The Pastor’s Book

Communion

Presiding over the Communion service, the Lord’s Supper, is one of the pastor’s most precious and profound privileges and ministries.

The word transcendence wasn’t a part of my third-grade vocabulary, but that is what I (Kent) now think that I sensed as I sat next to my newly widowed mother in hushed silence before the Communion Table of Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.

Dr. Ed Caldwell’s opening words of institution (“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed . . .”); the kindly elders in their blue serge suits, white carnations in their lapels, reverently distributing the elements; my mother prayerfully partaking; the rhythm of the footfall back to the Table; the silence; and again echoing words (“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”) filled me with inarticulate wonder that marked the beginning of my coming to Christ in the summer before my freshman year of high school.

Fifty years later, I am the pastor standing behind the Table, about to preside over the Communion of the body and blood of Christ in College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, as I had done on hundreds of previous occasions. The sermon has been delivered, the pastors have taken their places behind the Table, the elders and deacons have assumed their seats, and I give the invitation to Communion (borrowed from The Book of Common Worship).

Brothers and sisters, as we draw near to the Lord’s Table to celebrate the Communion of the body and blood of Christ, we are grateful to remember that our Lord instituted this ordinance:

For the perpetual memory of his dying for our sakes and the pledge of his undying love.
As a bond of our union with him and each other as members of his mystical body.

As a seal of his promises to us and a renewal of our obedience to him.

For the blessed assurance of his presence with us who are gathered here in his name.

As an opportunity for us who love the Savior to feed spiritually on him who is the Bread of Life.

As a pledge of his coming again.

The immense theology of the invitation (memory, bond, seal, assurance, opportunity) refreshes my heart, as well as those of the congregation, and compels all of us to ponder afresh what Christ has done for us.

The Communion prayer, followed by the words of institution and then the partaking of the bread and the cup, is anything but perfunctory. The prayers offered for the elements are thought-through and from the heart; the hymns sung and played in the background have been prayerfully chosen, the pace slowed for reflection on the body and blood of Christ and interspersed with silence for individual prayer.

The atmosphere is one of serious joy in the deep contemplation of what Christ has done for us—gospel joy. And God’s people leave refreshed and hungry for more of Christ. As Bernard of Clairvaux put it in his hymn “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts”:

We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread,

And long to feast upon thee still;

We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead,

And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

Indeed the gospel has been preached that morning in a way that was ordained and instituted by Christ himself. The church assembled is in communion (koinonia) in the gospel: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation [koinonia] in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation [koinonia] in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). Thus, the church has fellowship in the cross of Christ. And there are likely some sitting there, observing, who experience seismic movement in their souls as they begin to be drawn ineluctably to Christ—perhaps even a young boy who cannot articulate what he feels.

And this points to a great concern for the contemporary church, because the Lord’s Table has suffered increasing neglect and even abuse in evangelical contexts. Large churches find the logistics daunting and thus limit the observance of Communion to once or perhaps twice a year. Others see it as taking time away from “worship” or as a hindrance to evangelism because of its exclusive nature. And in many churches, the observance has devolved into a perfunctory, robotic service with brief monotone prayers offered at a “Let’s get it over with” pace, affording no time or pause for reflection.

To be sure, this is a caricature, and most of this book’s readers do not abuse the Lord’s Table, but rather desire to give it care and observance consonant with Jesus’s command, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). To help meet that desire, in this chapter we will review the history of the Lord’s Table, restate its profound theology, and provide practical advice and substance for its observance.

THE HISTORY OF THE LORD’S TABLE

THE EARLY CHURCH

Historian Hughes Oliphant Old summarizes his investigation of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament with these observations:

The celebration by the earliest Christians was in liturgical form very much like the Passover seder. It was, like the Passover meal, a covenant meal, but it was shared with the risen Christ as a celebration of his passage from death to life and as a prophetic sign of the heavenly banquet in the last day. By the end of the New Testament period the Christian celebration of this meal had undergone a number of modifications. First, it had become a weekly celebration held every Lord’s Day morning in celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Second, it was no longer a rite observed by a small group of ten people, but a celebration of the whole Christian community. . . . Third, the celebration was closely connected with the proclamation of the gospel. It is not clear whether the service of the Word and the service of the Supper had been joined into a single liturgy in New Testament times, but surely this was beginning to happen. Fourth, the sacrament already has diaconal significance. The meal was to be shared with the poor, the widowed, and the hungry. It was a sign of concern for those who were in need. Fifth, the content of the prayers had been changed so that they were a thanksgiving for God’s mighty acts of redemption in Christ. Finally, the whole service was a memorial of God’s mighty acts that the church proclaimed to the world “until he comes.”1

This view of the Supper informed worship well into the middle of the second century. The Didache indicates that the Communion service remained liturgically much like the Passover seder, though there is a hint of the idea of Eucharistic sacrifice because, before partaking, Christians were directed to confess their sins in order that “their offering be pure.”2 Justin Martyr (ca. 100–ca. 165) tells us that shortly after mid-century, the multiple prayers of the seder had been incorporated into a single lengthy extemporaneous prayer of thanksgiving to which the entire congregation said “Amen.” This is the origination of the term Eucharist (Greek for “thanksgiving”).³

At the beginning of the third century, the bread and wine came to be regarded as a sacrifice, though the original sense is not clear. In the Apostolic Constitutions, Hippolytus (ca. 170–ca. 236) records that the bread and wine were called an offering/oblation that was offered to God with the priestly assignation “because thou hast biden us to stand before thee and minister as priests to thee.” From that time on, Communion was regarded increasingly as a sacrifice, and the prayer of thanksgiving became the means of transforming the bread and wine into a sacrifice to God.⁴

By the end of the fourth century, Ambrose of Milan (ca. 339–397) preached a series of sermons entitled De sacramentis, in which he taught that in the prayer of thanksgiving, the eucharistic prayer, when the words of Jesus were quoted, the bread and the wine were transformed into the body and blood of Christ, which were then sacrificed to God. In logical consequence, Christians began to come to church to see the Communion service performed. In addition, Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315–386) authored the Mystagogical Catechism, an explanation of the redemptive events of Christianity, a kind of divine theater for the ignorant masses.⁵ About the same time, a devotional attitude of fear was encouraged in reference to the celebration of the Eucharist. In the East, the consecration of the host was moved behind a screen, an iconostasis, to shield the holy moment. In the West, the prayer of consecration was spoken by the priest in muted reverence that was inaudible to the congregation. The sacred moment of the consecration was indicated by the ringing of bells and the prostration of the celebrants. Though the people could not hear the prayers, they could see the elevation of the host from afar as they bowed to the floor.⁶

Augustine countered Cyril’s mysticism by reemphasizing the biblical teachings about the Lord’s Supper—namely, the meal’s covenantal nature, God’s initiative in the Supper, the meal as a sign of God’s grace, and Augustine’s famous explanation of the sacrament as the Word of God made visible. Nevertheless, the die had been cast, and much of what Augustine said would be misunderstood or interpreted in a mystical way. Significantly, the Reformers would pick up on certain of Augustine’s insights nearly a millennium later.7

THE MIDDLE AGES

Much good can be said of the so-called Middle Ages, such as the Bible translation work of John Wycliffe and Miles Coverdale, the protests and sacrifices of the Lollards and Hussites, the fidelity of the Roman Church to ancient creeds, certain admirable monastic enterprises (copying the Scriptures, serving the poor), and some brilliant theological contributions, such as Thomas Aquinas’s Summa. However, during the Middle Ages, the theological trajectory of the doctrine of transubstantiation reached its apotheosis as the Lord’s Supper became the sacrifice of the Mass. Dr. Old summarizes:

It was a sacred drama that reenacted the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, a most solemn mystery celebrated in a language unknown to the common people. It was, in the eyes of many, a magical ceremony that transformed the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ and made God present on the altar, there to be worshipped and adored in sumptuous religious rites. The awesome idea of eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his blood led to the practice of receiving communion but once a year; even then, only the bread was eaten, and the cup withheld from the people. Many churches were filled with dozens of altars, and every day flocks of priests would offer the sacrifice of the mass for the salvation of the living and the dead. The private mass had become an institution. The whole concept of covenant fellowship among the faithful was lost. The splendid celebration of the Roman Mass in a Rhineland cathedral in the year 1500 had developed into something quite different from the celebration of the Passover seder that Jesus observed with his disciples in the upper room.⁸

THE REFORMATION

The theological genesis of the Reformation occurred when Martin Luther came to understand that “the righteousness of God” in Romans 1:17 was not the condemning righteousness wherein God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner, but rather the gift of righteousness from God. “Thus,” Luther would write, “that place in Paul was for me the gate to paradise.”9 Ultimately, that which made Luther’s heart sing and declare, “Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates,”¹⁰ was the understanding that the gift of righteousness comes by faith, literally “from faith to faith” (“from faith for faith,” Rom. 1:17), meaning that righteousness comes entirely by faith. Thus, the good news of the gospel is that salvation is by faith alone, sola fide.

