Communion
Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper) is another one of the beautiful gifts that God gives to his church. It connects us with the death of our Savior, Jesus, whose body was broken and blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. On this, all Christians agree. But, again, you will find that different understanding and practices have arisen within Christianity.
Catholics believe in transubstantiation (bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ). Many Protestant Christians believe Jesus was merely using symbolic language.
At LifeBridge, we believe and teach that there is a healthy tension between these two views. When Jesus took the bread, he said “this is my body” and when he took the cup of wine he said, “this is my blood”. We believe that is true, and that in Holy Communion there is a real physical connection with Christ who died for us. And yet, it is clearly bread and wine that we are eating and drinking.
Like many things in faith, there is a mystery here that we don’t feel compelled to understand or resolve. We simply take Christ at his words, that this is the body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. Participating in communion is not a “good work” done by us; it is not a “sacrificing of Christ” over and over again. It is pure grace, a gift of God to those who believe in him. Or as one person put it, it is “one beggar telling another where to get a bite to eat.” We come to communion as broken hurting sinners, and in this meal God points us to Jesus as the one who forgives our sin and fills our souls.