06 - The Holy Communion
VI THE HOLY COMMUNION
Holy Communion is the profoundest outward experience of Christian worship. It is by no means the only way in which Christ is present with those who love Him. He Himself said, * Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ [St. Matthew 18:20]. By our own experience we know the truth of these words, often in a worshipping congregation our hearts beat fast with the joy which is kindled by the fulness of Christ’s presence. By our own experience, also, we know how He comes to us one by one, in our private prayers, or on a solitary walk down the open road, or through the personal talk with a beloved friend. Holman Hunt’s picture, The Light of the World, we discover is the vivid story of the truth. The weeds of neglect and forgetfulness may grow over the door of our hearts, but whenever we open that door, at any time whatever, the Lord Christ is lovingly waiting to enter, But, with all these other ways, the Holy Communion is the great corporate way in which the children of the Church come, not one by one, but in groups, by hundreds, and by thousands, to lose themselves in His mystery and His love. It is, further, a way which Christ Himself has appointed. For He said, ’This do in remembrance of me’ [Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24]. In loyal obedience we come to His own trysting-place.
Trying to understand what the Holy Communion is, we may safely turn to the Catechism of the Church, which defines the meaning of a Sacrament as ’ the out ward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof/ We learn also in the Catechism that there are two parts in a Sacrament, * the outward visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace/ The outward part or sign in the Lord’s Supper is * Bread and Wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received/ The inward part, or thing signified, is ’the Body and Blood of Christ which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord’s Supper/ And the benefits whereof we are partakers are ’the strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are strengthened and refreshed by the Bread and Wine/
Angry controversies have raged in the Church about this Feast of our Saviour’s Love. Enough volumes have been written about it to fill many houses. These controversies are not profitable. When you are perplexed by the dogmatic assertions of this man or that, declaring to you what the Holy Communion is or is not, you will discreetly turn to the Catechism and see what the Church teaches you. There you will learn that the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood is spiritually received. The gift is a spiritual gift. As Bishop Gore has said, Faith alone is the instrument which can receive it, not the mouth of the body. The gift accompanies the material bread and wine, but is to be distinguished from it. And inasmuch as the body and blood are spiritual, they are indistinguishable or in separable from the living person, the whole Christ. 1 Nearness to Him, or remoteness from Him, is a matter of faith and holiness, and not of place. 3 No better commentary could be written on the words of the Catechism. The Body and Blood are the clearest words our Saviour could have used in the upper-chamber in Jerusalem when he ate the Last Supper with His disciples to tell them that in this great Sacrament they could feed on His inmost and most real life, not only then but always. Just as the body of a friend when that friend is dead ceases to be that friend himself and is only the hollow, meaningless shell which once held his immortal spirit, so the body and blood of Christ is meaningless unless we find it filled to overflowing with His whole Spirit.
We come to the Holy Communion to have our spirits fed with His Spirit, our minds filled with His Mind, our hearts filled with His Heart, our souls filled with His Soul.
If we stop with the outward and visible * c The Body of Christ/ p. 65.
’The Body of Christ/ p. 141* sign, we lose the overwhelming gift which transcends time and space, and which carries our eager spirits out in the unlimited regions of heaven where Christ eternally dwells. ii Your spiritual pastors and masters may throw light on the meaning of the Holy Communion; and you yourself, by constant and reverent receiving of the Sacrament, will find deeper and deeper revelations to your mind and heart. But the Holy Communion is not for those who are learned or who can give facile reasons. It is for all those who love the Lord Jesus; and it is enough if you can come in honesty, after hearing the invitation, Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, devoutly kneeling. i The first requirement is true and earnest repentance of your sins. This means deliberate self-examination. Character is the best offering we can bring to God. Only God can tell us when we fall short. Man, being frail himself, is apt to be overindulgent. Our consciences, if kept sensitive and true, will be our best guides. Very often the sins which worry us are not so bad as the sins to which we are blind. A man may worry over his hot temper, and be quite unaware that he is unjust, even dishonest, in his business. A woman may worry over a quick word which she said to a friend, and be unaware that she is a gross worldling, measuring everything by the standards of a snob, and not by the attainment of Christian character. Per haps the best way to examine yourself is to read the Ten Commandments, and the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5:1-48, Matthew 6:1-34, Matthew 7:1-29], saying humbly, ’Lord, is it I?’ If you hear your Saviour speaking to you, and are not truly sorry that your life is so unlike the life which He demands, you must be too hard to receive the pledges of His love. But if you bow your head, and say, e Be merciful to me, a sinner/ your heart is tender, you do care that you are what you are, and you may come. Certainly, the Gospel tells you that the invitation is for you.
