Should Communion be Self-serve?

Introduction
Energetic worshipers fill the room as the service is about to begin. One of the leaders steps to a microphone and warmly welcomes everyone to the gathering. He instructs the people, “Whenever you feel led, you may help yourselves to Communion elements available at several stations throughout the room.” During the song set, particularly during the slower, more emotionally poignant songs, individuals move to the Lord’s Supper stations. They take a piece of pre-cut bread and dip it in the cup of juice. After lingering for a moment to pray, they move back to their seats.

This scenario is quite common in today’s post-modern worship experience. Creating an environment in which individuals are encouraged to “help themselves” to the Lord’s Supper would have been a scandal fifty years ago, even twenty years ago, and for the centuries since the Institution of the Lord’s Table. Now, worship planners and leaders, claiming creative license, the priesthood of the believer, the need for powerful individual experience, and the great need for therapeutic spirituality, offer the “self-serve” Eucharist as an optional accessory to their multifaceted, multi-sensory event.

As we consider the validity of “help yourself” Communion, several questions arise. Is this really the Supper of the Lord that worshipers are taking for themselves? Is this approach Scripturally sound – faithfully “passing on what the Lord has given” to the Church? Does this practice take into account the Old Testament antecedents upon which the New Covenant meal was established? Are the Scriptural prerequisites of confession and “rightly discerning the Body of Christ” promoted in this new mode? Is the community-unifying intent of the Lord’s Supper considered when individuals come to the Table and serve themselves? Does the covenantal nature of the Table (Sign of the New Covenant) receive due consideration? And, does the history of Eucharistic practice have any influence on the way the Table is celebrated today, particularly in this new paradigm? Finally, does this practice of the Table communicate the theological truths of the Table effectively?

I. In the context of Passover – 1 Corinthians 5:7b-8a, Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7
A. Passover was a family meal
Saint Augustine has been quoted as saying, “The New Testament is in the Old concealed and the Old Testament is in the New revealed.” Luke 24 records that Jesus taught Cleopas and the other disciple about Himself by referring to Moses and the prophets. From the Old Testament we find information that helps us understand the New Testament. Germaine to this discussion is Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 5:7b and 8a, that “Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast…” What did Paul mean?

Examining the Passover event as recorded in Exodus 12 offers us strong typological underpinnings for Paul’s comment about Jesus and the Lord’s Supper. Moses' return to Egypt to extricate God’s people included a series of ten plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt. What protected the 12 tribes of Israel from the onslaught of the death angel was the sacrificing of a spotless lamb, eating the lamb, and applying its blood to the door frame. Exodus 12:3 demonstrates the family orientation of the feast. “Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.”

B. “Father” led his family in the feast
The Passover was not a one-time occurrence, but became a defining annual event. In this yearly “remembrance,” the subsequent generations were instructed to participate in the meal as if they had come out of Egypt as well. Incumbent on the fathers was the faithful teaching of the Exodus saga and God’s provisions for His chosen people. Deuteronomy 6:20-25 states, “In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?’ tell him: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.’" This sacred task was carried out as the Passover Meal was shared within families, from one generation to the next, as led by the fathers.

Paul describes Christ as “our Passover lamb ”. The connection and fulfillment of the initial Passover is self-evident. Jesus’ sacrifice makes possible our exodus from sin, death and hell. Paul also compels us to “keep the feast.” The synoptic Gospels record that it was during the commemoration of Passover that Jesus instituted the Eucharist (Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7). He compelled His disciples to “do this in remembrance of me.” Given this clear mandate, they would not have conceived of helping themselves to the Passover meal. In keeping with God’s design, the disciples waited for the “father” figure to preside. Serving as the “father” in the upper room Passover celebration, Jesus offers the traditional meal to His family of followers. Building on the rich heritage of the Exodus, Jesus reinterprets the meal to focus on His sacrifice as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).”

The Passover meal and Jesus reinterpretation of it in the upper room are both family gatherings. Further, these family meals were/are to be celebrated with the father presiding.

II. Communion is a Family Meal that creates Unity
A. Paul commends togetherness for the Supper – 1 Corinthians 11:17-22
No passage in the New Testament is clearer concerning the prescription for family unity at the Table of the Lord than 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. Paul chastises the Church at Corinth for the divisions that became evident as people helped themselves rather than waiting for the entire family of faith to be together. He says, “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it… When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!”

Paul directs that the Lord’s Supper should be shared without regard for the obvious differences that separated the family into factions. As we will see very clearly in the next section, the Table of the Lord is intended to create unity. Paul was offering a strong rebuke to those who did not wait for the entire congregation, but were helping themselves ahead of the others’ arrival. Paul desires for unity within the Church. 1 Corinthians 1:10 states his intent when he says, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Paul insisted that the Table was given to the Church to foster this unity, not promote self interest.

