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The “Why” of Weekly Communion

Faith Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I continue to give thanks to our gracious God for putting you all in our lives. Your faithfulness and your enthusiasm fill my heart with joy and help complete my hope in Christ. Every day, I look forward to serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alongside each of you and growing in our discipleship journey together. I pray as God has continued blessings us, may we continue to be a blessing to others.

I want to begin by apologizing. I am terribly sorry for not sharing with you sooner the “why” of celebrating Holy Communion weekly. There has been some concern about not knowing the reason behind the change, and for that I do apologize. So, this article is to provide you with the “whys” of weekly Communion. 

Before I begin with the ‘whys”, I would like to share with you the “why nots” that I have heard throughout my years of local church ministry. 

The first is we should celebrate every week because it becomes less meaningful. I hear you and get where you are coming from. However, we do a lot of things weekly, in worship, as well as outside of worship. Do those things become less meaningful? The hard truth is that something is only meaningful if we allow it to be. Whether we celebrate something annually, monthly, weekly or daily, we make those things meaningful. Our attitude, our approach, our mindset is what makes things meaningful, not necessarily the frequency of the practice.

Another “why not” is because it adds more time to the worship service. Yes, it does. Where did the thought that a worship service should only be 60 minutes come from? I believe it may have come from the fact that Circuit Riders had other churches to preach at and long distances to travel. Think with me for a moment. How many things in our lives only last an hour? Sporting events last 2-4 hours. Movies last 90 minutes to 2 hours. Concerts last an hour and ½ to two hours. We can read about book for hours on ends, play games, or watch our tv shows. So why should a worship service that extends an hour because of celebrating Holy Communion be a concern? 

These two “why nots” are valid, and important conversation pieces. But the truth they are based upon preferences and not Biblical. So, let me share with you why I believe celebrating Holy Communion is vital to the life of a congregation.

1. It provides us with a reminder and celebration of what Christ has given for our Salvation and Eternal Life. When we celebrate Holy Communion weekly, we have an opportunity to intentionally recognize that sacrifice of Christ, and the promises of God. I say intentionally, because we don’t always recognize those blessings and promises throughout the week.

2. Weekly Communion provides us with a weekly opportunity as a church to gather and to experienced God’s transformational grace. Every time we celebrate Holy Communion, we should anticipate an encounter with Christ. We don’t always seek that during the week, but when we gather for worship, there is almost and expectation of encountering Jesus, and the celebration provides a means in which God’s grace is shared. The Acts 2 church met, not only weekly but daily, and learned from one another, worshipped God and broke bread together.

3. Holy Communion is not a “special” thing we add to worship monthly, but it should be a part of worship. When we celebrate monthly it because “an added event” to worship, when we celebrate it weekly, it becomes a part of our worship on a regular basis. Giving folks an opportunity to kneel at the altar out of praise and thanksgiving, as well as they are led to confess and repent.

4. Weekly Communion also provides guests, visiting family members and those who travel to not miss the opportunity to commune with God. This past Sunday was Father’s Day and we had some family members that were gone and missed the Celebration of Holy Communion. We also had guests who may have not had an opportunity to celebrate in the past weeks and was able to participate. Weekly Holy Communion isn’t just for us, it is for those outside our congregation who join with us to worship God. If we celebrated once a month, the opportunity for folks to experience God’s grace may be missed.

I was talking to a member who shared with me that when we started celebrating Holy Communion she/he was concerned of losing the meaning. But now she/he is excited that every Sunday she has an opportunity to commune with God. We make it special. I also want to share with folks that if you don’t agree with weekly Holy Communion, please don’t feel like you have to come forward. Worship, as a whole, is participant driven. This simply means you can take part or choose not to take part in parts of the worship service. You don’t have to sing; you don’t have to participate in the “Call to Worship” nor do you have to participate in Holy Communion. However, there are folks who will, and who want to have that opportunity weekly. Weekly Holy Communion is no less special than our “Greeting time” we participate weekly.

I hope this will give you the “why” of Weekly Holy Communion. I am always available to schedule a meeting with you to further discuss this or any other topics you may be led to discuss with me.

The Acts 2 church worshipped together, prayed together, fellowshipped together, learned, broke bread together and lived Scripture together. Let us be the today’s example of the Acts 2 Church. 

Have a blessed Week!

Pastor Frank