Churches
vary widely as to how often they celebrate the Lords Supper. Often, there are
differences even within the same denominations and affiliations. There are
churches that have a communion service at every meeting, some just once per
year, and just about everything in between. I was asked what frequency I
thought was best and why? My answer was that weekly celebration of the Lord’s
Supper is preferred. In this post, I hope to give some insight into why I think
that.
Before I do
that, I want to point out that there is so much variation regarding how often
churches celebrate the Lord’s Supper because the Bible does not give an
explicit command about how often we are to do it. As a result, each church must
decide based upon the examples and instructions found in the Bible, their
understanding of the purpose of the celebration, and the needs of their
congregations. As a result, we need to be careful about becoming too dogmatic. In
fact, I hold a minority view among the elders of my own church where we
celebrate monthly.
Although we
do not have an explicit command in the Bible, we should nevertheless attempt to
base our view on what scripture does reveal. Probably the most important verse
on the matter is Acts 20:7 which says, “On
the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul
talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his
speech until midnight.” The reason they were gathered together was to
“break bread”. If gathering on the first day of the week to break bread is a
reference to a celebration of the Lord’s Table then this is a clear indication
that at least one of the congregations in the early church met weekly to
celebrate communion. We know that the early church used the phrase “break bread”
to refer to devotional meals. For example, in Acts 2:42 we learn the apostles
devoted themselves to teaching, the fellowship, breaking bread, and prayers. All
four things were associated with the worship of the church. The problem is that
the Bible also uses the phrase “break bread” for the sharing of regular meals.
Even so, I
do not think Luke is talking about common meals in Acts 20:7. First, Luke tells
us it is the first day of the week. The only specific day of the week mentioned
in relation to Christians gathering for worship in the New Testament is the
first day of the week. In the context of this verse, we learn that Paul was
with them for 7 days and surely he spoke to them throughout that time but only
the first day of the week receives special mention. The day described obviously
involved a meeting for fellowship and worship. Since they gathered to break bread,
we assume that occurred. We also see them receiving the ministry of the Word
from Paul. The apostle makes it clear in his letter that when the church
gathers it is not for a common meal but rather for a fraternal meal (1 Cor.
11:33-34). It seems unlikely then that the church would gather on the first day
simply to eat.
While I
find the evidence from Acts 20:7 compelling, it is not definitive. Acts is a
narrative. As such, it describes what happened but we cannot assume that this
is what always happened or was always supposed to happen. Still, I think it is
significant that the one New Testament reference we might have regarding the
frequency of communion indicates that at least some apostolic congregations celebrated
weekly.
Another
passage that is important to the discussion is 1 Corinthians 11:25-26 where
Paul says “Do this, as often as you drink
it, in remembrance of me.” and “For
as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup…” Many use these verses to support the idea
that the frequency of the celebration is up to the discretion of the church. Indeed,
this entire section (1 Corinthians 11:17-34) is Paul teaching on the Lord’s
Supper and nowhere does he give a command that it should be done on a
particular day. The phrases “as often as
you drink it” and “as often as you
eat this” seem to leave it open for the church to decide.
The context
of the passage, however, places the emphasis on the fact that they should not
use the fellowship meal as an occasion to make fleshly distinctions within the
church. The point is that every time they must celebrate the meal in light of
their relationship to one another in Christ. The point is how, not how often
they had the meal. Although it is not specific, the context indicates that the
celebration was frequent. In verses 17 and 18 we see that Paul uses the phrase “when you come together” in reference to
their gathering as a church to worship. This same phrase appears in verse 20
when he says, “when you come together it
is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat”. It is reasonable to assume that the
communion meal was therefore something they did whenever they met together as
the church to worship. The phrase
appears again in verse 33 where Paul instructs them, “when you come together to eat, wait for one another” These
commands make more sense if the coming together is related to gathering for
worship and is frequent. At the very least, the Corinthian passage shows that we
should not neglect the celebration of the Lord’s Table and should make it a
frequent part of our worship.
Another
reason I think “frequent” should be “weekly” is liturgical rather than
exegetical. The communion is to be an anamnesis. The word comes from the Greek
word Jesus used when He instituted the Lord’s Supper. He said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do
this in [anamnesis] of me.” The
word means to remember or memorialize and it seems Jesus intends a specific
type of remembrance. The situation surrounding His institution of the communion
provides a clue that Jesus is commanding more than the simple recollection of a
past event.
Jesus is
drawing upon the context of the Passover celebration. Most of us are familiar
enough with the Passover Seder to know that at a particular point the youngest
person asks the father the famous question “why is this night different from
all other nights”. The father then shares the mighty works God has performed to
save His people. This recounting of salvation history is the “remembrance” or “memorial”
but it is not simply a list of historical events. The Seder itself is a
celebration of those events and faithful celebrants are identifying with them
not as mere historical facts but as participants through their identity in the
group. God’s actions were therefore acts of salvation for them as well as their
ancestors. The Lord’s Supper is the culmination of the Passover meal because
His sacrifice is the greatest of all redemptive acts. When he calls us to “do this in
remembrance” of Him, he is asking us to celebrate Him as the mighty work of God
in redeeming His people and keeping His promises. Through our identification
with Him and His people, we are not only recalling what He did as a historical
fact but are also testifying to our participation in it. God, through the
sacrifice of Christ has saved us.
I believe a
similar memorial & celebration should accompany the preaching of the Word,
which is the proclamation of God’s mighty acts to redeem His people and keep
His promises. Understood this way, the communion is not a somber meal but is
truly both a celebration and a memorial. Combining the preaching of the Word
with a time of personal identification of believers with the sacred history provides a liturgical coherence to the worship service. The elements of
preaching, prayer, praise, and the Table compliment one another to provide an unmistakable
Christ-centered focus to the service.
Some argue
that celebrating too frequently can cause a loss of reverence for the ordinance
and it may degenerate into empty ritual. Empty ritualism, however, is a matter
of the heart rather than the schedule. Most who make this argument would never
suggest that we should not have weekly prayer, praise, or sermons for the same
reason. I believe the pattern we see in the Bible is that a celebration of the
Lord’s Supper was part of the regular worship services in the apostolic church.
Although not explicitly commanded, this practice provides a depth and unity to
the weekly worship service reminding us that Christ stands at the center of the
promises and it is through our union with Christ that we become partakers in
them.