The effect was seismic. Among the immediate results was the rejection of the Mass and the painstaking reform of the celebration of Communion. The Reformers rightly understood the gospel issues at stake and the life-and-death importance of getting it right. Luther led the way with his Formula missae, detailing his proposals for reform. The resulting interaction by the leaders of the Reformation (Martin Bucer, Ulrich Zwingli, Johannes Oecolampadius, John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and, across the channel, Thomas Cranmer and John Knox) produced theology and liturgies that are reflected in today’s observances of the Lord’s Table.

The Reformers rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation out of hand. Luther replaced it with consubstantiation, which understands Jesus’s words “this is my body” in a quasi-literal sense, arguing that while the bread and wine do not become the body and blood of Christ, the physical body of Christ is present “in, with and, under” the bread. This view was rejected by the rest of the Reformers because it calls for (as Luther taught) the ubiquity of Christ’s human nature after the resurrection, a most tenuous theological assertion. Furthermore, Luther’s view actually does not take “this is my body” in the normal literal sense, in which Jesus used physical objects to express spiritual realities (cf. John 6:27–59).¹¹

The other Reformers (save Zwingli) and most Protestants today (excepting some Baptists) understand the bread and wine to be not only symbolic of the body and blood of Christ, but visible signs that Christ is spiritually present. This will be discussed in the next section of this chapter.

The result of the Reformers’ theologizing and hard thinking was massive liturgical renovation and innovation:

The finality and sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice was reasserted as Jesus’s words from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), were allowed their full sense. The Mass’s repeated sacrifice of Christ was rejected as wholly unbiblical.

The significance of the celebration of the Lord’s Table on the Lord’s Day (Resurrection Day) was emphasized. Communion was not a funeral, but a recognition of the triumph of the cross.

The Eucharist (“thanksgiving”) was restored in the literal sense of the word.

Latin as the liturgical language of Communion was replaced with the vernacular languages of the people.

The administration of Communion was no longer the domain of priests.

The celebration of the Lord’s Table was conducted as a meal for the whole body of Christ.

Communion was celebrated as a ministry of the Word. Sermon and Supper went together.

Ecclesiastical furnishings changed as the altar was replaced by the Table, and the pulpit was moved to the center of the church.

Simplicity became the operative word in forming Communion liturgies.

THE BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
OF THE LORD’S TABLE

OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY

The theological ground for the New Testament observance of the Lord’s Table was the Passover, when God commanded each Israelite household to offer an unblemished yearling male lamb by slaying it at twilight and then applying the lamb’s blood to the lintel over the door and the two doorposts (directives redolent with Christ, the ultimate Passover Lamb; see 1 Cor. 5:7). The Passover lamb was then roasted with bitter herbs and consumed hastily at a common meal within the house by the family, which was dressed and ready for the exodus. Those households that faithfully followed God’s directives were spared the loss of their firstborn, for when the Lord passed by that night, he saw the blood (Ex. 12:1–13).

Significantly, God issues four directives that the Passover be observed as a memorial, an occasion to remember in detail how the Lord delivered them from bondage in Egypt. The first directive is to all Israelites: “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast” (Ex. 12:14). The other three directives instruct the fathers to recount the story of the Passover to their children on the day of the feast (12:26–27; 13:6–10, 14–16). Clearly, God tells Israel that remembering his saving work and memorializing it is crucial to the ongoing spiritual life and health of his people. Moreover, this theology of remembrance extends to the Communion Table and Christ’s directive, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Thus, we see that a primary function of the Lord’s Table is to help us remember in depth the substitutionary death of Christ our Passover—a function, incidentally, that the Catholic Mass obscured with its putative resacrifice of Christ.

Here it must also be noted that the Lord Jesus chose the 14th of Nisan, the annual culmination of the Passover Feast, while he sat at table with his disciples, to institute the Communion of his body and blood—the Lord’s Supper.

NEW TESTAMENT THEOLOGY

New Covenant

By New Testament times, the Passover seder had morphed into a ceremony that included, in addition to the unleavened bread, the partaking of four cups of wine. Jesus imbued the ceremony with ultimate redemptive significance when he broke the bread, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19), and then took the third cup of wine, “the cup of blessing” (see 1 Cor. 10:16), and gave the wine new meaning, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). Just as the blood of the Passover lamb had shielded God’s people from death, now the blood of the ultimate Passover Lamb would shield his followers from judgment and death. Indeed, Jesus’s shed blood initiated the new covenant blessings of Jeremiah 31:31–34, which provide in effect a spiritual profile of those who sit at the Lord’s Table:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. (vv. 33–34)

The new covenant in Christ’s blood effects a radically transformed and radically forgiven community that can then sit in communion at the Lord’s Table. The repeated divine “I wills” of the new covenant tell us that it is all because of his initiative. Indeed, the very language in and around Communion speaks of this. It is the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Table, and the Lord’s cup because he is the host who rose on the third day, which is now the Lord’s Day! Whenever we gather to celebrate Communion, we must remember that the meal is all from him and that he is the host.

Memory

As we have seen, the Passover observance was instituted as a memorial of redemption, a day to remember the saving acts of God: “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes . . .” (Ex. 13:8–9). Likewise, at the Paschal feast, the Lord Jesus twice commanded remembrance, saying of the bread and then the cup, “Do this in remembrance of me” (cf. 1 Cor. 11:24–25). These divine imperatives tell us that volitional remembering of what Christ did on the cross whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup is crucial to the proper celebration of Communion and the health of our souls. Jesus was not calling for a perfunctory recollection, a nod to God over the bread and the wine, but rather deep reflection. This ought to sound the alarm over the bland “fast forward” observances of the Lord’s Supper with their dispassionate recitations and prayers. Whenever we take the bread, we must remember the Lord’s body, broken on the cross as he became sin for us. And when we take the cup, we must remember the source of the new covenant, which is the remission of sins through his shed blood. And more, we pastors who administer the bread and the cup must do so with our hearts in full passionate engagement, leaving our people space and time to actually remember.

Communion

As we noted at the beginning of this chapter, the Lord’s Table is literally a koinonia, which our translations render as “fellowship,” “communion,” or “participation.” All three renderings speak well enough to what happens when the body of Christ partakes of the cup and the bread: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16–17). The theological reality is that all believers are members of Christ’s body (1 Cor. 12:12–13) and that when we partake of the Lord’s Table, we experience a deepened sense of communion with Christ and one another. As a member of the Brethren Church remarked with a smile to a friend who greeted him after the service, “I already met you in the bread.” Indeed.

Presence

But there is yet another deep reality rooted in our Communion in the blood and body of Christ, and that is the experience of Christ’s spiritual presence. This is, of course, the classic Reformed understanding of the Lord’s Table. The Westminster Larger Catechism explains: “The body and blood of Christ . . . are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses.” Therefore, the communicants “feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal and carnal manner; yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and apply to themselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death” (Answer 170).12

Theologian Wayne Grudem agrees, noting that most Protestants today would say that while the bread and the wine symbolize the body and blood of Christ, “Christ is also spiritually present in a special way as we partake of the bread and wine.” Grudem argues that if Christ is specially present when Christians gather to worship, we should expect that he will be present in a special way when they sup at the Lord’s Table.¹³ The famed Victorian preacher Charles Spurgeon exulted in the Lord’s spiritual presence at the Table through his Holy Spirit, saying: “He comes to us at the Lord’s Supper in a way more real than our simply remembering him or simply our being granted his grace. . . . Christ is indeed present to us at the Lord’s Supper, but not according to the flesh. His presence is a personal presence. This is not some sort of spiritualized presence, but rather a presence through the Holy Spirit.”¹⁴ The force of this truth ought to tell us that the spiritual health of today’s occasional church attender is greatly diminished by living apart from the regular benefits of the Lord’s Table, and also that the church that rarely observes Communion or does it in a perfunctory way is not providing proper care to the souls of the flock.

Gospel

The words of institution conclude with the sonorous pronouncement, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). This is by no means a gloomy, funereal pronouncement, as some have likely heard it. Rather, it means that the Lord’s Table proclaims the gospel. In point of fact, the apostle Paul reminded his hearers of the gospel that he preached to them, saying, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3–4). Proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes involves proclaiming the Lord’s Day, Resurrection Day—the gospel!

