getting drunk. In response to this situation, Paul writes, “So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another” (11:33). Paul apparently valued something about eating the meal together, rather than individually. Whether the individuality is manifest in the meeting place or out of it, it is out of sync with this principle.
So how do you handle it at church? Is it wrong to be more personal when your taking communion since it’s a community thing to do?
Sorry if this is too much of a personal question to whoever decides to answer it but when you take communion should you be praying for the other believers that are also partaking in the communion? Or should you be praying to God on a more personal level? I’ve always thought that Communion was a time where I was able to confess to God things that I had done and by drinking the wine and bread I was able to bring my mind back to the fact that Jesus died for my sins. Have I had the wrong idea of what communion is? Why is it that Communion has to be done in community when we do it at such a personal level? That is my question.
What an excellent topic for tomorrow night. Because the answer is it’s extremely personal and extremely communal.
“extremely personal and extremely communal”
this is the essence and tension of Christianity
Please take a read of this related blog post
I guess I’m not at the point where I can see something as being both personal and communal when it comes to communion. I don’t want to be a black and white kind of person when it comes to being communal and personal so if you could help me out that would be awesome!
This is what’s running through my head. In that related blog post they mentioned that we need to keep individualism out of communion. Therefore is there no being personal when it comes to Communion? And if we are going to say that we can be personal on our own time rather than doing it in communion then shouldn’t we apply that also with the corporate worship service? Or is this where we tie in the idea of being personal and communal at once? When we are active in a corporate worship setting we are surrounded by believers and unbelievers worshipping. Although we are physically doing it together, mentally I am doing it more so personally. Does that mean that I am balancing between being communal and personal? Even though I am forced to be personal in a communal setting? How do you get to the point of being able to do something fully communal when your gathered corporately?
I think there is more than a slight difference in being personal and individual. Or at least in being personal and individualistic. I feel as if personal and communal are not mutually exclusive, but community and individualism are.
I’d like to spend some time parsing this tomorrow night. I think you’ve hit on an important thing Carla.