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Observing the Lord's Supper/Holy Communion
Two simple questions about your church's practices.
1) How often is the Lord's Supper, Eucharist or Communion served in worship services at your church? (For example: weekly, twice monthly, quarterly, special occasions, every 4th Sunday, etc.). If special occasions only, please specify.
2) Who may receive the Lord's Supper at your church?
A) Is it open to all who have professed faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, or closed; that is, restricted to members of your church only?
B) Is it age-restricted, or restricted only to those that have been baptized? If so, please explain.
C) Is it restricted only to members in good standing or otherwise considered eligible or "worthy?" If so, please explain.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Colby on
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1) Weekly.
2) A) Open communion.
B) All who follow Jesus are invited--baptized Christians, at peace with God and neighbor, seeking to live more faithfully in Christ.
C) Christians who aren't prepared to share in the Lord's Supper, or those who aren't yet Christians, are encouraged to pray in the hope that they may consider their relationship with Jesus Christ and his church.
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I'm currently attending a church where the Lord's Supper is celebrated weekly. However, in the past, I've worshiped at churches were it was done monthly or less often. The Bible, to my knowledge, is silent on how often we should celebrate Holy Communion. Some say that having communion less often makes it special; others take the opposite position that having it more often makes it special. Feel free to add your thoughts about this.
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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Honestly, I'm not sure how my home church determines when they observe it. I just go & find out they're taking it. lol. I've never asked how they determined the dates. We always observed it on Christmas Eve. It was open to anyone & there was no age limit. We didn't determine who was worthy or unworthy. We left that up to their own conscience.
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Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on
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Colby,
The church I attend celebrates communion at nearly every church service. This bothers me some because I wonder how many partaking in it, are actually doing it in remembrance of Christ or if it has become habit. There is also singing going on during the serving of it and I wonder if that is taking away from the meaning.
However, I did attend a church that did it only on the whim of the pastor. I was going through a dry time, and requested of the pastor to have communion. I felt I needed it. The pastor refused to do it. I had communion at home, by myself, on the times I needed to.
As a child, I saw communion at my grandmother's church. At first, I couldn't participate because of my age. My delight was very apparent when I finally was old enough to take part. Communion is a very special occasion to me. I feel that the church that I am in now, has made a ritual out of it and I wonder how other members are thinking of it. Are they thinking of of Christ and the price He paid for them or is it becoming a normal part of the service?
Praise to God is always necessary to every believer. I try to examine daily, every good thing that God has done for me. I give Him praise for all that He does, and doesn't do. Sometimes it is a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. Sometimes it is a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk. Regardless of what the substance is, the praise belongs to Christ, our Lord, for His blessings. I literally think that praises should constantly be in our hearts and minds.
On Dec 22, at my grandson's all star football game, the Lord out of the blue, told me I had heart disease. The next morning, I woke up not being able to breathe, and my daughter and son carried me to the emergency room, where I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. At a regular appointment with a cardiologist, I was told I had several blockages in my leg. In order have stints put in, the doctor ordered a heart cath to determine if the stints in the leg were a priority or if I had other issues. They found that I needed a triple by-pass surgery and sent me by ambulance, to a larger hospital, where they could handle that surgery. During the prep for that surgery, it was discovered that I had a mass in my lung. Right now we are waiting on a board of surgeons to decide what course of action we should use. Naturally, my children are worried. After my initial shock of them finding the cancer, I think immediately back to the football game where Holy Spirit told me that I had heart disease. I thank God that I listened to His voice. I know that He wouldn't have told me this if He didn't intend to heal me completely.
Praise to our Lord and Savior is vitally necessary, regardless of when one participates in communion. Praise to Christ is necessary, regardless of when or how often we participate in communion. We always need to do everything in remembrance of Christ. A good question to ask ourselves is how often do we thank Christ for our circumstances? Our praise to Him should always be in our mouths, not just during communion.
Blessings.....
Rita
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Rita, I am praying in the name of the LORD for the Holy Spirit to release the gift of healing for your full and speedy recovery from heart disease and cancer as well as relief from the accompanying pain, discomfort and physical limitations.
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Q1: Monthly and at other special times selected by us.
Q2A: Open to all to profess.
Q2B: It is open to all who profess regardless of age or whether they have been baptized at the time of partaking.
Q3C: Open to all. The Lord extended this privilge/blessing to all believers and we honor that by sharing and partaking with anyone who professes Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Thank you all for sharing. I asked these questions out of personal interest seeking to get a better sense of how practices vary between churches. And most important, a biblical understanding.
I've been a member of and active in churches that offer Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper more or less often than others. Some offer it yearly; others monthly or weekly. This isn't surprising. The Bible, as far as I know, doesn't prescribe any set number of times. Most Christians will agree that its an important celebration commissioned by our Lord and set forth in the Holy Scriptures. A good case can be made, in my view, either way that infrequent or frequent celebration of Holy Communion serves to underscore its significance.
Also, some churches are more or less restrictive in terms of who they consider "worthy" or otherwise eligible to partake of Holy Communion. Personally, I think it should be open to all who profess faith in Christ, and that personal conscience should guide one's decision to partake or not.
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Colby
I must wholeheartedly agree with your statement :
" Personally, I think that it should be open to all who profess faith in Christ, and that personal conscience should guide one's decision to partake or not".
He(our pastor) doesn't seem to have any special schedule for communion but he does announce it a week in advance so we can come prepared. Which we should do anyhow I guess. No, I don't guess, I know we should.
At our church the pastor invites all believers to partake , while at the same time he reads the apostle Paul's admonision to 'examine yourselves'. He also shares the apostle's warning about 'drinking unworthily and bringing damnation on ourselves'.
It must absolutely be a personal decision. God will decide and deal with those whom HE feels have taken the elements 'unworthily'. We are not in the position to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. God is and will bless or deal with according to His vastly superior knowledge and righteousness.
I have only refused to take communion on principle once. By that I simply mean that the pastor was listing the people who were invited to participate and in his long list he used the actual term"gays and straights". Due to this simple statement I could not, with clear conscience , take communion on that occasion.
Please don't get me wrong , I'm not ,as some have accused me of, 'gay bashing'. I am simply stating that to invite people who are actively and openly commiting these acts is to set them up for God's wrath. And by that token for me to have taken communion then would have been to condone this.
Neither am I saying that those who went ahead and took communion did anything wrong. I am simply stating that I felt convicted in my heart to not participate at that particular time. And I take the scriptural admonition that 'whatever is not of faith is sin' very much to heart and I could not , with clear conscience , participate at that particular time.
God bless
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Charles, thank you for contributing your thoughts and for the detail you provided. It's much appreciated.
In First Corinthians 11:27-30, the Apostle Paul admonishes us to examine ourselves carefully before deciding to partake of the bread and drink from the Lord's cup.
"Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy way will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. So a man should examine himself; in this way he should eat the bread and drink from the cup. For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep." [HCSB]
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