Session 12
Bread & wine

The principles and practice of Communion

(This final session combines the last study with the chance to reflect, to celebrate, and to pray for each other. You may like to enjoy a meal together before the study, and then share Communion with one another. You could also invite a minister from your church to join the group for this session.)

Ice-breaker

Talk about what this Foundations group has meant to you over these past weeks. What are you going to miss about it the most? In what areas have you grown in understanding?

Defining Communion

What do you understand by the term 'Communion'?

Describe some of the different ways you have seen Communion celebrated.

In different churches, Communion may be called different names: the Lord's Supper, the Breaking of Bread, the Mass and the Eucharist. Each of these reflects a particular understanding or emphasis, but they all refer back to the last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples, before he was crucified.

Origins of the Communion service

Jesus and his disciples were in fact celebrating the 'Passover' meal together. The history of the Passover dates from around 1270BC, the time of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt. It is described in Exodus 12. It all started in around 1270BC with the Israelites' flight from slavery in Egypt. , described in Exodus 12. When the final plague killed all the firstborn sons, God 'passed over' the houses of the Israelites and they were spared. They fled to freedom the following day, and God told Moses to instruct the Israelites to commemorate this deliverance for all future generations. In time, this became the week-long Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread, during which the Passover meal is celebrated.

In the New Testament, Jesus' final Passover meal is called the Last Supper, and it is on this that our celebration of Communion is based. Read about it in Luke 22:7-20.

Significance of the Communion service

There are three dimensions, all of which are found in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. This passage is known as 'the words of institution' and is often referred to in the Ccommunion service.

Remembering - verses 23-25

What do you think the symbols of bread and wine represent?

In Communion, each participant eats the bread and drinks the wine (or grape juice!). What is the significance of your action in taking Communion?

Sharing

Communion is usually taken together with other people. One way in which we can emphasise this is to take the bread individually as we receive it, but share the cup (or cups) and drink together as a reminder that we are one body.

In the Communion service, we relate to the risen Lord Jesus, who is among us by his Holy Spirit. We also become aware of our relationship with each other. We affirm our unity as 'one body' and we affirm that Jesus is Lord over that 'body', the church.

Communion is a good time to receive from God, and from each other. What are some of the things in a service that could help to make this more of a reality happen?

Looking forward - verse 26

We don't just remember the past and celebrate the present, we also look forward to the future. Jesus tells us with authority that he is coming back again! Is this something you have been conscious of during a Communion service?

How to celebrate Communion

Many different practices have evolved through the centuries, and it is possible to be creative and innovative in the way in which we share Communion. The key thing to remember is that it is not so much what we do, as the attitude in which we do it that is important.

Read what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29. What does this tell you about the frame of mind in which we should take Communion?

This passage stresses the importance of having a right relationship with God and with each other. Sometimes we may not feel good enough to take Communion. But sin can be confessed, forgiveness received, relationships restored. For each of us, taking Communion can be a time of new beginnings.

Celebration

As we come to the end of the course, this may be an appropriate time for your group to celebrate Communion together.

As you do, Remember and rejoice in all that God has done for you, through his Son Jesus Christ. For some of you this may be an opportunity to reach out to God for the first time. Perhaps you will feel that you can pray for each other, or you could request prayer for a specific need.

Farewell, and may God go with you, and may he guide and bless you on the journey ahead.

Your choice

Build on the relationships you have made in this group. Agree on a date for a reunion!

Foundations Team

Altrincham Baptist Church