Some Methodist churches celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion every week while others celebrate this sacrament less often—typically once a month.
John Wesley himself set great store in the sacrament of Holy Communion as a converting and sanctifying ordinance and practiced frequent communion. He received communion at least once every four or five days and daily during the twelve days of Christmas and during the octave of Easter. In his sermon “The Duty of Constant Communion,” Wesley says—
"I am to show that it is the duty of every Christian to receive the Lord's Supper as often as he can. Let every one, therefore, who has either any desire to please God, or any love of his own soul, obey God, and consult the good of his own soul, by communicating every time he can; like the first Christians, with whom the Christian sacrifice was a constant part of the Lord's day service. And for several centuries they received it almost every day: Four times a week always, and every saint's day beside. Accordingly, those that joined in the prayers of the faithful never failed to partake of the blessed sacrament. What opinion they had of any who turned his back upon it, we may learn from that ancient canon: 'If any believer join in the prayers of the faithful, and go away without receiving the Lord's Supper, let him be excommunicated, as bringing confusion into the church of God.'
Wesley believed that the sacrament of Holy Communion was an important means of grace—
"The grace of God given herein confirms to us the pardon of our sins, by enabling us to leave them. As our bodies are strengthened by bread and wine, so are our souls by these tokens of the body and blood of Christ. This is the food of our souls: This gives strength to perform our duty, and leads us on to perfection. If, therefore, we have any regard for the plain command of Christ, if we desire the pardon of our sins, if we wish for strength to believe, to love and obey God, then we should neglect no opportunity of receiving the Lord's Supper; then we must never turn our backs on the feast which our Lord has prepared for us."
In his three General Rules for Methodist societies Wesley prescribes as requirement for membership in a Methodist society employing the means of grace, including taking the Lord’s Supper.
How then did Methodist churches fall into the practice of celebrating the sacrament of Holy Communion only monthly when Wesley himself held such a high view of the sacrament?
One explanation is that it is hangover from the days of the circuit rider. Since the administration of the sacrament required an ordained minister, churches only celebrated the sacrament on those occasions when an ordained minister preached at the church.
A second explanation is that churches adopted the mistaken view that frequent celebrations of the sacrament somehow diminished the importance of the sacrament in the eyes of partakers. Experience, however, has shown that the opposite is true. The more we take the Lord’s Supper, the more important it becomes to us. On the other hand, the less frequently we receive communion, the less important it seems to us.
A third explanation is that a low view of the sacrament has crept into some Methodist churches and the Lord’s Supper is seen solely as a ceremony in which the participants recall Christ’s suffering and death on the cross and nothing more. Apart from kneeling to receive the elements, the observance of the Lord’s Supper in a number of Methodist churches is indistinguishable from the observance of the ordinance in Baptist and other Protestant churches that have a low view of the sacrament. The same hard, dry squares of “communion bread” and tiny individual cups of grape juice are used. Baptists and former Baptists are quick to note the similarity.
The Methodist church that I helped to pioneer in Louisiana had weekly communion. A prayer of thanksgiving and consecration was said over a large round loaf of leavened bread and a jug of unfermented grape juice. After setting apart the elements for sacramental use, the pastor broke the loaf of bread into two halves and poured the grape juice into two large ceramic chalices. He and a communion assistant stationed themselves in front of the communion table, each holding a half of the loaf on a white cloth napkin. Two other communion assistants took up their position on either side of them, each holding one of the chalices.
The congregation came forward in two lines up the center aisle between the rows of chairs and received a piece of bread from the pastor or the communion assistant, partially dipped the bread in the grape juice in the chalice on their side of the aisle, consumed the elements, and returning to the seat by way of the outside aisle on the side of the room on which they were sitting.
The choir sang during the distribution of communion, having received communion first. The hymns and songs that the choir sang were familiar ones or ones with refrains and repetitions and the congregation was able to join the choir in singing as they went to receive communion.
Children received communion with their parents. The parents dipped the bread into the grape juice for the smaller children.
In churches that have a communion rail, in which it is customary for communicants to kneel at the rail and receive the elements, and in which individual cups of grape juice are preferred, the pastor or a communion assistant can tear off a piece of bread from their half of the loaf and put it in the hand of the communicant. After the communicant has consumed the bread, a communion assistant can offer a tray of individual communion glasses from which the communicant takes one. After drinking the grape juice, the communicant can leave the cup at the communion rail or if the cup is disposable, discard the used cup in a container provided for that purpose.
Hoyt L. Hickman, James F. White, William H. Willimon, and others encouraged a recovery of weekly communion in the United Methodist Church in the closing decades of the twentieth century. They would have a profound influence upon my own view of the sacrament and the desirability of its frequent celebration.
In their book, Preaching and Worship in the Small Church (Abingdon Press, 1980), William H. Willimon and Robert L. Wilson write that from the earliest days of the Church “eating together in the name and presence of Christ” became “the Christian Sunday thing to do.” They go on to write:
"Today, when the smallest church gathers on Sunday and celebrates the Lord’s Supper (or Holy Communion, or Eucharist), it is very close to the most ancient, most normative, most universal expression of the Christian faith, the small, family-like gathering Christians around the Lord’s Table on the Lord’s Day."
The single loaf of bread is a powerful symbol of a congregation’s unity in Christ. "And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body" (1 Corinthians 10: 17 NLT). Small hard, dry squares of “communion bread” or round “communion wafers” do not convey the same message. In a time when so many things are dividing the local church—disagreements over climate change, human sexuality, politics, just to name a few, we need strong reminders of our oneness as the Body of Christ. Each person who gathers at the Lord’s Table to share the bread and cup are God’s gift to that particular local church. They are where God put them in Christ’s Body.
According to James F. White, the ideal height for the Lord’s Table is 39 inches from the top of the table to the floor. This enables the congregation to see what the presiding minister is doing. The presider also does not have to stoop. A simple wooden table, twice its length as its length as its width, with ample room for the loaf of bread in its container, an additional container for serving the bread, one or two flagons of grape juice or non-alcoholic wine and two or more chalices, or stacked trays of filled individual commuion cups, a cushion to support the service book, and a pair of round glass oil lamps, if lights are desired, is all that is needed.
A brightly colored runner, hanging down to the floor in the front of the table, and white linen runner spread the length of the table and handing down at each end, are the only paraments that are needed.
The lights can be placed next to each other near one end of the table.
In the Methodist Church In Britain lay persons may preside at a celebration of the Lord’s Supper under special circumstances. The British Methodist Church took this step so that no congregation or group of congregations would be deprived of regular celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, through lack of an ordained presbyter. The British Methodist Church believes that the authorization of lay persons to preside at the Lord’s Supper is consistent with what John Wesley taught about “constant communion” and what the New Testament teaches about the priesthood of all believers. It enables licensed local preachers who are leading mission initiatives like Fresh Expressions to preside at celebrations of Holy Communion. Micro-churches can be organized around a weekly common meal, which includes a celebration of the sacrament. This has proven a popular way of reaching and engaging segments of the population with whom more conventional methods do not work. For example, vegan and vegetarian students attending a local university might gather on a weeknight to share a plant-based meal, to hear a message, to pray for others and themselves, to celebrate Holy Communion, and to receiving laying-on-of-hands and anointing.
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