Reflections on Holy Communion January 1998

The Archbishop of Canterbury, The President of the Methodist Conference and the President of the Evangelical Alliance have all urged Christians to grasp and own their roots right back to St Augustine (He brought Christianity to England in 597AD) and before him. Holy Communion is central to that heritage and even the Alliance is now giving it greater emphasis. Great, but I have a worry, derived from a variety of conversations, that many people do not understand its traditional significance nor where it stands in relation to the various theological constituencies: Evangelical, liberal, sacramental, traditional etc. I'm sorry if the mere mention of the word theology is off putting. I believe there are things that every one should understand. And I believe it so strongly that, despite having no great claim to expertise, I want to try and set some of them out. The Methodist Church is contemplating (again) joining with the dear old Church of England and we might be asked to vote on the matter eventually, if so I shall have one in both camps and that is rather daunting. Not least because both churches already include most of the theological Constituencies. A more likely eventual outcome, if just human reflection was involved, is a regrouping around those Constituencies. I believe God has other ideas and I think it is possible to see that in the way, for example, the Evangelical Alliance has both grown numerically and moved, in the last decade, towards an appreciation of both the Social Gospel and traditional concepts like Holy Communion. But perhaps many do not really understand what being Evangelical means. It does not mean just emphasising evangelism. Indeed most member Churches of the Evangelical Alliance believe in Predestination (Romans 8 V29,30) i.e. that some are born to be saved, others are not. The Methodist Church firmly rejects that. The Church of England has Predestination equally firmly written into its 39 articles, but clearly does not believe in it either since, as the Established Church, it has a duty to care for All the souls in each Parish. C of E is the default state, as anyone who has been in the Services or prison knows. Disestablishment of the C of E is now much less likely following Diana's death. The definition of being Evangelical is to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and is therefore the only source of authority and is without error. Non-evangelicals allow Tradition (the experience of the Church down the ages) and Reason to get a look- in too. (In fact Evangelicals have employed a great deal of reason to both interpreting and defending Biblical Authority) 

In Christian Tradition , Holy Communion and Baptism (including infant baptism which is a firm doctrine of both C of E and Methodism) are Sacraments. As a lad, preparing for Methodist Membership, I was taught that the definition of a Sacrament is An outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace. That means that when Sacraments are enacted (and in both Churches that has to be done by an ordained person) God intervenes and acts too. In the Roman Catholic Church this is interpreted into Transubstantiation in Communion and the appointing of a Guardian Angel in baptism. Both ideas are Biblically based however much Protestants may protest. Our Lord did say This is my Body!. If only we all realised, that because Spiritual Reality is incomprehensible to mortals, we are forced to describe it in terms of parables, we might all get along rather better. A message Charismatic Christians call Prophecy is, to a Catholic, a Vision, usually of the Virgin Mary, but I digress.

Methodist Ministers, no less than Anglican Priests are appointed not just to preach the Word, but to administer the Sacraments. The recent upheaval in the Anglican Church over women priests comes down in the end to allowing them to say the Consecration Narrative. Evangelicals please note that it comes straight from I Corinthians 11 verses 23-26. On the night that He was betrayed He took bread….. . And also to pronounce absolution after the general confession (Jesus gave His disciples the authority to forgive sins and both churches claim to be Apostolic). More recent members of the Methodist Church may not be aware and older ones may have forgotten that until 20 years ago the Methodist Communion Service was practically identical to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Because of the Methodist Doctrinal emphasis on the Priesthood of All believers, the absolution was altered (by Wesley) to be couched in terms of we rather than I. When both Churches revised their services, the compilers of the Anglican Alternative Service Book had to produce four versions of the Eucharistic prayers (which begin Lift up your hearts, we lift them to the Lord) to cover all their various understandings of Communion! At least they used: we are one because we eat the same bread instead of the more Biblical but less aesthetic same loaf that was foisted on Methodism. Rather better, Methodism was inspired to transform the absolution into:

Something else changed for the better in Methodism. Communion Services used to be tacked on the end of the normal hymn sandwich service and there was a pause while a sizeable proportion of the congregation made a somewhat unholy exit. That was partly due to a general but unofficial understanding that one had to be a Member before taking Communion, there was also a second collection for the Poor Fund. In the Anglican Church it remains the other way round. Officially one should be confirmed (or at least baptised) before taking Communion, but unofficially many churches have Open Communion. (I recommend Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in that regard). I took my first Communion in my old Methodist Church because I was not alert enough to leave at the appropriate pause!. But, as I said, Methodism changed and Communion became integrated. Unfortunately the integration sometimes means that the fact that it is a Sacrament all but disappears. Saint Paul is a handle I prefer to the strictly evangelical the Apostle Paul, but whatever we call him, 1 Corinthians 11 v17ff makes absolutely clear that it is DANGEROUS to engage in Communion without some opportunity for the congregation  to join in prayers of confession. Wesley put St Paul's exhortation prominently in the Communion Service. Secondly I believe that if the ordained Minister does not say the Consecration Narrative, as St Paul seems to direct, then the Sacrament does not happen and God does not intervene in a special way. I realise that many will disagree, but I hope they will think about it. I have a personal experience which I believe is relevant even though it might seem to conflict. I was once chairman of the Christian Fellowship at work, despite the majority of members being Evangelical and I not. It was 1988 and the Methodist Church was celebrating the 250^th anniversary of Wesley's heart being warmed. I persuaded the group that we might have a Communion and even though I had not then taken the trouble to study liturgy nor did I realise that the words of consecration came from 1Corinthians and not the Gospels (they are not in John's Gospel, by the way, although they are referred to long before the story of the Last Supper). I wrote one based on the original Methodist Covenant Service (best Liturgy ever, bar none). I did realise that we had a problem in not having an ordained minister. So we read the Gospel account of the Last Supper and passed the bread and wine to each other around a circle. Everyone was moved and there was no doubt that God approved, if I may put it like that. There was bread over at the end and we did not know what to do with it. It had become special. The "Higher" end of the Anglican Church and the Catholics have what they call the Reserved Sacrament and revere it. I understand why, not intellectually but emotionally. In our case someone suggested we should give it to the birds and we did; shades of St Francis perhaps.

More recently I have on two occasion been a communicant when a newly priested Anglican was celebrating the Eucharist for the first time. One was an elderly lady in a packed Church, the other a youngish male curate with just a few in the congregation. On both occasions when they came to The Consecration Narrative: On the night that He was betrayed…………, the atmosphere was electric. We should have that feeling of God's intervention at every Communion, formal or informal.

I can do no better than end with the wonderful prayer for Christian Unity which is in the Book of Common Prayer and the old Methodist Communion. I understand how some came to regard it as repetitive and even hackneyed, but to me it now has a special quality which I believe we need to regain somehow.

Almighty and ever-living God, Who by Thy Holy Apostle has taught us to make prayers and supplications and to give thanks for all men; We humbly beseech thee, most mercifully to receive these our prayers, which we offer to Thy Divine Majesty; beseeching Thee to inspire continually the Universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity and concord; And grant that all they that do confess Thy Holy Name may agree in the truth of Thy Holy Word and live in unity and Godly love.

Amen to that!