Richard Phillips, onetime assistant to Dr. James Montgomery Boice, describes one memorable Lord’s Day. After preaching from Matthew’s Gospel about Christ’s death for sinners, Dr. Boice approached the Table gravely and read the words of institution. Then he looked out on the congregation of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church and stopped. Phillips recalls, “Gazing into the eyes seemingly of every man, woman, and child present, he solemnly exclaimed: ‘Let no one here today, in life and in death, ever claim that you have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.’” He concluded by pressing home the need to respond to the gospel. Phillips concludes, “The simplicity and directness of his presentation worked a memorable solemnity upon the proceedings, so that the word and sacrament combined to powerfully set forth the gospel’s demand.”15

RESOURCES FOR THE LORD’S TABLE

In the extensive section that follows, we have provided multiple options under each subheading for enhancing your observance of the Lord’s Table. A relaxed read through these pages will provide many fresh ideas that can be used in full or in part to elevate your corporate worship. As you read, you will find a prayer here and there; a line or a suggestion that may inspire a prayer of your own; or a liturgical tweak that will enhance your congregation’s Communion of the body and blood of Christ.

SAMPLE INVITATIONS TO COMMUNION

Sample Invitation #1

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,

For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?

O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.¹⁶

We gather now around this Table to express our love—our love for one another and our love for our Lord, Jesus Christ. We also gather around this Table to remember. To remember when Jesus took the bread and broke it and said, “This is my body, given for you; eat this in remembrance of me.” And to remember when he took the cup and said, “This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, shed for you; drink this in remembrance of me.”

We gather to show our love for Jesus and for one another, and to remember the cross.

Sample Invitation #2

My song is love unknown,

My Savior’s love to me;

Love to the loveless shown,

That they might lovely be.

O who am I, that for my sake

My Lord should take frail flesh and die?17

Who are we that we find ourselves, like Noah and his family, on that ark of salvation, escaping the judgment of God, as the floodwaters prevail upon the earth? And who are we that, like Israel of old, the angel of death should pass over us? And who are we that Jesus, the very Creator and Sustainer of this world, should take on frail flesh and suffer and die?

We come to this Table this day with a sense of awe and gratitude for our salvation and for our Savior. For we have been saved—saved from our sin, saved from eternal death, saved from the wrath of God. And for such a salvation we celebrate today this good and holy meal.

Sample Invitation #3

Our Lord Jesus gave thanks on the day he instituted this sacrament. He broke the bread, and he gave thanks.

And as he was thankful at that Last Supper for the Passover (for God’s provision for his people of a perfect lamb and the lamb’s blood, shed for their sins), so we now give thanks for this, our perpetual Passover meal, and for the ultimate Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus himself, who shed his blood so that we, through faith, might claim it as our protection and as our provision.

My brothers and sisters, this is a day to give thanks. This is a time to give thanks. This is the meal at which to give thanks, to give thanks for Jesus, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, to give thanks to the Son of God who feeds us even now through his supreme sacrifice.

This morning, I invite all those who profess a sincere faith in Christ and all those who are living according to his Word and with a clear conscience to join me in partaking of this thanksgiving meal.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is now exalted at the right hand of the Father, and he calls us, through partaking of this sacrament, to commune with him. And through this bread and cup he calls us to remember and proclaim his death until he comes to make his enemies his footstool. So I ask those here this morning who love the Lord Jesus, trust in his atoning death, and find refuge in his eternal priesthood to join me in solemnly celebrating this sacred meal, the Lord’s Supper.

Augustine’s words, “Where Christ is, there is the church,” assure us of Christ’s presence with us this morning. He sits by us and walks our aisles, so to speak. And when we come to the Table, while human hands distribute the bread and the cup, it comes ultimately from his unseen hands. Christ is our host this day! May joy and reverence fill our souls as we come to the Lord’s Supper.

We are grateful for your presence with us. It is our hope that all will find food for their souls.

Sample Invitation #4

This morning, through our celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the death of Christ. These elements, which represent the body and blood of Christ, are a visible sermon to us; they are the gospel in tangible form.

They proclaim to us the great drama of redemption in Christ: salvation in the present (“for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup”), salvation in the past (“you proclaim the Lord’s death”), and salvation in the future (“until he comes,” 1 Cor. 11:26).

In light of such a salvation, the apostle Paul warns us, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (v. 27). Before we partake of the Supper, let us examine ourselves this morning, recognizing both the gravity of our sin and the weight of Christ’s glorious sacrifice.

Sample Invitation #5

The Westminster Confession of Faith says this of the Lord’s Table:

Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord’s Supper, to be observed in his church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of himself in his death; the sealing of all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe to him; and, to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other, as members of his mystical body.18

For how great it is to dwell upon the benefits given to us in this meal. The Lord’s Supper is a seal that binds us to Christ. It is a food for our soul; it is a means of God’s grace that provides for us spiritual nourishment and growth. And it is a covenantal bond of communion with God and with one another, with the church, with those who believe.

Sample Invitation #6

The following is taken from Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings:

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

We who come to receive the holy communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ can come only because of his great love for us. For, although we are completely undeserving of his love, yet in order to raise us from the darkness of death to everlasting life as God’s sons and daughters, our Saviour Christ humbled himself to share our life and to die for us on the cross. In remembrance of his death, and as a pledge of his love, Jesus instituted his holy sacrament, which we are now to share. But those who would eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord must examine themselves, and amend their lives. They must come with a repentant heart and steadfast faith. Above all, they must give thanks to God for his love towards us in Christ Jesus.¹⁹

Sample Invitation #7

The following is taken from Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings:

At the heart of the Christian life is active trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death for sin.

In this symbolic meal, originating from Jesus’s Last Supper with his disciples, we express and strengthen our trust in him, as we eat and drink with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Lord’s Supper is an outward and visible sign of the grace shown to us in the death of our Saviour. As we share the bread and the wine together, we are invited to feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving. We are faced again with God’s love for the unworthy and are strengthened by faith in the one whose body was given and whose blood was shed for us.

Come then with heartfelt repentance and genuine trust in the Lord Jesus, recognizing the significance of sharing this way.

If in good conscience it would not be right for you to participate, please use this time to reflect on God’s love for us in Christ.20

SAMPLE PRAYERS FOR COMMUNION

Almighty God, we come to you this morning admitting our unworthiness to partake of this holy meal. And yet, with confidence, sincerity, truth, and joy, we come to this Supper through the sacred blood of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We praise you for your mercy and grace, and ask you through this bread and cup to commune with us now as we commune with you and one another. Amen.

Heavenly Father, as we now celebrate this meal that you have prepared for us (a heavenly meal that reminds us of earthly realities), this bread and this cup are tangible and visible reminders of our sin and also of the supreme sacrifice of your Son (his body broken and his blood shed for us and for our salvation).

So, Lord, as we meditate on the realities of our sin and your salvation, we ask for your help in fully confessing our sins in the silence as we prepare to solemnly partake of the body and blood of your Son.

Father in heaven, we bow our heads now because Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit. We bow in reverence, in respect, in awe, and in adoration for the person of Christ, the words of Christ, and today for the cross of Christ.

Now fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit, so that our worship in this moment will bring true honor to you—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and genuine consolation to our souls. We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Almighty God, the Table that you have set before us calls us to deepest ongoing remembrance of your death for us. So now, Lord, quiet our hearts, still our souls, remove all distractions, so that when we take the bread we remember your body hanging impaled, writhing in the darkness as you, who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21). And when we take the cup, may we remember that you bled out on the cross for us as the perfect Passover Lamb, paying an infinite price for our sin.

May we partake of the bread and partake of the cup with perpetual, indelible, saving remembrance. Amen.

The following is taken from Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings:

We do not presume to come to your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your many and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. But you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.21

Following are two Communion prayers, one by John Knox and the other by Richard Baxter. Though the language is archaic, we have included them because they provide extraordinary substance for our Communion prayers due to their profound theology and magnificent expression.

John Knox’s Thanksgiving (Eucharistic Prayer) for the Lord’s Table (1560), the last two paragraphs, reads:

O Father of Mercy, and God of all consolation! . . . [At] the commandment of Jesus Christ our Lord, we present ourselves at this table, which he hath left to be used in remembrance of his death, until his coming again: to declare and witness before the world, that by him alone we have received liberty and life; that by him alone thou dost acknowledge us thy children and heirs; that by him alone we have entrance to the throne of grace; that by him alone we are possessed in our spiritual kingdom to eat and drink at his table, with whom we have our conversation presently in heaven, and by whom our bodies shall be raised up again from the dust, and shall be placed with him in that endless joy, which thou, O Father of Mercy, hast prepared for thine elect before the foundation of the world was laid.

