The Lord’s Supper Feast

Observing the Lord’s Supper today must begin with understanding what exactly it is we are observing. No one says it better than Robert Farrar Capon:

Consider the scene in church on a Sunday. Here are a bunch of people, more or less dressed to the nines, in an expensive building, with maybe very spectacular music and even a paid choir, deliberately celebrating the worst thing the human race—which includes them—has ever done; the murder of God Incarnate.

The closest equivalent might be like celebrating the holocaust. Who would do such a thing? And yet in a sense, Christians celebrate the murder of God every time they take communion.

Capon may have overstated his case somewhat. For Christians are not so much celebrating what they have done to Jesus, but rather, what He has done for us. We are not celebrating that we killed Him. Far from it. We are celebrating that He came, and died, and most importantly of all, rose again from the dead, so that through Him, the entire world is forgiven of all their sin and eternal life is freely given to those who believe in Jesus for it. This is what we are celebrating.

And so one has to wonder if a five minute ceremony with a tiny cracker and shot-glass of wine is a proper celebration. It seems that something much grander, much more enjoyable, much more celebratory, is needed. Where the food and drink flow freely. Where there is laughter and smiles and the full enjoyment of life.

Maybe the best way to observe the Lord’s Supper today is around food. Lots of food. There is something sacred about food, and it often seems that more fellowship, learning, and relationship development can occur during one two-hour feast, than over an entire year of Sunday Church services. Earlier in this book, I argued that churches should cancel their church service. Maybe a good replacement for the service would be a weekly or monthly feast. There could be a time of teaching as part of the Supper, but this is not mandatory.

In fact, if people are part of a traditional church, I would encourage them to find a group of people with whom they can regularly eat.

And while there does not have to be a time of formal teaching or sharing in such a meal, it might be good to pause during the meal and remember the sacrifice that Jesus made in His body and by His blood for all people. This time does not necessarily need to be subdued and gloomy, but can be a time of rejoicing.

Remembering Jesus as part of a meal could be like saying a toast, for He is why we eat; He is why we laugh; He is why we live.

So do you want to observe the Lord’s Supper today? Have a party. Invite lots of people over. Put out the best food and serve it on the best dishes. Laugh. Tell jokes. Sing and dance, if that’s your thing. Just enjoy life with other people.

If you want some good ideas of what kinds of meals to have and who to invite over, try reading several of the posts by “Sam” over at GraceGround.com.