I don't care at all for this new wholesale form of communion all the churches are going for. At the last supper, which Jesus had been savoring to share, he took the cup, saying to the twelve, take this and divide it among yourselves. Then he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and said, "this do in remembrance of me."
I haven't sought to discover the manufacturing process for these prepackaged wafers with juice but it's clearly scandalous to me. It has Roman Catholic written all over, and I'm sure some latter day Saints are taking from the same "cup and loaf." I don't know if jehovah witnesses take communion or not, but I think from now on I'll only have private communion.
First, the Catholic Church keeps a doctrine of transubstantiation, which is a teaching that the "wafer" and wine are transformed spiritually into the body and blood of Christ, so that you physically receive His presence when you partake of communion. For Catholics, communion is a sacrament by which priests hand out grace, as are all the sacraments.
This isn't biblical doctrine at all. There is no sacramental distribution of grace by Christian priests in scripture, none at all. To the contrary, reformers and other Christian faiths that hold scripture as the first authority treat Communion as an "ordinance", not as a sacrament. The reformers teach what Jesus said in the gospels, that the cup and the bread were to be taken in remembrance of His sacrifice and His resurrection until His return.
The Apostle Paul explains further that this symbol of faith in the person of Jesus Christ, of His death and resurrection, should be kept in a worthy manner. Partaking of the ordinance in unbelief or while clinging to sin (which is a kind of unbelief) brings judgment against the flesh and so a self examination is required to see if one is abiding in Christ before participating.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 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.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
The Roman Catholics observe this by requiring the recipient to observe the sacrament of absolution by a priest in the confessional. The reformers, who believe that direct access to God is obtained by faith in Christ, also believe that confessing our sin directly to God with a repentant heart purifies us from sin through the sacrifice of our Lord's blood accomplished once and for all time on the cross, as the scriptures teach.
The elements of communion are nothing more than what they represent. The act of communion is itself a sacred profession of faith and to participate without faith is to treat Christ's body and blood as common, Jesus, the Son of God, as though no more than another man executed on a cross.
While performing your own communion at home is valid as such an ongoing profession of faith, participating in communion with the congregation remains a public declaration of faith before the assembly and identifies us with the body of Christ in this world. The Lord did not save us for ourselves, but to be in His body and function in service to the whole.
I was raised in the Catholic Church and left it at the age of 13 after my confirmation, as this was the Catholic European view of entry into manhood and self responsibility. I wasn't born again in Christ Jesus until the age of 39, twenty six years later and I'm no longer able to recognize a priesthood that ministers to believers. I see it as an idolatrous practice, putting men between believers and God, which was clearly the opposite of God's intention according to the scriptures.
However, it would be foolish to assume that God didn't bring saints to the faith through the reading of His word and by the power of His Spirit, even in a place where human traditions overturn biblical teaching.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-12
Christ has all power and authority, so He can and does call His own out of the world through His word, not just in churches, but wherever His word is read, including among the Muslims or among the pagans drawn to read it or hear it preached.
The desire for unity across the churches is the desire for fellowship in God's Spirit and to accomplish God's will to function as a body of believers, but this can't be under the headship of any man but the Lord Himself which is plainly described in scripture. No man has the right to sit upon God's throne, but the Son of God, none. This is why the biblical church submitted to a council of elders, so that no one sinful man claim the authority of God to himself.
That would be the abomination described in scripture as the work of the Antichrist.