And these most estimable benefits we acknowledge and confess to have received of thy free mercy and grace, by thine only beloved Son Jesus Christ: for the which, therefore, we thy congregation, moved by thine Holy Spirit, render all thanks, praise, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.²²

Richard Baxter’s invocation of the Holy Spirit (epiclesis) on the Lord’s Table in his Reformed Liturgy of 1662 reads:

Most Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son: by whom Christ was conceived; by whom the prophets and apostles were inspired, and the ministers of Christ are qualified and called: that dwellest and workest in all the members of Christ, whom thou sanctifiest to the image and for the service of their Head, and comfortest them that they may shew forth thy praise: illuminate us, that by faith we may see him that is here represented to us. Soften our hearts, and humble us for our sins. Sanctify and quicken us, that we may relish the spiritual food, and feed on it to our nourishment and growth in grace. Shed abroad the love of God upon our hearts, and draw them out in love to him. Fill us with thankfulness and holy joy, and with love to one another. Comfort us by witnessing that we are the children of God. Confirm us for new obedience. Be the earnest of our inheritance, and seal us up to everlasting life. Amen.23

SAMPLE PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

Our loving Father, your Word tells us: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8–9).

So now, in these moments, we silently confess our sins.

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1–2a).

Heavenly Father, we come to this meal that you have prepared for us to remind us of our sin and of your sacrifice, and to help us even now to grow in grace. So, Lord, do help us, in this time of meditation before we eat of this bread, to confess our sins to you, to acknowledge our indebtedness to your free grace, and to be grateful for your steadfast love. We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Our gracious God, it is because you have restored our sight, it is because you have opened our eyes to see the truth of your gospel, that we can freely confess this morning our love for and dependence on Christ and can joyfully partake of his body broken for us and his blood shed for us. Help us now, O Lord, as we think on both our sin and our Savior, to confess the worthiness of Christ and him alone. We pray this in his name. Amen.

The following is taken from the 1956 Book of Common Worship:

ALMIGHTY GOD, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, Judge of all men; We acknowledge and confess our manifold sins; Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed; By thought, word, and deed; Against Thy Divine majesty. We do earnestly repent; And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; The remembrance of them is grievous unto us. Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake; Forgive us all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please Thee in newness of life; To the honor and glory of Thy name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.24

The following two prayers are taken from Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings:

To be prayed together.

Almighty God

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

you made all things,

and you call everyone to account.

With shame we confess

the sins we have committed against you,

in thought, word and deed.

We rightly deserve your condemnation.

We turn from our sins

and are truly sorry for them;

they are a burden we cannot bear.

Have mercy on us, most merciful father.

For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ,

Forgive us all that is past.

Enable us to serve and please you in newness of life,

to your honour and glory,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.²⁵

Knowing that we are all sinners saved by grace, and that we regularly sin in thought and word and deed, let us confess our sins together.

Heavenly Father,

you have loved us with an everlasting love,

but we have often gone our own way

and rejected your will for our lives.

We are sorry for our sins

and turn away from them.

For the sake of your Son who died for us

forgive us, cleanse us, and change us.

By your Holy Spirit enable us to live for you

and to please you in every way,

for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.26

SAMPLE PRAYERS FOR THE BREAD

Almighty God, you have written in your Word, “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7b–8). We come to you this morning admitting our unworthiness to partake of this holy meal. And yet with confidence, sincerity, truth, and joy, we come to this Supper through the sacred blood of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

We praise you for your mercy and grace, and we ask you through this bread to commune with us now as we commune with you. Amen.

Our dear Lord, the bread that we are about to partake of is symbolic of the human body in which you dwelt incarnate among us, sinless, for thirty-three years. And when you were crucified, you bore our sins in your body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And by your wounds we were healed (see 1 Pet. 2:24). You took our place and paid a price that we could never pay.

Seal this to our hearts as we eat the bread, representative of your body broken for us. Amen.

Christ Jesus, when you came into the world you said to the Father, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book’” (Heb. 10:5–7). Then you came in the incarnation, and by the single offering of your body on the cross, you did what all the offerings on Israelite altars could never accomplish—the complete forgiveness of our sins.

Bread of heaven, as we now partake of the symbol, ravish our hearts and refresh our souls. Amen.

Lord Jesus, you said: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Shocking words, prophetic of the cross.

Now as we eat this bread, help us to ride the symbol to the deepest reality. You bore our sins in your body, you became sin for us, you suffered death in your body, and you were resurrected in your body. Bread of heaven, we feast in remembrance of your body given for us. Amen.

SAMPLE DIRECTIVES FOR PARTAKING OF THE BREAD

Scriptural directives

[Jesus] said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this is remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:24)

[Jesus] said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” (Matt. 26:26)

Classic Directives

Here is a contemporary rendering of Thomas Cranmer’s directive:

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

A shortened version is:

Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.27

SAMPLE PRAYERS FOR THE CUP

Our gracious God, we thank you this day for the new covenant, the covenant sealed through the blood of Jesus Christ. And we drink this cup in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, asking him even now, through the Spirit, to commune with us as we commune with each other. With grateful hearts, O Christ, we drink to you and of you. Amen.

Our gracious and merciful God, we know from your Word that we cannot claim to be righteous apart from your righteousness, the righteousness that has been given to us through faith in Christ. We praise and honor you for this new covenant, the covenant sealed through the death of your Son and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we drink this cup in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, asking him even now, through the Spirit, to commune with us as we commune with each other. With grateful hearts and sober minds, we pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

Our Lord, your Word tells us that when Cain rose up and killed his brother, Abel’s blood cried out to God from the ground, and Cain came under the curse of judgment. But your Word tells us that in the church, we come “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:24). Abel’s blood cried for vengeance, but Christ’s blood shouts the better word of forgiveness. As we ponder the cup, we rejoice for the better word that rises before us—complete forgiveness because of the shed blood of Jesus. Thank you for this better word. Seal it to our hearts as we partake. Amen.

Jesus, lover of our souls, in Gethsemane you looked into the cup that you would have to drink in order to redeem us from our sins, and it was so awful that you prayed: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). And then you did the hardest thing ever done in time and eternity as you shed your blood to secure our salvation, so that we might come to your Table and partake of the cup in deep remembrance of what you did for us on the cross. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Our dear Lord, as we ponder partaking of the cup, our hearts affirm:

This is all my hope and peace,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

This is all my righteousness,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.28

SAMPLE DIRECTIVES FOR PARTAKING OF THE CUP

Scriptural Directive

Jesus said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:27–28), and, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:25).

Classic Directives

A contemporary rendering of Archbishop Cranmer’s directive reads:

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful.

A shortened version is:

Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful.29

CREEDS AND THE TABLE

Many traditional Protestant liturgies include a congregational recitation of the Apostles’ Creed. If your church rarely or never uses a creed, introducing one as part of the Communion service might be a way to start. You can always argue that many great Protestant leaders did the same!

In Zwingli’s Zurich Liturgy, after a Gospel reading from John 6:47–48, 63, “the server brings the first line” of the creed, followed by an antiphonal response from the men, then women (back and forth fifteen times), concluding together with “Amen.”³⁰

In Calvin’s “The Manner of Celebrating the Lord’s Supper,” he advocates for the Strassburg Liturgy, saying: “Then, after the accustomed prayers have been offered, the Congregation, in making confession of the faith, sings the Apostles’ Creed to testify that all wish to live and die in the Christian doctrine and religion. Meanwhile, the Minister prepares the bread and wine of the Table.”³¹ Elsewhere, Calvin introduces the creed for his Communion service, saying: “We shall beseech our Father to give us steadfast, living, and perfect faith, and to increase and enlarge the same in us, by which we may be able to overcome all the malice of our enemy. We shall express our desire to live in that faith by making our confession of it, saying: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, etc.”³²

In the English Rite—The First and Second Prayer Books of King Edward VI—the 1549 liturgy followed the medieval elements: introit, Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis, collect, epistle and Gospel readings, creed, and sermon.33 The Book of Common Prayer describes it as follows: “The priest or deacon, then shall reade the Gospel: after the Gospell ended, the priest shall begin: ‘I beleue [believe] in one God.’ The clerkes shall syng the rest.”³⁴

In Richard Baxter’s Savoy Liturgy, he advocates that “one of the Creeds [note the plural!] be read by the Minister.” The pastor is to say, “In the profession of this holy Christian Faith we are here assembled.” Then a line from the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed are given, followed by the comment, “And sometimes Athanasius’ Creed.”³⁵

Many other selections from the historic Protestant confessions can be used as well. In fact, their focus on various theological topics, such as “sin” or “the Lord’s Supper,” fits perfectly. An excellent resource to see what the Belgic Confession of Faith (1561), Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Second Helvetic Confession (1566), Canons of Dort (1618–1619), and the Westminster Standards (1647–1648) teach is Joel R. Beeke and Sinclair B. Ferguson, Reformed Confessions Harmonized (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002).

