Communion Is a Reminder of the Importance of Community

I was asked to lead a group of people in communion the other week and found myself considering all of the angles of that exciting event. When Christians come together to take communion, they come together to briefly reorient our minds around the sacrifice and grace of Jesus. The bread that we eat is symbolic of the broken body of Jesus when he was abused, whipped and spiritually crushed. The wine/juice symbolizes the lifeblood of Jesus that poured out of him through his many wounds. While this remembrance is certainly the central focus of communion, to only consider that aspect of communion would leave an incomplete picture of this fantastic activity. Before I get to the point, let me first illustrate it for you. Have any of you heard of Earnest Shackleton? Well, if you haven't, he was a polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (Wikipedia).  He had already completed two successful journeys through the Arctic wasteland and was determined to expand his adventures. For his third voyage in 1914, his crew set out on the ship Endurance in the middle of winter on an attempted trans-Antarctic voyage. The ship unfortunately ended up getting stuck and, after much hard work trying to free it, Shackleton realized that the Endurance would be ice-locked until the following Spring. After the Endurance was eventually crushed by the ice, the circumstance of the crew was dire. The decision was then made that the best course of action was to take the strongest of the small open boats that they had from the Endurance and attempt to brave the open water in hopes of getting back to inhabited land. During their 720-nautical-mile trip on the open ocean, the only thing that kept them from freezing was to stay close to each other. Their combined body heat kept them from becoming While some got intense frostbite and most lost hope, they eventually made it to land without losing a single crew member.

Closeness in Communion

As Christians, we are living in the middle of a frozen ocean of difficulties, sin, challenges, and storms. The only thing between us and the freezing cold is Christian community. We see the community aspect of communion when we focus on the way that Jesus addresses his disciples as a group rather than individuals: "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.' And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'" (Matthew 26:26-28).

We are responsible for not only gaining spiritual warmth and protection from others, but are intended to give it with equal fervor. As Jesus said, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Love is not a passive feeling; it is an active compassion and interest in the wellbeing of others. In the context of communion, we ought to remember that, as the Body of Christ, all Christians are working together and acting as one. When we partake in communion, we are joining together with the billions of Christians in the present time and throughout eternity. Even if you take communion alone, you are joining in with billions of people across geography and time. In other words, this is not only a personal activity; it is a group event that should remind us that we are not in this by ourselves. Next time you are taking communion, remind yourself, "I'm stuck with these people." Then say to yourself, "I wouldn't have it any other way."