26 During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples: Take, eat. This is my body. 27 Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them: Drink this, all of you. 28 This is my blood, God's new covenant poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins. 29 "I'll not be drinking wine from this cup again until that new day when I'll drink with you in the kingdom of my Father." Matthew 26:26-29 [MSG]
When I moved my family from Terre Haute to Indianapolis thirteen months ago, we embarked on a lengthy
church hunt, visiting different churches every weekend, hoping to find one where we felt welcome, at home, where we felt God was calling us to return. Week after week we found ourselves disappointed, with the sermon some weeks, with the music other weeks, even with the offerings for children's worship at times -- and each and every week, we were disappointed with Communion.
In
Matthew 26, Christ instructed His disciples to remember Him through Communion (a term not used by Christ, but later used by Christians to label the practice): the breaking and eating of bread and drinking of the cup. Just as Christ instructed us to follow Him in
Baptism by immersion, He instructed us in the proper way to remember Him in Communion. Christ did
not tell us to practice sprinkle Baptism, and He did
not tell us to practice Communion by dipping bread into the cup. We follow
His instructions for Baptism to the letter. Why, then, did every church we visited insist on dipping Communion bread into the cup?
We finally found a church on the northwest corner of Indianapolis where we felt comfortable, where we felt welcome, where the kids enjoyed their worship time and we felt they spent it learning and worshipping. We finally found a church that observed Communion in the manner Christ instructed. It has been "our" church ever since.
A month ago, our church started a Saturday night service -- in an attempt to accomodate a growing congregation (5000 most weekends) and to reach out to those who don't (or can't) attend on Sundays. We attended the first Saturday evening service and loved it. We felt that God had blessed us -- everything about the service was just what we had been looking for all along.
We missed the second week due to obligations at my work, and returned on week three to find that everything had changed. The worship music -- while still played by the same band -- had become somehow countrified. Worse yet, when it came time for Communion, we were instructed to
break a piece of bread off the loaf and dip into the cup.
Why? We both felt very out of place during the service, and later agreed to try Saturday night one more time.
We did just that last evening, and were pleased to see that the music was much more to our liking. Don't misread me, I understand that going to church is not an entertainment event. I don't expect the worship band to cater to us. I understand that we go for worship and praise, but it's much easier to worship through song when you know the songs and enjoy the style of music.
What we weren't pleased with was Communion. As we entered the sanctuary and saw Communion implements designed for the dipping of bread, we were both disappointed. We both chose not to partake of Communion -- not out of protest or purpose.
This is my issue with it: the dipping of bread into the cup is not Biblical. No matter which book of the Gospel you read, or which translation, you won't find a passage where Christ instructed us to dip the bread into the cup.
Matthew,
Mark, and
Luke all described Communion as drinking from the cup. Only
John even mentions dipping the bread, but not in reference to Communion. John speaks of Jesus dipping a crust of bread into the cup and saying
"The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I've dipped it" will be the one to betray Me. So dipping the bread was not an act of Communion, but instead Christ's way of identifying the one who would betray him.
Dipping the bread into the cup is not a Biblical way to remember Christ through Communion, just as sprinkling water is not a Biblical way to follow Christ in Baptism. Why, then, do so many Christian churches choose this method of "Communion?" To me, if it is not Biblical, then why do it? Why practice something that Christ
didn't teach in lieu of following His instructions literally?
My wife and I did not -- and will not -- observe Communion through the dipping of bread. Maybe this is God's way of telling us that the Saturday evening service was not what He had planned for us. Maybe He's telling us that we should return to the Sunday morning service, or possibly continue searching for a new church home. Unfortunately, God doesn't often write His message on a wall for us to read as we drive down the street. He often leaves it to us to interpret what He is trying to tell us.
Next Sunday, we
will be returning to the same church, but not on Saturday evening. The dipping of bread might be fine for the other 443 people in attendance on Saturday night, but not for us. We will return to Sunday morning, and hopefully feel the same calling we felt several months ago when we first attended a Sunday morning service at this church. Neither one of us wants to start searching for a church home again.
Don't believe that the quotes above are the same in every translation? Click them, then feel free to select a different translation at BibleGateway, and you'll see that they all tell the same tale of Communion.
Your comments?
Joe
.
My new novel will be available shortly at Amazon.com, but you can purchase it now at my eStore. For a discount code to save $2.00 off your purchase, email me.
If you haven't noticed yet on Twitter, a preview of my upcoming book is available for download now.
was true to the movie, with a few minor exceptions.
, if you need an example), Wilson did a wonderful job of staying true to the movie's story line, while adding a couple of minor scenes and characters that served well to enhance the original. The Fireproof
movie has been called the best inspirational movie of the year, and Wilson did well to carry that accolade over to the written version of the story.
. Challenging Caleb to follow the instructions in the brown leather journal for forty days, John puts his trust in his son and his God that Caleb's marriage will survive.
| by jerry b jenkins
A United Parcel Service van rolled up today with a long-awaited delivery -- very long-awaited. The UPS man today delivered the proof copy of my first novel. There are some minor modifications to be made before printing, but the final product will be ready and available soon.
Okay, so Valentines Day is almost over, but Happy Valentines Day, anyway.
My last of five short days of a short vacation is coming to a close. Today was a day of rest and relaxation, for the most part. My wife took the kids to a Valentines Day party this afternoon, while I stayed home working on the cover art for my upcoming book release (stay tuned for details on that when the time comes).
This evening we've just been hanging around the house watching some OnDemand cartoons -- my son, for some reason, has become hooked on Thunder Cats, a show that I never got into. Watching it with my son lately, I still don't understand what anyone every saw in it.
with her Daddy.
Day two of vacation ended with a stop at McDonald's on the way home from Terre Haute last night. We stopped so my daughter could use the restroom, then we made the mistake of having something to eat before we left. I should have known better when my burger was cold and my fries were hard. At 3AM I found myself awake and sick, swearing off McDonald's forever.
A nice, relaxing, enjoyable second day of vacation today took a somber turn, when what was an otherwise enjoyable church service ended with the announcement that four young children lost a father in Afghanistan today.
on DVD with the kids). We'll be going to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis this week, paying a visit to the in-laws and going to our old church in Terre Haute tomorrow evening, and evening have mommy/son and daddy/daughter date day. It should prove to be a nice respite from the daily grind of work.
Happy Birthday to the last Great American President, and one of the Greatest our country has ever known. We will not likely ever see his equal.
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