For example, your church could use questions/answers from the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q. 96. What is the Lord’s Supper?

A. The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.

Q. 97. What is required for the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?

A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

FENCING THE TABLE

Because the Lord’s Supper is meant only for those who have been born again and are walking faithfully with their Lord, we must warn those in our congregations of these serious matters. Sample comments follow.

As a minister of the gospel, it is my solemn duty to guard the Lord’s Table from those who do not yet trust in our Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation and from those who do trust in Christ for their salvation but who now are living in secret and unrepentant sin. If this describes you, for your own spiritual well-being, it is my duty to ask you not to participate in this holy meal lest you partake unworthily, eating and drinking condemnation upon yourselves.

Yet, as a gospel minister, it is also my solemn duty to open this Table for repentant and trusting sinners, for this Table is not for those who are free from sin, but for those who are humble of heart and contrite in spirit. God invites to this Supper all sinners who confess utter dependence for pardon and cleansing based on the perfect sacrifice of Christ, sinners who base their hope of eternal life upon his perfect obedience and righteousness, and sinners who seek by the power of the Spirit to crucify their old natures and to continue to follow Christ.

Let us therefore, heeding the instructions given by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, examine our minds and hearts to determine whether or not we should partake of this meal. And if we decide to partake, may it be to the end that we eat and drink to the glory of God and to our growth in the grace of Christ.

How great it is to dwell upon the benefits given to us in this meal. The Lord’s Supper is a seal that binds us to Christ. It is food for our soul. It is a means of God’s grace that provides for us spiritual nourishment and growth. And it is a covenantal bond of communion with God and with one another, with the church, with those who believe.

So with this great thought in mind, I invite those who believe, those who are in fellowship/communion with God through Christ, to partake gladly of this body broken for you and blood shed for the salvation of your soul. And for those who have yet to come to faith, I ask that you let the elements pass you by. We pray that in time, through God’s work on your heart, you too would be able to join us at this Table.

So, my fellow believers, we come together this morning to eat and to drink so as to remember who we are in Christ, strangers in this world. And so I invite all those who are Christians (and only those who are believers in Jesus Christ) to partake of this gracious meal that has been prepared and provided for you, for your growth in grace.

Those of you here this morning who have not come to profess and know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we ask you to let the bread and cup pass you by (others will be doing the same). But those of you who have welcomed Christ into our lives to be the King of our hearts, please solemnly and joyfully partake of the meal.

This sacred time at the Lord’s Table is for believers who have rested all their hope on the death and resurrection of Christ. If you are not yet a believer, you should refrain from partaking until you come to faith in Christ—and then joyfully partake along with the body of Christ.

We encourage those who are believers to examine your hearts, so that you can partake in a worthy manner. If your heart is not right, refrain until you can come freely to partake.

The apostle Paul warns us, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:27). Before we partake of the Supper, let us examine ourselves this morning, recognizing both the gravity of our sin and the weight of Christ’s glorious sacrifice.

SAMPLE COMMUNION BENEDICTIONS

Sample Scriptural Benedictions

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. (Num. 6:24–26)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)

But you have come to . . . Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Heb. 12:22, 24)

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)

Revelation 7:10, 12 (responsive benediction):

Minister: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Congregation: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Sample Traditional Benedictions

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

The peace of God, that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of the love of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you, and remain with you always. Amen.

John Calvin’s prayer of dedication at the end of Communion:

Now grant us this . . . benefit: that thou wilt never allow us to forget these things; but having them imprinted on our hearts, we may grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed. Thus may we order and pursue all our life to the exaltation of thy glory and the edification of our neighbor. Amen.36

SAMPLE COMMUNION LITURGIES

This section begins with the outlines of four historic communion liturgies: Calvin’s Genevan Psalter of 1542, the Puritans’ 1651 Westminster Directory for Worship, the 1661 Savoy Liturgy, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. There are, of course, other rich liturgies from which we could learn much, but space does not allow their inclusion in this book. But these liturgies together will acquaint the reader with the historic structures that preceded and inform today’s observances. These will be followed by some examples of contemporary liturgies.

Our purpose here is not to prescribe how pastors ought to structure their churches’ observance of the Lord’s Table, but to enhance the observance of Communion. It should be noted that the outlines are skeletal, and where the liturgies do not have titles for sections, we have inserted headings that help make the structure visible. These liturgies pick up variously after the preaching of the Word.

THE GENEVAN PSALTER OF 1542

The Singing of the Creed

Invocation

Four conjoined prayers: a prayer of invocation, an epiclesis (a prayer of thanksgiving for Christ’s redemptive work), a prayer renewing covenant vows, and the Lord’s Prayer.

Words of Institution

1 Corinthians 11:23–25

Fencing of the Table

Distribution of the Bread and Wine

Congregation sings Psalm 138, a song of thanksgiving

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Final Hymn of Praise

Commonly Psalm 103 or 113

Aaronic Benediction

Numbers 6:23–26 37

THE PURITAN CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S TABLE, 1651

The Puritan celebration of the Lord’s Table was preceded the prior Sunday or during the week by a Preparatory Service so “that all may come better prepared to that heavenly feast.”³⁸ Then, following the prescriptions of the Westminster Directory for Worship of 1651, Communion was ordered as follows:

Exhortation

The proper use of the sacrament

Table

The people were seated around or at a table for the sacred meal.

Words of Institution

1 Corinthians 11:23–25

Eucharistic Prayer

Thanksgiving for the great benefits of redemption

Invocation (epiclesis)

The pastor asks the Holy Spirit to sanctify the bread and wine and bless his own ordinance.

Distribution of the Bread and Wine

Post-Communion Prayer

Communion Psalms

Selected from their favorites: Psalms 23, 24, 34, 103, 113, 116, 118, and 133

Collection of Alms

Given to the deacons for distribution to the poor.³⁹

RICHARD BAXTER’S SAVOY LITURGY OF 1661

Baxter’s work is noted for its Scripture-infused phraseology, especially evident in the liturgy’s exquisite prayers. The profound theology and rich devotional mood of his Communion service is that of the consummate pastor and theologian, which he was. We encourage our readers to read the full text of The Savoy Liturgy (outlined below) in Bard Thompson’s Liturgies of the Western Church.40

The Order of Celebrating the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ

Explication

The nature, use, and benefits of the sacrament (optional)

Exhortation

A call for the people to come to the Lord’s Table

Prayer

Of confession, forgiveness, and full partaking

Blessing of the Bread and Wine

Words of Institution

Consecration of the Bread and Wine

Breaking of the Bread and Pouring of the Wine

Prayer (epiclesis)

For the illumination and ministry of the Holy Spirit

Partaking of the Bread and the Cup (optional liturgies)

Post-Communion Prayer

Exhortation (if time allows)

Hymn

An appropriate Psalm (Psalms 23, 116, 100, 103, etc.), sung in meter

Blessing/Benediction

(Hebrews 13:20, 21)

THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, 1662

Exhortation

A warning not to partake unworthily and calls to repent, to give “humble and hearty thanks” for Christ’s atoning death, to give thanks for his “exceeding great love.”

Invitation

An invitation for the people to draw near in faith and “make your humble confession to Almighty God.”

Confession

A set prayer offered up in unison by all

Absolution

Pronounced by the presiding priest or the bishop

Comfortable Words

Comforting words of Christ, beginning with Matthew 11:28, followed by John 3:16, 1 Timothy 1:15, and 1 John 2:1. Concluded by a brief congregational response

Proper Preface

A brief, single-sentence prayer ascribing all glory to God, concluding with a brief song or spoken response

Communion Prayer

A prayer containing the affirmation, “We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs from under Thy Table.”

Prayer of Consecration

Offered after the priest breaks the bread and takes the cup in his hands. Note: this prayer consecrates the bread and the wine for the “perpetual memory” of Christ’s death, three times employing the dominical descriptive “remembrance.”

Communion

Served with Archbishop Cranmer’s matchless injunctions

The Lord’s Prayer

The priest prays, with the people repeating every petition.

Prayer for Commitment and Heavenly Benediction

Doxology

Said or sung

Blessing and Departure

Collection
Given to the deacons for distribution to the poor.41

THE COMPLETE TEXTS OF THREE COMMUNION SERVICES FOR TODAY

Today, the strands of those early Protestant liturgies variously inform our observances of Communion across the spectrum of worship styles. Virtually all feature an invitation to the Lord’s Table, a Communion prayer, the words of institution, prayers over the bread and wine, Christ’s injunctions for partaking, a prayer of thanksgiving, and a benediction.

