Communion? Lord’s Supper? Mass? Eucharist?

When I was growing up in church on the third Sunday of each month the service would finish and then at that moment 20 or so people would get up and leave. The remainder sat still for the time it took them to walk out and then once they had all gone the service would restart with communion.

It was strange. I never knew why certain people stayed and others left. I never knew what qualified you for staying and what meant that you left. What I did know was that communion was an add on for those who wanted once a month and you drank it from what looked like small shots glasses taken from a special tray with just the right hole size to hold the glasses. I knew that our chairs had the same hole ready for the cup to be placed in after you had drunk the wine (or whatever was in that cup). However, I didn’t know much more because it seemed to be about a club which I wasn’t sure how you got invited into!!

Then I visited my Uncle’s Anglican church and it was a completely different experience. The whole service seemed to be based around the communion. We received a thin wafer and drunk very strong red wine from a huge goblet while on your knees at a rail around the altar. So why are these two experiences so different and yet both are called communion. And then, why do neither of them look anything like what Jesus did at the Last Supper with his friends on the night he was arrested?

Sometimes, we get so used to things that we stop asking questions about them. The third holy habit is breaking bread and this month we will be considering what does that mean for us today. It was such an important part of the early church’s life together? Do we reflect that in our practice?

So if you want to learn more, then do join us this Sunday at any of our gatherings. We will be focusing on what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about the Lord’s Supper and how that can help us understand in greater depth the significance of this precious meal given so that we can remember and celebrate while encountering Jesus who invites us to know Him as our saviour who died and rose again.