Sometimes consciences are dull or confused; then the Warnings at the end of the Service for Holy Communion in the Prayer Book, which are appointed to be read by the Minister from time to time, should be pondered and obeyed. In one of these Warnings are these words, Because it is requisite that no man should come to the holy Communion, but with a full trust in God’s mercy, and with a quiet conscience; therefore, if there be any of you, who by this means cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other Minister of God’s Word, and open his grief; that he may receive such godly counsel and advice, as may tend to the quieting of his conscience, and the removing of all scruple and doubtfulness.
After sach counsel, should you’ think it wise to seek it, you should return to the solitude, and be altogether alone with God, that He may search you out, and reveal you to yourself, as only He can. He will examine your thoughts, and lead you in the way everlasting. To be in love and charity with your neighbours is often a severe test. A good many people stay away from the Holy Communion because they cherish a grudge against someone who has basely and deliberately injured them, or, worse still, has injured one whom they love. There are injuries which are so bitter that it requires all the love of Christ to say, * Father, for give them/ I do not believe that Christ requires full accomplishment in this hardest of Christian virtues, but honest desire and a real beginning. If you say that the man who has hurt you has been so foul an enemy that you do not believe that God intends him to be forgiven; if you say that you will be in charity with all mankind except this one rascal; if you argue that you have the full right to go on hating this man then you are hard, deliberately cherishing your hatred, and have no right to come to the Holy Communion. But if, on the other hand, while admitting that you are far from your goal, you say to God and to yourself that you will try to be rid of your hard feelings, if you follow the Lord’s command and have tried to bless one who has cursed you, have tried to do good to one who has hated you, and have tried to pray for one who has despitefully used you, then you are plainly not content to fall back upon the grim excuse of the wrong that has been done you, you are recognizing the justice of the Saviour’s command that you love all men, even your enemies, and you have the right to come to the Holy Communion, that you may receive His strength to carry through your eager purpose of loving all men. An eloquent example of the demand for Christian charity in the Holy Communion is related in a recent book, In New Zealand the Lord’s Supper was being celebrated. The first rank having knelt, a native rose up and returned to his seat, but again returned to the rank and knelt down. Being questioned, he said, ’When I went to the table I did not know whom I should have to kneel beside, when suddenly I saw by my side the man who a few years before slew my father and drank his blood, and whom I then devoted to death. Imagine what I felt when I suddenly found him by my side. A rush of feeling came over me that I could not endure, and I went back to my seat. But when I got there, I saw the Upper Sanctuary and the Great Supper and I thought I heard a voice saying, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another/’ That overpowered me. I sat down, and at once seemed to see another vision of a cross with a Man nailed to it; and I heard him say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Then I returned to the altar/ ’
Anyone who knows life in its heights and its depths has the sincerest sympathy for one who has suffered an injury which causes the root of bitterness to spring up. That root may grow into such a vine that it will strangle the very life out of a man’s soul. For his own sake and for Christ’s sake, the disciple must overcome that deadly grudge and hatred. He must be in * P. J. Maclagan, DJPhiL,’T \e Gospel and Its Working^ p. 82. charity with all men. If he longs to gain that hardest of all victories, Christ will accept his longing, and will help him to his glorious and loving ending, even as he gave to the New Zealander his triumph of complete love.
3 The firm intention to lead a new life is tested by the determination to follow God’s commandments, and walk in His ways.
These requirements come to us in the Ten Commandments, in the Sermon on the Mount, and most of all in our own consciences. We know what God wants us to do. We cannot plead ignorance. Often we do not really want to do the exact right.
We plead excuses, or we shade down the commands for our own prejudice and convenience. The word intend is the chief word in this third condition. We do not promise complete success. We do not promise never to stumble or fall. But now, in this moment of our admission to the high privilege of the Holy Communion we tell God that we do intend to be our best, to obey His will, and to walk in His ways.
There is nothing impossible in this third demand, but it requires all of a man’s man hood, all of a woman’s womanhood. To receive God’s best, we must bring to Him our very best.