Beyond that, contemporary liturgies vary widely in the use of the Lord’s Prayer, doxologies, creeds, confessions, congregational responses, methods of partaking, hymns and songs, offerings for the poor, and the fencing of the Table.

This said, all celebrations of the Lord’s Table must be done with prayerful premeditation and intentionality because of the life-and-death theology that attends the Table, which seals the blessings of the new covenant to believers. It fires our remembrance of his body and blood broken and shed for us; it enhances the reality of our communion with Christ and one another as it is a participation in the body and blood of Christ; and it lifts the gospel high, as by eating the bread and drinking the cup we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26).

The following sample Communion liturgies have been assembled using the “Resources” and “Hymns and Songs” sections of this chapter and the chapter on the creeds. We have done this to illustrate how to use this book to create your own services for your own contexts. Admittedly, these samples are done from a more traditional slant, but your choice of music will generally contextualize your observance of the Lord’s Table. Also, the sample prayers need not be given word for word, but will serve well as templates or inspiration for “extemporaneous” prayers.

SAMPLE COMMUNION LITURGY #1

(Note: the service that preceded this observance of the Lord’s Table included the Apostles’ Creed, a prayer of confession, and the Lord’s Prayer. Thus, none of these are included in this Communion liturgy. Here the sermon has concluded with prayer, and the pastors have descended the platform and have taken their places before the Table as the standing congregation sang a hymn.)

Invitation

Brothers and sisters, as we draw near to the Lord’s Table to celebrate the Communion of the body and blood of Christ, we are grateful to remember that our Lord instituted this ordinance:

For the perpetual memory of his dying for our sakes and the pledge of his undying love;

As a bond of our union with him and each other as members of his mystical body;

As a seal of his promises to us and a renewal of our obedience to him;

For the blessed assurance of his presence with us who are gathered here in his name;

As an opportunity for us who love the Savior to feed spiritually on him who is the Bread of Life; and

As a pledge of his coming again.

Communion Prayer

Father in heaven, we bow our heads now because Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit. We bow in reverence, in respect, in awe, and in adoration for the person of Christ, the words of Christ, and today for the cross of Christ.

Fill us now and afresh with your Holy Spirit, so that our worship in this moment will bring true honor to you—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and genuine consolation to our souls.

We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Fencing

This sacred time at the Lord’s Table is for believers who have rested all their hope on the death and resurrection of Christ. If you are not yet a believer, you should refrain from partaking until you come to faith in Christ—and then joyfully partake along with the body of Christ.

We encourage those of you who are believers to examine your hearts, so that you can partake in a worthy manner. If your heart is not right, refrain until you can come freely to partake.

As the bread and the cup are served, we ask that you hold them, so that we all partake together.

The Bread

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (1 Cor. 11:23–24).

Prayer for the Bread

Christ Jesus, when you came into the world, you said to the Father: “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.” Then you said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book” (Heb. 10:5–7).

And then you came in the incarnation, and by a single offering of your body on the cross you achieved what all the offerings on Jewish altars could never accomplish—the complete forgiveness of our sins. Bread of heaven, as we now partake of the symbol, ravish our hearts and refresh our souls. Amen.

Distribution

Elders rise, receive the bread, and serve the congregation. Music (instrumental or choral) begins midway through the distribution of the bread so as to coincide with the completion. There are many wonderful hymns and songs to select from (see the list on page 455). For example, the congregation might sing together a line from “Come, Ye Disconsolate”:

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,

Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.42

Partaking of the Bread

Jesus said: “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24).

Silence

The Cup

“In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me’” (1 Cor. 11:25).

Prayer for the Cup

Our gracious God, we thank you this day for the new covenant, the covenant sealed through the blood of Jesus Christ, your Son. And we drink this cup in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, asking him even now, through the Spirit, to commune with us as we commune with each other. With grateful hearts, O Christ, we drink of you and to you. Amen.

Distribution

Elders rise, receive the cup, and serve the congregation. As with the bread, music begins midway through the serving of the cup so as to coincide with the completion. Perhaps sing a line from “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”:

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,

For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?

O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

Partaking of the Cup

Jesus said, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:25b).

Silence

Care Offering

As we conclude this service, we provide opportunity for people to give to the care offering, which is used to assist people going through times of financial need. If you are aware of such needs in the body of Christ, please let us know by contacting an elder or pastor.

Hymn/Song

Benediction

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). Amen.

SAMPLE COMMUNION LITURGY #2

Apostles’ Creed

Let us all affirm our faith before coming to the Lord’s Table. Christian, what do you believe?

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ,

his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended into hell.

On the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of the Father;

from there he will come to judge

the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,

the communion of the saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Invitation

This morning, through our celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the death of Christ. These elements, which represent the body and blood of Christ, are a visible sermon to us; they are the gospel in tangible form.

They proclaim to us the great drama of redemption in Christ: salvation in the present (“for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup”), salvation in the past (“you proclaim the Lord’s death”), and salvation in the future (“until he comes [again],” 1 Cor. 11:26).

It is our privilege to partake of this visible sermon.

Fencing

In the light of such a salvation, the apostle Paul warns us, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:27).

Before we partake of the Supper, let us examine ourselves, recognizing both the gravity of our sin and the weight of Christ’s glorious sacrifice.

Institution

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this is remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23–26).

Communion Prayer and Confession

Heavenly Father, as we now celebrate this meal that you have prepared for us (a heavenly meal that reminds us of earthly realities), this bread and this cup are tangible and visible reminders of our sin and also of the supreme sacrifice of your Son (his body broken and his blood shed for us and for our salvation). So, Lord, as we meditate on the realities of our sin and your salvation, we ask for your help in fully confessing our sins in the silence as we prepare to solemnly partake of the body and blood of your Son.

Silence

Amen.

Prayer for the Bread

Lord Jesus, you said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Shocking words, prophetic of the cross. Now, as we eat this bread, help our souls to ride the symbol to the deepest reality. You bore our sins in your body, you became sin for us, you suffered death in your body, and you were resurrected in your body. Bread of heaven, we feast in remembrance of your body given for us. Amen.

Distribution

Elders rise, receive the bread, and serve the congregation. Music (instrumental or choral) begins midway through the distribution of the bread and concludes when the elders are seated.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this

That caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!43

Partaking of the Bread

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is given for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.

Silence

Prayer for the Cup

Our dear Lord, as we prepare to drink the cup, we affirm with all our hearts:

This is all my hope and peace,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

This is all my righteousness,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Distribution

Elders rise, receive the cup, and serve the congregation. As with the bread, the music begins midway through the distribution.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?⁴⁴

Partaking of the Cup

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you and be thankful.

Silence

Hymn/Song of Thanksgiving

Benediction

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

(Num. 6:24–26)

SAMPLE COMMUNION LITURGY #3

(Note: The sermon has concluded with prayer, and the pastors have descended the platform and taken their places before the Table as the standing congregation sang a hymn.)

Invitation

Listen to the inviting words of the Lord to his children: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Listen also to the apostle Paul: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). Finally, hear the apostle John: “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1–2).

With these words we invite you to the Lord’s Table, which he has set for all his children. So let us now reverently and joyfully take our places.

Institution

Hear the words of institution: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this is remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23–26).

Communion Prayer

Merciful Lord, we do not presume to come to your Table trusting in our own righteousness, but in your many and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. But you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ and to drink his blood that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us. Amen.

Confession

Knowing that we are all sinners saved by grace and that we regularly sin in thought, word, and deed, let us confess our sins together:

Heavenly Father,

you have loved us with an everlasting love,

but we have often gone our own way

and rejected your will for our lives.

We are sorry for our sins

and turn away from them.

For the sake of your Son who died for us,

forgive us, cleanse us, and change us.

By your Holy Spirit, enable us to live for you

and to please you in every way,

for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Fencing

This is a meal for believers. Christians believe that Jesus truly lived, died, and rose from the dead. Christians also personally appropriate those historical realities. We believe that Jesus died for our sins. We believe that he was raised for our justification. We believe that he will return again in glory as the Lord of lords and King of kings.

If you do not yet believe this, we encourage you to refrain until you can partake worthily in full belief.

Prayer for the Bread

Our dear Lord, the bread that we are about to partake of is symbolic of the human body in which you dwelt incarnate among us, sinless, for thirty-three years. And when you were crucified, you bore our sins in your body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And by your wounds we were healed (see 1 Pet. 2:24). You took our place and paid a price that we could never pay.

