Why do we do Communion like this?

 

In the Baptist churches of my childhood, the Lord's Supper did not look like it does at First Baptist Athens. Usually, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 was read. The music got very, very slow. Heads were bowed low.

I didn't really know what was going on. It seemed very serious and I figured I needed to look somber.

One of my professors said “Baptists seem like they are doing a funeral for Jesus.” What’s the problem with that? He is Risen!

     

When Paul says in 1 Cor. 11:25 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes,” he doesn’t mean we should simply remember Jesus’ death. In the New Testament, the word proclaim is usually associated with the good news of the Gospel. To proclaim Jesus’ death is share the good news. Joy is allowed! Baptist practice can miss the rejoicing element of Communion.

Here a few reasons why we’ve been using the pattern of Opening Responses (“Lift up your hearts), the song of joy (Sanctus in Latin, including Holy, Holy, Holy), and the memorial acclamation (Christ has died…) in Communion.

This pattern was formed very early in the Christian church. 

There is evidence of the pattern within 200 years of Jesus. From 1 Corinthians 11:34, we know that Paul did not tell everything about the Lord’s Supper in his letter.

This pattern uses biblical language and reflects Jewish practice.

The Opening Response echoes the Psalms. The Sanctus combines the song of Isaiah 6 (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) with the shouts of the crowd from Palm Sunday. Theologically, this means the divine presence of the Temple and the promise of a king in David’s line come together, found in Jesus of Nazareth.  

      The pattern helps us keep the past, present, and future in mind. 

     We connect the Last Supper with the Bible’s big story, which reaches forward to the present-day congregation, and anticipates the future fullness of God’s promise.

       This pattern is widely used by other Christian churches, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox.

In John 17:20-21, Jesus prays, “I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Jesus connect Christian witness to Christian unity. 

To me, this means we should join in common belief and practice with other Christians unless we have good reasons to differ. I don’t believe we have very good reasons to dissent from the common Communion practice of the larger church. 

First Baptist Athens has long been an ecumenical Baptist church. We recognize we are part of the larger household of God (ecumenical means “household”). As Baptists, we are not bound to a prayer book or specific wording of prayers. Our Communion services will not always be the same, even as we use a common pattern. We are also free to join in the song of the angels, the song of the church, the song that echoes throughout eternity: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might! Heaven and earth are full of your glory! Hosanna in the Highest!”