Let us now go through the Service for the Holy Communion in the Book of Common Prayer. The arrangement of the parts of the Service is a steadily progressive order: the Introduction, the Ministry of the Word, the Offertory, the Intercession, the Preparation, the Consecration, the Communion of the Priest and People, and the Thanksgiving. i The Introduction begins with the Lord’s Prayer and the Prayer for Purity, taken out of a former Service called the Priest’s Preparation. The Lord’s Prayer in this place may be omitted. If said, it belongs to the people as well as to the priest. After the Collect for Purity, the Ten Commandments are read, the people responding with the prayer that they may truly desire to keep each commandment; or else, instead of the Commandments, our Saviour’s Summary of the Law is read. If the Summary is read, the Kyrie [Lord have mercy] is said, followed by the collect for the day. The Ministry of the Word begins with the reading of the Epistle; and, while the people stand in honour of our Lord’s words, the Gospel follows. Immediately the Creed is then said, and this part of the Service concludes with the sermon, which may aptly dwell upon some word or incident of the Gospel or Epistle, so binding this section of the Service into unity.
3 The Offertory begins with the saying of one or more of the Offertory Sentences, and may continue with a hymn by the congregation or an anthem sung by the choristers.
While the Offertory is being said or sung, the offering is collected and presented and placed upon the Holy Table. [It is never correct to speak of the money given as the Offertory. That is the Offering, and the Offertory is the Service.], It is the duty of every communicant to lay aside each week a definite amount, according to his ability, and to place that gift upon the alms-basin, as part of his worship. Money thus rises into a spiritual thing, becoming the symbol of gratitude and devotion. Besides this regular giving, on which the systematic work of the Church depends, a communicant should save and earn as he can for the emergencies which arise in the life of men, and which ought to touch the heart and the conscience. As the alms are presented and placed upon the Holy Table, a prayer should go up from each communicant that his gift may bring the joy and love of Christ to the man or the cause to whom or to which it shall be sent. ’The gift with out the giver is bare/ As part of the Offering, the Bread and Wine to be used in the Holy Communion are then placed upon the Holy Table.
[This is a relic of the time when the people were too poor to bring money, but brought their gifts in kind, out of which the Bread and Wine were reserved for the Sacrament.] Because the Bread and Wine are presented in the name of the whole people, the people should always stand till the Priest bids the people to prayer after placing the Bread and Wine on the Holy Table.
4 The Intercession consists of a single prayer, which is called the Prayer for Christ’s Church Militant. In condensed form it prays for the Church, the Nation, and all the People, especially the suffering and the sorrowful, and gives thanks for the departed faithful, praying that they and we may be partakers of the heavenly kingdom.
5 The Preparation starts with the Exhortation and the Invitation, or with the Invitation alone. This Invitation should stir our consciences, and we should ask our selves if we can truly say ’Yes’ to each of its requirements. Then we kneel and say together the General Confession, repeating it slowly and pausing at the end of each clause which is marked by a capital letter in the course of sentences. Mark these clauses especially at the end: ’And grant that we may ever hereafter [pause] Serve and please thee [pause] In newness of life [pause]. To the honour and glory of thy Name/ If you have said this Confession with sincerity, you are then ready to hear the words of the Absolution and the Comfortable Words. The Comfortable Words are words from our Saviour, Saint Paul, and Saint John, really continuing the assurance of forgiveness in the Absolution. On this high note the Preparation closes.
6 The Consecration opens with the very great words, called Sursum Corda, ’Lift up your hearts,’ passing at length to the Ter Sanctus, ’Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts.’ [Lord Tennyson was wont to say that the words beginning with ’Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven,’ and closing with the Ter Sanctus, were the most beautiful words in the English language. The music and the glory in their choice and arrangement far exceed the dignity of the severe Latin from which they were translated.], The Prayer of Consecration is then said by the Priest in the name of all the people.
He uses the words which our Saviour used in the upper room the night before His death; the gifts are offered to God; he prays that the Word and the Holy Spirit may so bless and sanctify the Bread and the Wine, that we, receiving them, may be partakers of the Lord’s Body and Blood; and, finally, in our name, he presents us all as a living sacrifice, body and soul, to God, praying that He may dwell in us and we in Him. This part of the service concludes with the Lord’s Prayer, said by all the people.
7 The Communion of the Priest and People begins with the Prayer of Humble Access, said by the Priest in the name of all. We say that we are fully conscious of our own unworthiness and depend only on God’s patience and mercy. Then, after the Priest has received the Sacrament, the people ’draw near with faith’ and with humility to receive the very life of their Lord in the inmost life of their souls, as their bodies receive the Bread and the Wine. [It is an ancient custom for the communicant to receive the Bread in the palm of one hand reverently over the other; then, keeping both hands together, he raises his hands to his lips and consumes the Bread. Likewise, as the rubric directs, he receives the Chalice or Cup in both his hands, and raises it reverently to his lips, and consumes only the very smallest possible amount of the wine.], On returning to their pews, the people should kneel down and ask God to make them worthy to be filled with His life, to bless them and the causes which they love, and to bring His kingdom into the hearts of men everywhere. If you find that you cannot attentively pray through the full time while others are receiving the Sacrament, rise from your knees and sit in your place, reading the hymns or the psalms, which mean most to you. But be sure not to look about. Most of all, do not look about while on your knees: that is shocking and irreverent. Keep your eyes closed or on your book.