Seal this to our hearts as we eat the bread, representative of your body broken for us. Amen.

Distribution

Elders rise, receive the bread, and serve the congregation. Music (instrumental or choral) begins midway through the distribution of the bread and concludes when the elders are seated.

Partaking of the Bread

Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.

Silence

Prayer for the Cup

Jesus, lover of our souls, in Gethsemane you looked into the cup that you would have to drink in order to redeem us from our sins, and it was so awful that you prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).

And then you did the hardest thing ever done in time and eternity—you shed your blood to secure our salvation, so that we might sit here today at your Table and partake of the cup in deep remembrance of what you did for us on the cross. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Distribution

Elders rise, receive the cup, and serve the congregation. As with the bread, the music begins midway through the distribution.

Partaking of the Cup

Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful.

Silence

Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Benediction

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)

HYMNS AND SONGS FOR COMMUNION

There are many wonderful songs to sing during or after Communion. A short list follows.45

OLD HYMNS

“Ah, Holy Jesus! How Hast Thou Offended?” (Heermann)

“Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?” (Watts)

“Alleluia! Sing to Jesus” (Dix)

“At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing” (6th c. Latin)

“Come, All Ye Hungry, Pining Poor” (Steele)

“Go to Dark Gethsemane” (Montgomery)

“Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness” (von Zinzendorf)

“Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners” (Chapman)

“Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured” (Greek hymn)

“Man of Sorrows, What a Name” (Bliss)

“My Song Is Love Unknown” (Crossman)

“O Bread of Life from Heaven” (trans. Schaff)

“O Living Bread from Heaven” (von Rist)

“O Sacred Head Now Wounded” (Bernard of Clairvaux)

“O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” (Francis)

“Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” (Kelly)

“The King of Love My Shepherd Is” (Baker)

“Were You There?” (spiritual)

“What Wondrous Love Is This” (American folk hymn)

“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (Watts)

NEWER HYMNS

“A Purple Robe, a Crown of Thorn” (Dudley-Smith)

“All Who Are Thirsty” (Perry)

“Behold the Lamb (Communion Hymn)” (Getty/Getty/Townend)

“Beneath the Cross of Jesus” (Getty/Getty)

“Communion Hymn for Christmas” (Clarkson)

“How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” (Townend)

“I Am the Bread of Life” (Toolan)

“Lamb of God” (Paris)

“Lift Up Your Hearts unto the Lord” (Stassen)

“Merciful God” (Getty/Getty/Townend)

“Now the Feast and Celebration” (Haugen)

“So This Is the Day When His God Does Not Answer” (Idle)

“The Love of Christ Who Died for Me” (Dudley-Smith)

“There Is a Redeemer” (Green)

SPECIAL COMMUNION SERVICES

Many churches hold two or three special Communion services a year—a Christmas Communion on a Sunday evening during the Advent season, another on Good Friday, and perhaps a New Year’s Communion service on the Sunday night before the new year or on New Year’s Eve.

A typical New Year’s Communion features extended singing, planned and/or spontaneous testimonies from the congregation, and a brief sermon followed by the observance of the Lord’s Table. Such occasions often evince a lingering sweetness among Christ’s gathered family, with memorable testimonies and an unhurried communal meal. Unlike Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter services, which have specific biblical texts, hymns, and songs that focus on the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, these special Communion services have a more general theme of fellowship, notwithstanding the gospel proclamation of the Table. Thus, a relaxed, “unplanned” approach works well.

Christmas and Good Friday Communions naturally require more planning. Chapter 2, “Annual Services,” contains three extensive liturgies for Good Friday. Here we provide an order for Christmas Communion to be observed on a Sunday evening of Advent, traditionally the Sunday before Christmas.

SAMPLE CHRISTMAS COMMUNION SERVICE

(Note: The Lord’s Table here has been preceded by a choir singing “Hurry to Bethlehem!” followed by an opening hymn, a welcome and prayer, an extended carol sing interspersed with an offering and prayers, the preaching of the Word, a hymn, and then the affirmation of the Nicene Creed.)

Words of Institution

Communion Prayer

Fencing

Preparation for the Bread

Lord Jesus, you said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Shocking words that are prophetic of the cross.

Now as we eat this bread, help our souls to ride the symbol to the deepest reality. You bore our sins in your body, you became sin for us, you suffered death in your body, and you were resurrected in your body. Bread of heaven, we feast in remembrance of your body given for us. Amen.

Distribution

Choral Meditation

“The Blessed Son of God,” R. Vaughan Williams

Before partaking of the bread, the congregation sings:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,

And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly minded,

For with blessing in his hand

Christ our God to earth descendeth,

Our full homage to demand.46

Partaking

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserve your body and soul in everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful.

Preparation for the Cup

Jesus, lover of our souls, in Gethsemane you looked into the cup that you would have to drink in order to redeem us from our sins, and it was so awful that you prayed: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will but what you will” (Mark 14:36). And then you did the hardest thing ever done in time and eternity—you shed your blood to secure our salvation, so that we might sit here today at your Table and partake of the cup in deep remembrance of what you did for us on the cross. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Distribution

A choir sings “The Cross” by Craig Courtney and Pamela Martin.

Before partaking of the cup, the congregation sings:

King of kings, yet born of Mary,

As of old on earth he stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture,

In the body and the blood;

He will give to all the faithful

His own self for heavenly food.⁴⁷

Partaking

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful.

Benediction

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). Amen.

Hymn

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

COMMUNION QUESTIONS

FREQUENCY?

The biblical evidence about the frequency of Communion lends support to both ends of the spectrum—annual Communion and weekly Communion. Those who hold to an annual observance of the Lord’s Table argue that it was instituted by Christ at the annual celebration of the Passover meal, when he sat at table with his disciples in the upper room. Additionally, the “as often” in the final sentence of his solemn words of institution (“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,” 1 Cor. 11:26) would have been understood by his observant Jewish disciples to mean an annual observance.

Those who hold to a weekly observance of the Lord’s Table point to the texts that record the frequent observance of table fellowship in the apostolic church. One such text is Acts 2:46: “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” Yet, it can be questioned as to whether the “breaking bread” was always done sacramentally. The Corinthian church, so it seems, frequently held a putative sacramental observance of the Lord’s Supper that (notwithstanding their scandalous abuse of it) argues for at least weekly, if not more frequent, observance. Thus, it seems probable that the apostolic church weekly came to the Lord’s Table.

However, it does not follow ipso facto that the practice of the apostolic house churches is incumbent on all the succeeding gatherings of the church. Indeed, both Roman Catholic 48 and Protestant church history shows otherwise. Subsequent to the Reformation, Calvin argued for a weekly observance, but the Geneva city council chose to celebrate the Table quarterly.⁴⁹ Many churches in the Puritan and Scottish Presbyterian traditions elected to celebrate it only once a year because of their concern to fence the table, ensuring that only the regenerate partake and that they not partake unworthily.⁵⁰

So what are we to do? At the very least, infrequent observance (or nonobservance!) of the Lord’s Table is not optional. It is incumbent on all faithful believers under the new covenant to come to the Table regularly, just as the observance of Passover was incumbent on all faithful Jews under the old covenant. Those who ignore the Lord’s Supper disobey the divine imperatives to “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19; cf. 1 Cor. 11:24). And by doing so, they imperil their spiritual health, if not their very souls. This is the great tragedy of today’s “church hitchhiking culture,” which leads professing believers to live apart from the regular ministry of the Word, without recognizing the spiritual benefits of church discipline and the Lord’s Table.

What about the weekly observance of Communion? Certainly it has precedence in the apostolic church. Also, its practice means that every service ends centered on the gospel—the visible words of the bread and the wine. However, notwithstanding the protestations of the Brethren, Lutherans, and others, weekly observance runs the risk of becoming ritually rote and even commonplace if not ministered with great thought and prayerful care. And dare we enter the secular thought of logistics, because large churches, with two or three Sunday morning services (that cannot exceed specific time restraints), would necessarily have to shorten the length of the Scripture readings, the prayers, and the preaching of the Word to allow for a proper observance of the Table. There are some answers for a church that has multiple morning services, such as making the first service a Communion service, with the necessary abbreviations. Another is to observe Communion in the evening.

As for the majority of churches that observe Communion quarterly or monthly (frequencies that the Bible does not mention), the responsibility lies with the pastoral leadership to schedule the Lord’s Table in a way that best serves the spiritual life of the people and then to spiritually prepare them in advance to partake and, of course, to conduct the service with fresh, prayerful thought and diligence.

PARTICIPATION?