B. Paul teaches that the bread creates community – 1 Corinthians 10:17
1 Corinthians 10:17 also helps bring clarity to the unifying nature of the Lord’s Table. “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” The communal aspect of the Table is espoused by Paul who speaks of the many who become one because there is one loaf of bread. Helping oneself to the elements would be foreign to this picture of Communion. The emphasis is not on the individual but on the oneness found in participating in and sharing the Body of Christ – the one loaf. The Didache’ (The Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations), an ancient “church manual” from the late first century, makes a similar statement. “Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.” Far from promoting individualism, the Table of the Lord connotes and creates community.

III. Communion’s Pre-requisites
A. Examine Yourself – Confession – 1 Corinthians 11:28-29
Communion has several prerequisites that are not negotiable. Without adherence to these concepts by participants, the validity of the celebration of the Table is called into question and may carry further penalties. Paul commends one of these requirements to us in verses 28 and 29 of 1 Corinthians 11. He says, “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.” Calling the congregation to examine themselves has been called “fencing the Table.” Railings have been erected around the altar in many churches to help worshipers visualize the idea of protecting the table from profanity. What makes the fence necessary? Paul indicates that self-examination leads to “rightly discerning the Body of Christ,” and avoiding “eating and drinking judgment upon himself.” Those who do not “rightly discern the Body of Christ,” are in danger of, “sinning against the Body and Blood of the Lord.” In Corinth, profaning the Table had led to many of them to become, “…weak and sick, and some… have fallen asleep.” In his sermon entitled, “Fencing the Table,” legendary preacher C. H. Spurgeon said, “The sense of that necessity will be very strongly impressed upon us if we remember that many have profaned the table of the Lord. Hence it is incumbent upon us to examine ourselves lest we should do the same.” This fence is not an insurmountable hurdle. Rather, by following the prescription of self-examination and the implicit confession that accompanies it, the worshiper is invited to come to the Table unencumbered by sin.

In the scenario mentioned at the beginning of this article, participants are encouraged to come to the Table whenever they feel ready. Since the Words of Institution and the fencing of the table (1 Corinthians 11:23-29) are often omitted in this scenario, it stands to reason that the table is not “fenced”. Is it possible that good intentioned worshipers are approaching the bread and wine without the required self-examination? As we have seen, this is a dangerous prospect.

B. Are the elements “Eucharistized”?
Just what is it that makes bread and wine (grape juice) into the Lord’s Supper? In a worship practicum at the Robert Webber Institute for Worship studies, the “Lord’s Supper” was offered to the students who had gathered for the event. After the Word of the Lord had been shared, the worshipers were prompted to come forward and receive the bread and wine. At the conclusion of the service everyone retired to the refectory to discuss the service of worship.

Dr. Webber stood and asked the leaders who had planned the service, “Do you really believe that we shared the Lord’s Supper a few moments ago?” His question led to a long silence. He proceeded to say, “Just what is it that makes bread and wine into the Lord’s Supper? Without the ‘words of institution’ in which Jesus declared that bread and wine to be his body and blood, and/or an anaphora (prayer of Thanks) complete with an epiclesis (invocation of the Holy Spirit), there was no Lord’s Supper here. What we shared was a glorified agape meal.”

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He established a pattern that has been followed for two-thousand years। Jesus took bread and broke it, gave thanks for it (prayer), and expressed words declaring the elements to be His body and blood. Then He gave the bread and wine to the Disciples. This pattern is repeated in Luke 24 in what has been called the first Lord’s Supper celebration after the Resurrection. In inviting worshipers to help themselves to bread and wine, there is a danger that the normative pattern, established by Jesus, is lost. Without this pattern, the elements are not “eucharistized.” In this case, Dr. Webber's question may be echoed, “Just what makes bread and wine into the Lord’s Supper?”

IV. Communion foreshadows the Marriage Supper of the Lamb – Christ with His Bride – The Church (We not Me)
A. The bride of Christ is not an individual – but the Church
Communion calls the Church to an active remembrance of Jesus’ passion – a look back. The Table also affords us a forward look or foreshadowing of a future event to be experienced at the culmination of the age. Of this event, John wrote, “For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:8 describes the Church, the bride of Christ, dressed in, “Fine linen, bright and clean…” In this image we have a dual reference to baptismal and wedding attire. John was told to write, “…Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” In Ephesians 5, Paul speaks of the Church in terms of a bride and a groom. The language used in both Scriptural examples is of the collective. Note that neither Paul, nor John is focused on individuals, but rather the Church. The emphasis is on “we” and not “me”. When we gather at the Table, we are experiencing a foretaste of the Marriage Feast that awaits us. This amazing truth is blurred or lost in the individual focus of self-serve Communion.

