Gathered 'Round the Table of the Lord
Reflections on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
One way to enlarge our understanding of the Lord’s Supper is to think about some of the other terms associate with the celebration of this Sacrament throughout the universal Church. Some of these terms will be more familiar than others, depending on our denominational backgrounds, but each of them has something to teach us all – Holy Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, the Joyful Feast of the People of God, the Mass. In this first of a series of pastoral reflections on the subject, I invite you to think about the Lord’s Supper as Holy Communion.
Whether the bread and cup of the Lord’s Supper are shared among hundreds of people gathered in the sanctuary, or among two or three gathered at a hospital bedside, the same reality holds – this is the sacrament that brings us all together as the People of God. Symbolically we gather at one table to share one loaf and one cup as a sign of our one-ness as the church. We share these gifts in common with one another, and with all Christians everywhere as a sign of the common life we share in Christ. “Private communion” is a contradiction in terms. Whenever we gather at this table, we gather as part of the “one, holy, catholic church” of which each of us individually, and our congregation in particularly is but a part. We never come alone, always we come with others, and commune with them at this table.
How is this possible? The answer goes back to our baptism, which is the sign and seal of our identification with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Each of us gathered at the table has been joined to Christ in our baptism, and it is our common relationship to him, as members of his Body, which relates us to one another. We who gather at this table are all here on the same terms – Christ, the host, has called and invited us to be there. Because he is present as the host of this meal, the communion we share at the table is first of all communion with the One who gives himself for each and for all. In ways that are beyond our ability to grasp, our sharing in the bread and cup of Holy Communion is also a sharing in the body and blood of Christ who is spiritually present in this sacrament to nourish and sustain us in the new life he gives.
The Peace of Christ be with you all,
Rev. Dr. Ronald F. Rosenau
Pastor