What is communion all about? I've found it interesting to do considerable reading and prayerful thought and discussion about the topic in the past few years. One of my first conclusions about communion was that it is appropriate to celebrate what we call "close" or "closed" communion. That means that it is limited to those people who are recognized by the celebrant as being Christians. Communion expresses the fellowship God has given us with him in Christ, the participation we have in Christ through his real presence, and the fellowship we have making a unified confession about what we believe.
We come together to celebrate communion. We have a participation in the body and blood of the Lord. Do we all believe the same thing about it? If not, we don't have communion with one another. Do we believe different things about what the eating and drinking are? When we consider verse 29 we have to confess that we are told to agree about what the "body" is. If we do not discern the body appropriately, we eat and drink condemnation on ourselves. This is serious business. It's good that someone would try to prevent members of the congregation from such error. And there's the second conclusion I came to in my study of communion. When Jesus says, "This is my body" he is claiming to be physically present in communion. Accepting this is "discerning the body" in verse 29. Hence I choose not to celebrate communion with those who do not particularly confess Christ's real bodily presence in communion.
I'll just throw a third conclusion out. That is that communion is actually sacramental. There is a miracle going on when we consecrate the elements in the way that Jesus did, the way Paul was taught, and the way that has been delivered to believers throughout the generations. Jesus comes to be physically present with us. The wine and bread don't disappear. But Jesus is really there, physically present. He has transformed earthly elements and gives them, now supernatural, to us people who are also earthly elements transformed supernaturally by rebirth. This mortal takes on immortality.
It's a lot more than a taste of stale bread and just enough wine to make you realize you are thirsty. Let's find real communion!
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