Theology Thursday

Q. 96. What is the Lord’s Supper?

A. The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.

Westminster Shorter Catechism


At a previous Church we would use grape cordial for communion. I remember one week that the team responsible for preparing the Lord’s Supper forgot to mix the cordial with water. That was fun.

Have you ever wondered what’s the point of The Lord’s Supper (or communion as we often call it)? I mean sometimes, it just feels like this empty ritual. This thing we do every now and then. A tradition.

I mean we get it. That there is a physical representation thing going on. The wine/juice reminds us of Jesus' blood. The bread points us to His broken body. We know this. But is that all communion is? A remembering exercise?

There’s a really important word in the Catechism. Faith. It says, by faith. When we take communion we can take it as an empty ritual and perhaps there is no benefit. 

But done rightly, communion is taken by faith, trusting that the Holy Spirit will work through our taking of the sacrament to truly work in our minds, hearts and body to remember the Lord and His death for us. Then we are nourished and grown in grace.

And this ‘nourishing’ can occur through natural means. Think about it this way. If you were fighting against an enemy that looked strong and vicious. And all you had was you with a sword… that’s pretty daunting.

But what about if when you looked around. There was a whole bunch of others taking up their sword ready to fight alongside you. That’s pretty encouraging. That’s one thing we are doing when we take communion. We declare Jesus together, to the world, to the enemy and to each other.

So next time we take communion. Take it by faith. Trusting that what cannot be seen is still truly happening. That you are being nourished in spirit. Strengthened to keep following Jesus. And maybe consider, how the unseen might be able to be seen sometimes.

For Today:
  • Have you had a funny experience of taking communion?
  • How have you been encouraged by taking communion in the past?
  • How might God spiritually strengthen people through communion?

Pray:
  • Praise the Father for the gift of communion with Him.
  • Give thanks for Jesus whose body was broken and blood was shed for our salvation. 
  • Ask God for His Holy Spirit to help you and others take communion by faith and be grown in grace.

Passages: Luke 22:19-20 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23-26

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