B. Modern and Post-modern Churches promote subjectivity and individual experience over the community (This defies Scripture)
As part of an appeal to the post-Christian culture, churches in the 1980s began to view those attending worship as customers. Worship was designed to meet the needs of those attending. Music style was not the only change in this approach. In holding that the congregation was actually an assembly of individual consumers, the church was, to a large extent, bound by the axiom, “the customer is always right.” In many pulpits, theology gave way to therapy. Concepts like “repentance from sin” and “dying to self” were replaced with “reaching one’s potential.” Sacred symbols were replaced by sensational pyrotechnics and technological worship aides. Praise teams replaced choirs, organs were dismissed by bands, and sacred spaces were replaced by sound stages. Behind these shifts was the overriding business principal that we must “satisfy the customer.” Most of the Baby boomers who appreciated this approach were very happy to be spectators of the incredible show, called worship, which was designed simultaneously to entertain them and connect them to God.

Since the 1990s, the onset of post-modernity has ushered in a generation of worshipers more interested in authenticity, personal experience and interaction than the generations that preceded them. Worship shifted again to accommodate this emerging ethos. It is in this milieu that “help yourself” communion has been introduced. Complimenting a culture in which cell phones, social networks, and amazingly complex video games provide consumers with personal interaction where and when they desire it, church leaders have sought to create similar experiences in worship.
What could possibly be wrong with this approach? After all, Jesus tailored the delivery of His message to the audience around Him. Simply stated, Jesus did not change His message, only the way He communicated the story. Jesus never undermined the Gospel by “dumbing it down” or compromising the Truth. Jesus spoke the Truth contextually – but the Truth remained intact. In telling our people that they can help themselves to Communion, we are compromising the purpose of the Table। The Table, as we have shown, fosters unity in two ways. We are united to Christ and to His Body, the Church. While individual Communion may offer some sense of personal relationship with Jesus, it ignores the community aspect of the Table. It is like a family sitting down to a meal, and one of the members taking their T.V. dinner into the den. The family meal is now incomplete.

Self-serve Communion feeds into the cultural misconception that “it’s all about me.” Jesus calls us to “die to ourselves.” These are competing concepts. When we instruct people to “help yourself when you feel like it,” we are implicitly teaching that faith is about me and my emotional disposition. The end of this thinking is that Jesus must fit into my plans, on my terms, and in my timing. Ultimately, we are in danger of developing Christians who are more interested in fitting Jesus into their lives, than dying to themselves and coming into Christ. In other words, is Jesus to find a place in my story, or am I to be immersed into HIStory – fitting into His plans, on His terms, and in His timing?

V. Communion is the sign of the New Covenant
A. The New Covenant in His blood
1. Covenant vs. Contract
Throughout the Scriptures God has instituted covenants with mankind. Covenants unite people in relationships - "I will be your God, and you will be my people." Marriage is a covenant. Like marriage, Scriptural covenants create new family bonds. They differ from contracts in that contracts include a transfer of goods or services for a price. Covenants create family. God’s ever expanding covenants began with Adam and Eve as a marriage covenant, then Noah as a family covenant, Abraham as a tribal covenant, Moses as a national covenant, David as a kingdom covenant, and finally, all of the covenants culminate in the New Covenant initiated by the redemptive work of Jesus. This New Covenant is cosmic in scope and encompasses all of creation as it ushers in the new heavens and the new earth. Even now all of creation groans for this. Further, the New Covenant unites to God those of us who are in Christ regardless of our nationality.

Hebrew Covenants typically had two components. First, the expectations of the covenant were clearly spelled out. If these imperatives were followed there were prescribed blessings. If these requirements were not followed, curses would result. After the word of the Covenant was agreed to, the second component occurred. A sacred sign was instituted. Usually the two parties would take part in a sacrifice and/or they would share a meal together. They read the word and shared a meal – thus agreeing to and sealing the covenant.

At appointed times the sacred word would be revisited by both parties in the relationship. Why? In order to remember the covenant, the Word would be brought out and read. Then, following the Word, the sign of the covenant – the sacrifice or meal - would be shared again to re-present and re-commit both parties to the covenant.