After all the people have received, the congregation kneels and the Priest says, in the name of the people, the Thanksgiving, whereupon all rise to sing Gloria in Excelsis. Immediately after this, while the people all kneel, the Priest lets them depart with this Blessing, The Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord: And the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.
[Sometimes, when there are many communicants, you may ’be tempted to leave the church before the close of the service. This is wrong; for the thanksgiving, the Gloria in Excelsis, and the blessing are great parts of the whole service, and only the most extreme necessity should permit you to turn your back upon them. It is discouraging to see in some churches only a few people remaining to the end, though many have received the Holy Communion.
It is a bad example to set new communicants, an example which no new communicant should follow.], IV
It may be profitable for you to know something about the necessary vessels used in the Holy Communion. The Paten is the silver plate on which the Bread is placed; the Cup or Chalice is the vessel in which the Wine is administered. The Flagon is the vessel in which the wine is kept, to be poured into the Chalice when need requires. The Holy Table is covered with a fair white linen cloth * at the Communion time’; and, after the Communion of the people, the Priest is commanded to cover ’ what remain of the consecrated elements’ with * a fair linen cloth/ You may naturally ask how often you should receive the Holy Communion.
Everyone should consult his Rector or some trusted friend upon this important subject. The times and the seasons will vary for different people. But having decided on the proper intervals which are best for you, it is good to abide by your decision and to maintain your habit. You may often find the regular time approaching, and feel no inspiration for the great service, but if you have prepared yourself duly and have an honest answer for each of the demands in the Invitation, you should come. For broken habits are apt to be permanently broken, and a great blessing will be lost from your life. The one warning most necessary is that you do not become a mechanical communicant. It is even perhaps possible to come too often, not discerning the Lord’s Body.
You ought to come with constantly growing character, trying each time to have more of character to give to the Master, as you receive His inestimable gift of Himself.
If as you examine yourself you feel that there has been no change in your life, if sarcastic you are still sarcastic, if meddle some you are still a meddler, if conceited you are still self-centred, if underhanded you are still indirect you must ask yourself what you really meant when you assented to the Invitation, *Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life/ Without attempting to judge others, I fear that too often I have come to this Supreme Feast with my Master carelessly, trusting too much to His patience and forgiveness, and unwilling to try my utmost to fulfil His words, ’Go, and sin no more/ The test of the communicant who has truly discerned the Lord’s Body, and has indeed received the gift of Himself is found in the Saviour’s own test, ’By their fruits ye shall know them/ If we receive the Lord Christ into our souls, if He lives in us and we in Him, then there must be an evident difference in us. We must make people forget what we have been. We must make them forget what we are in ourselves.
We must make them think only of the Master Himself, so that they will say, ’It seems as if Jesus Christ had been here to-day/
If you have this sense of growth, of strength, of genuine possession by the Highest, you cannot be troubled by the times when you will come to the Feast of Love and of Life. You will come at your regular intervals, and then you will come at other times too. You will symbolize your joy in the Birth of Christ by coming on Christmas Day; you will symbolize your joy in the Power of His Resurrection by coming on Easter Day; you will come when you have a great temptation to meet; you will come for consolation in a grievous sorrow; and finally you will come to give thanks on an anniversary; to give thanks for husband or wife or child, to give thanks for a difficult task brought to victory, for a new opportunity for service of men and of God, most of all to give thanks for some new conviction of God’s constant loving protection and care. In other words, as you turn to a friend, inviting yourself to break bread with him when you desire sympathy in sorrow or in gladness, so you come to the ever open door of the Supper of the Lord, there to break bread with Him, and to receive not only counsel and sympathy, but Peace and Love and Life, even the inmost Life of the Lord Christ Himself.
You will come with all that is best in you that you may make Him glad and you will go away not only with His blessing but with His very Self abiding in you, You will sing to yourself, Be known to me in breaking bread. But do not then depart; Saviour, abide with me, and spread Thy table in my heart.
Therefore, let no one dispute with you about this interpretation or that of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.
Leave all these explanations to the eternal years when the hidden things of this earth shall be made clear, and come obeying Him who said, ’This do in remembrance of me’; give Him as much love and as much goodness as you can attain, and expect to receive the unspeakable gift of His Power, His Joy, His everlasting Peace.