When we fence the Table, we answer the question of who should take part: only those who believe in Christ. The Table is our participation, along with fellow believers, in the body and blood of Christ. A nonbeliever cannot truly participate and must not effect a seeming participation. The apostle Paul warns that alien participation may wreak havoc on the participant’s soul: “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor. 11:29).

A second question centers on baptism. Many argue that only a baptized believer may participate in Communion, the logic being that baptism is a symbol of the beginning of the Christian life, while Communion is a symbol of continuing the Christian life. The former must precede the latter. But others, such as Grudem, object to such a restriction. Grudem argues:

A different problem arises if someone who is a genuine believer, but not yet baptized, is not allowed to participate in the Lord’s Supper when Christians get together. In that case the person’s nonparticipation symbolizes that he or she is not a member of the body of Christ which is coming together to observe the Lord’s Supper in a unified fellowship (see 1 Cor. 10:17: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread”). Therefore churches may think it best to allow non-baptized believers to participate in the Lord’s Supper but urge them to be baptized as soon as possible. For if they are willing to participate in an outward symbol of being a Christian, there seems no reason why they should not be willing to participate in the other, a symbol that appropriately comes first.

Of course, the problems that arise in both situations (when unbaptized believers take Communion and when they do not) can be avoided if new Christians are regularly baptized shortly after they come to faith. And, whichever position a church takes on the question of whether unbaptized believers should take communion, in the teaching ministry of the church, it would seem wise to teach that the ideal situation is for new believers to be baptized and then to provide the Lord’s Supper.51

This is tempered, thought-through, theological, and practical advice for readers who are of a Baptist persuasion. But for readers who are of the Reformed denominations (indeed, all paedobaptists), the questions and answers are necessarily different. The big question among the Reformed is, when may a baptized child participate in the Lord’s Table? None have an indifferent attitude about the question, but some are more relaxed about it than others, believing that participation should be left to the discretion of the parents, who best know the hearts and theological comprehension of their own children. They argue that children by definition are not mature. However, as Douglas Wilson explains:

Nowhere does the Scripture require mature faith in order to be built up by the grace of God. We speak English to our children before they understand it. This is how they come to understand it. We should instruct them through the Supper in a similar way. If children are mature enough to receive simple instruction from their parents as they take the Supper, then they should be included in it. If the children are consistently bearing bad fruit (rebellion, defiance, etc.), then the parents should bring the concern to the elders, who should consider suspension from the Supper, accompanied by instruction.52

Clearly this approach places a child’s initial participation in Communion wholly at the discretion of the parents. This will likely work well if the parents are themselves well-grounded in the Scriptures, spiritually mature, and discerning. But this is not the case with many young parents today, though they may be members of fine churches.

Therefore, others counsel a more conservative, structured approach that recognizes the distinction between communing and non-communing members of the church, the non-communing members being baptized children who have not been admitted to the Lord’s Table. In this approach, the children are taken through a process of confirmation to ensure that they have been adequately instructed in the faith and have given clear testimony of saving faith in Christ before being admitted to the Lord’s Table as full communing members. See the discussion on a service of confirmation in chapter 8, “Baptism.”

In the delicate deliberation about who may participate in the Lord’s Table, both Baptists and paedobaptists must avoid rigid, intractable application of rules, especially in respect to children. Children’s spiritual calendars vary greatly. The observable growth of their bodies makes this clear. Some shoot up tall and gangly as preadolescent giants, only to be dwarfed by some late-bloomers in high school. It is the same with spiritual development. Some sprout early, while others destined for equal or greater spiritual growth grow later, according to their own mysterious spiritual clocks. The church is not Microsoft Corp.—it is a family.

PARTAKING WORTHILY?

The apostle Paul addresses the subject, declaring: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:27–30).

Those who unworthily partook did so because they did not “discern the body.” This can be understood in two ways. First, it may be that body is a synecdoche (literary shorthand, where the part refers to the whole), so that it refers to the body and the blood of Christ symbolized in the bread and the cup—Christ’s atoning death. Second, body may refer to the church, the body of Christ. This seems to be what is meant here, because earlier in the discussion Paul says, “The bread that we break, is it not a participation [koinonia] in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16b).

Thus, we understand that to partake “in an unworthy manner” was to partake of the Lord’s Table with disregard for others in the body of Christ. And this is apparently what the “haves” were doing in Corinth, as Paul describes it: “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses 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 commend you in this? No, I will not” (1 Cor. 11:20–22). Partaking worthily of the Table begins with remembering the union and fellowship that believers share in Christ and treating everyone with deference and loving respect. If one partakes of the Lord’s Supper with disrespect or disregard for others at the Table, it is no longer the Lord’s Supper.

We partake worthily:

By discerning the body of Christ sharing the meal with us and loving one another and giving preference to all. This is the primary emphasis of the text.

By confessing all known sins, especially as they relate to others. We cannot partake in a worthy manner while refusing to repent.

By reverently partaking, not like the gluttonous me-first denizens of the Corinthian church.

By conscious, volitional remembrance, seriously internalizing Christ’s “Do this in remembrance of me” commands.

By never allowing the Table to become routine, as if the Table somehow functioned ex opere operato and all we have to do is eat and drink what is passed to us.

Every Lord’s Table is an occasion for self examination—“Let a person examine himself . . . and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor. 11:28). The sense of the word is serious self-examination. This done, we can eat the bread and drink the cup, and thereby joyfully proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes!

1 Hughes Oliphant Old, Worship: Reformed According to Scripture (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 120.

² Ibid., 121.

³ Ibid., 121–122.

⁴ Ibid., 122.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ Ibid., 123.

⁷ Ibid., 125.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Quoted in John Dillenberger, ed., Martin Luther, Selections from His Writings (Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1961), 11.

¹⁰ Quoted in Timothy F. Lull and William R. Russell, eds., Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, 3rd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 497.

¹¹ Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 994–995.

¹² The Confession of Faith Together with The Larger Catechism and Shorter Catechism with the Scriptural Proofs, 3rd Edition (Atlanta: The Committee for Christian Education and Publications, 1990), 129.

¹³ Grudem, Systematic Theology, 994.

¹⁴ Quoted in Old, Worship, 145.

¹⁵ Richard D. Phillips, “The Lord’s Supper: An Overview,” in Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship: Celebrating the Legacy of James Montgomery Boice (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2011), 193.

¹⁶ From the hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” by Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091–1153.

¹⁷ From the hymn “My Song Is Love Unknown” by Samuel Crossman, ca. 1624–1683.

¹⁸ The Confession of Faith, 91.

¹⁹ Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings (Sydney: Anglican Press, 2012), 37.

²⁰ Ibid., 51.

²¹ Ibid., 40.

²² Quoted in Old, Worship, 136–137.

²³ Quoted in ibid., 138.

²⁴ The Book of Common Worship (Philadelphia: The Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 1956), 166.

²⁵ Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings, 37.

²⁶ Ibid., 61.

²⁷ Ibid., 53–54.

²⁸ From the hymn “Nothing but the Blood” by Robert Lowry, 1876.

²⁹ Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings, 54.

³⁰ Bard Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 152–153.

³¹ Ibid., 204 (emphasis added).

³² Ibid., 221–222.

³³ Ibid., 234.

³⁴ Ibid., 248.

³⁵ Ibid., 386.

³⁶ Calvin, quoted in Old, Worship, 134.

³⁷ Ibid., 129–130.

³⁸ Ibid., 218.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ Thompson, Liturgies, 393–405.

⁴¹ The Book of Common Prayer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, n.d.), 249–259.

⁴² From the hymn “Come, Ye Disconsolate, Where’er Ye Languish” by Thomas More, 1816, and Thomas Hastings, 1832. For a newer rendition of this wonderful hymn, see Greg Wilbur’s version at http://greyfriarspress.com/?page_id=26

⁴³ From the hymn “What Wondrous Love Is This,” American folk hymn.

⁴⁴ From the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts, 1707.

⁴⁵ For more songs, see “Hymns and Songs by Season/Event,” in Chapter 4.

⁴⁶ From the hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” from Liturgy of St. James, 5th c. Adapted by Gerard Moultrie, 1864.

⁴⁷ Ibid.

⁴⁸ Old, Worship, 126 explains: “By the end of the Middle Ages, the Lord’s Supper had already a long time before become the sacrifice of the Mass. . . . The awesome idea of eating Christ’s flesh had led to the practice of receiving communion but once a year; even then, only the bread was eaten, and the cup was withheld from the people.”

⁴⁹ Phillips, “The Lord’s Supper,” 220.

⁵⁰ Ibid.

⁵¹ Grudem, Systematic Theology, 996–997.

⁵² Douglas Wilson, Mother Kirk: Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology (Moscow, ID: Canon, 2001), 107.