2. The Cup of the betrothal – Christ and His Bride
“On the night He was betrayed,” Jesus instituted the Eucharist with His beloved disciples. He broke the bread and shared it with them. Then, He held a cup to them and said, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.” Jesus intent is made clear by a recent cinematic portrayal of the Hebrew act of betrothal. In The Nativity movie, Joseph, Mary and her parents are together in one room. Joseph desires to enter into the covenant of marriage with Mary. As part of the covenant process a period of betrothal was customary. Mary’s father states Joseph’s desire to Mary. She hears the Word of the Covenant. Then, Joseph pours a cup of wine and holds it out to Mary. If she takes the cup and drinks, then the covenant is initiated and sealed. If she does not, the covenant is refused. Jesus offers this cup to His Apostles – and by extension to the Church – His bride.

B. Word and Sign celebrated at the Sacred Assembly
1. Qahal Yahweh/Sacred Assembly = Ecclesia = Church
Old Testament covenants were characterized by assemblies of the covenant parties. These gatherings were for the purpose of remembering the covenant. At appointed times the Word was brought out and read to everyone. Then, following the Word, the sign of the covenant – the sacrifice or meal - would be shared again to re-present and re-commit both parties to the covenant. For example, this kind of active remembrance helped generation after generation to experience the Exodus as if they were there. As they celebrated the feast and ate the Lamb, they reconnected with the central event in their history. These assemblies were called the Qahal Yahweh, or the Sacred Assembly of God’s People. It is from this phrase the we derive the New Testament word Ecclesia which we know as Church.

2. For the purpose of Covenant Renewal
Our Sunday worship gathering is for the purpose of covenant renewal. Remember the two covenant components? They are the word of the covenant and the sign of the covenant. The Word of God, expressed as the Gospel, should be read every time we gather. The Gospel should be the content of our Sunday morning assembly.

After the Word is read and we are re-introduced to God’s provision and prescription for faithfully living as His children, then the sign of the covenant should follow. What is the sign of the New Covenant? Jesus gives us the answer. The New Covenant, Jesus says, is “in my blood”. Jesus shed His blood on the cross "once and for all." How do we participate in this sign? Paul gives us that answer. In 1 Corinthians 10:16 he says that the bread we break and the cup over which we say thanks is our participation in the body and blood of Christ. At the Table we actively remember Calvary’s Cross and the atoning work of Jesus.

Paul also called Jesus “our Passover Lamb…sacrificed for us (1 Cor। 5:7-8).” This Old Testament typology should inform our understanding of the Lord’s Table today. Also, consider John 6, which contains unmistakable Eucharistic language informing us about the life giving power of Jesus' body and blood. Verse 53 states, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Jesus states this truth more positively in verse 54. “Whosever eats the flesh of the Son of man and drinks His blood has eternal life and I will raise Him up at the last day.” This admonition sounds amazingly similar to the instructions given those poised for the Exodus out of Egypt. Exodus 12:5, 8 and 10 states, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male…eat the flesh that night…and you shall let none of it remain…” All of this adds up to an active remembrance (anamnesis) that helps us participate in the “once and for all” sacrifice of Jesus. Like generations of God’s chosen people related to coming out of Egypt, our covenant renewal reconnects us with the Christian Exodus - out of bondage to sin, death and hell. Our Exodus is bound up in the passion of Christ. And the Lord makes a way for us to participate in this past event each Sunday at His Table. We do this, like the Hebrews who came out of Egypt and the generations who followed them, as families – not individuals.

VI. Worship Practice Shapes our Faith
Theologian, scholar, educator and worship clinician Dr. Bruce Leafblad has lamented that few congregations know what worship is because few of our leaders can clearly articulate what worship is. Dr. Webber taught that worship has “twin peaks” of Word and Table. He claimed that the ministry of the Word should be followed by the Lord’s Table and that this is not negotiable. These two components are vital to Christian worship. How they are implemented really does matter. An ancient expression underscores the power of worship to shape the people of God. Lex orandi, lex credendi est – “the prayers of the people shape their faith.” What does individual, “help yourself” Communion communicate about our faith, our Lord, and the Church? In promoting this unorthodox practice, are we in danger of promoting a focus on self that is antithetical to Jesus’ promotion of family within community and self-sacrifice?

Conclusion
Like the service referenced at the beginning of this article, consider a different gathering. After hearing the Word of God proclaimed, the worshipers are filled with anticipation as they desire to “know” Jesus in the “breaking of the Bread.” The minister steps to the Table and says, “The Lord be with you,” and they reply, “And also with you.” Then he admonishes the worshipers to, “Lift up your hearts,” to which the people reply in one voice, “We lift them to the Lord.” This statement defines what is taking place in this amazing moment in time. All who are in Christ will be brought into the heavenly Holy of holies by the Body and Blood of Christ. Hebrews 10:19-22 admonishes us, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Far from individuals helping themselves to bread and wine in a gathering of individuals, this is the ultimate family gathering. We join with the angels and arch angels, the 24 elders, and all the saints of heaven gathered around the throne singing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:12-13)