No Communion

We had our biannual "communion chapel" yesterday. I'd meant to bring my own tortillas but didn't realize we were having communion since it was supposed to be on the snow day. There was no way I was eating one of those stupid styrofoam crackers. We are supposed to take Jesus' body gladly, with rejoicing and those wafer things are only depressing in so many ways.

But the styrofoam they try to feed us isn't the most disturbing part, it is the type of action which is encouraged - personal reflection. Now, I have nothing against personal reflection. It is an integral part of our growth with God. Additionally, I believe it is Biblically sound to make sure you are in a right relationship with God before taking communion. But it is not Biblical to have personal reflection during communion. Communion in the Bible is always a group event. Why would they need a group if it was meant to be individual? At the Last Supper, did Jesus pass the bread and the cup and tell the disciples to sit in silence and reflect personally for five minutes? Somehow, it doesn't seem likely. So why do we do it?

In hermeneutics, we are learning to do word studies. This makes me wonder why no one has bothered to study the word communion. The word may not actually appear in the Bible, but it is still a word we should examine to see through its etymology what the early church thought communion was. According to the dictionary application on my computer, communion is "the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings." It comes from the roots from which we get our words "common" and "union." Is any of this sounding individual?

So yes, the styrofoam did upset me, but this was much worse. We aren't enjoying the full benefits of communion as it is meant to be shared. By focusing on Christ's death and what he did for us, it seems we have lost sight of the resurrection and what we can do for him. Instead of joyously sharing communion, we are reflectively taking it. It just isn't right.

Now I hoped that maybe this emphasis on the individual over community only extended as far as communion chapel, but today I was reminded how ill-founded that hope was.

I don't want to get into the details of that but it really made me think about what a community is. If we, on this campus, are to be a community, we must confront each other with our problems in love rather than tattling or talking behind each others backs, we must not be quick to judge but encourage and help each other with humility, we must love. I definitely do not embody all these principles all the time (only Jesus could) but I like to think I at least try. After reading the community covenant at one of the early chapels last year, I thought this school would try as well. From what I've seen, it hasn't. And I've been left with a one-sided covenant. What good is that?

So it would seem I'm no longer obligated to hold up my end of the bargain. But I'm still going to try to be a member of that community we claim to strive for. Not because the school says I should, I'm not following a broken contract, but because God does. I can only hope he will be able to use me and my example might encourage others to do the same.