Thoughts on Communion

There is an idea or concept which is almost universal in Christianity; it involves

love, presence, support, concern, fellowship. That notion is represented by the
word “communion”. The word is used in many different ways. In the Apostles’
Creed we say, “I believe in…the communion of saints.” In the Roman Catholic
Church, local bishops are said to be “in peace and communion” with the Bishop of
Rome. Around the world there are national churches which grew out of the Church
of England, and as a group are called the Anglican Communion. The uses of the
word “communion” are many, but the root meaning seen in all those uses is
sharing.

A very early Christian use of the word is found in the second chapter, forty-second
verse of the Acts of the Apostles where it is said of the three thousand who were
baptised after Peter’s Pentecost address that
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the koinonia, to the
breaking of the bread and the prayers.
(Here the Greek word koinonia is translated as “fellowship” in all three of the
Authorized or King James Version, the New International Version, and the New
Revised Standard Version.)

The oldest Christian use of the word is found in Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians, (tenth chapter, verse 16):
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a koinonia in the blood of
Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a koinonia in the body of Christ?
(Here, koinonia is rendered as “communion” in the AV, as “participation” in the
NIV, and as “sharing” in the NRSV.)
Koinonia begins when Jesus calls an individual into a relationship of sharing with
himself. As in the meeting of Jesus and the rich young man (Mark 10:17-22), there
may be others present, but Jesus looks at me, loves me, and says, “Ellis, come
follow me.” I am not given the option of just tagging along with the other saints
here at Hillcrest; I am to follow, pay what it costs, and each and every day take up
my cross—just as Jesus did. I am called to share, to participate in the life, the
teaching, and the going about doing good of Jesus of Nazareth. I am summoned to
communion in the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of our eternal high
priest. And in the end, when Christ will have restored all things, my treasure will
be that Jesus has called me his friend (John 15:15).

This is no “Jesus and me spirituality”! Very shortly after Jesus calls each of us by
name into communion with himself, he calls us into communion with one another.
In John 15:17, Jesus says to his friends, “I am giving you these commands so that
you may love one another.” The context of John 15 is the last supper where,
according to the synoptic gospels, Jesus broke bread and blessed wine and said the
most wonderful thing about them. Not only did Jesus do that; He also commanded
us to do that—to break bread and to bless the cup—in remembrance of him. The
early Anabaptists did not call this ordinance “communion”. Schleitheim in 1527
and Dordrecht in 1632 called it “the Supper”. They read their bibles well and they
knew that the earliest followers of the Way were devoted to the breaking of the
bread. It was a community event. Simple, unpretentious, a remembering of Jesus,
and a really good way of showing love for one another. The best name for it was
“Supper”, where people share food and enter into communion. Late in the last
century, Jean Vanier gave a couple lectures at Harvard University which have been
published in a little book entitled From Brokenness to Community. In the second
lecture he makes this remarkable statement:
I call you to reflect here upon the difference between collaboration and
communion…. Communion…is bonding, caring, and sharing which flows
and finds its fulfillment in celebration…. Celebration is being a [thankful]
people who sing their thanks because they have been called together as one
people in order to bring life to others1.

Didn’t you just know it? There had to be a catch! Bring life to others! Just before
Jesus said he was giving commands so that we can love one another, he said in
verse 16:
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear
fruit that will last…

Gathered to grow…
Scattered to serve.

I would really like to tell,--to declare, the ways I have seen numerous members of
this fellowship out in the world serving, bringing life to others. At best I would
embarrass; at worst I would betray confidences. Suffice it to say that after we have
been out there at it awhile, we are Judah and have gone into exile with suffering
and hard servitude. We are scattered among the nations and we find no resting
place. Does anyone thank us for doing what was commanded? Maybe we are
worthless slaves who have only done what we ought to have done. And it’s a lead-
pipe cinch that, just like Jesus, we will have to bring life to ten others to get one to
turn and praise God.
For denominations in the Council of Churches, the first Sunday in October is
World Communion Sunday, and this year, Mennonite Church Canada has opted in.
It has also, in recent years, become quite common for those denominations to
follow “the lectionary”, an ecumenical, three year selection of four scripture
readings for each Sunday of the year; and so, this year World Communion Sunday
and the Lectionary have collided with the dark and depressing readings we have
just heard. I am about ninety-nine and forty-four one-hundredths percent certain
that back in 1936 when the Presbyterians started World-wide Communion Sunday,
they really did not plan to have Mennonites join the celebration to the uplifting
strains of Lamentations,--but God did! God wants us to hear Luke 17 because
Luke 17 tells it the way it is for us out in the world. At the same time, God is
counting on us not to forget Luke 22:14 ff.
[Jesus] took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to
them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
for I tell you that I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

We have been trying to do what we have been commanded. We have come in from
the fields and the pastures. And here, at this Supper, Jesus indeed says to us, to all
of us together, “Come here at once and take your place at table.”

Ellis Earl Brown

Hillcrest Mennonite Church
7th October, 2007

1
Vanier, Jean. From Brokenness to Community. New York (1992: Paulist Press), 44-77 passim. Indeed, the
second lecture, “Community: a Place of Bonding, Caring and Mission”, has provided the inspiration for these
thoughts on Communion.