Communion

By Odon Bulamba
(Summarised from notes taken by Colleen Podmore)

Amongst Christians, focus is often lacking. For example we can come to church and take communion as   if we were performing in a drama or production. We put on our special clothes, arrange our thoughts and attitudes, smile and act pleasantly, eat the bread and drink the wine according to Mark 14:12-26 and then go on with our normal lives.

At Easter, we commemorate the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In many churches it is like a time of mourning as we remember the cost of our sins, the price that had to be paid and while this is true, wouldn’t it be better to remember that once we were slaves to sin but now have been set free and therefore Easter should be a time of celebration, of rejoicing!

We know how to celebrate on other occasions – for example the Independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo was on the 30^th June 1960. This is a time when all Congolese celebrate, even if they live in New Zealand, this time is a time of celebration. When our birthdays come we know how to celebrate!

Imagine being with Jesus and seated at the table during His last supper. Suddenly Jesus says, ‘Someone amongst you will betray me!’ How shocking that would be? Are we distracted by other things rather than focusing on Jesus?

The gospel says that Jesus took up the bread…He did not take a piece of lamb which would have been more logical to represent His body but He took up the bread because the lamb had already been slain. He took up the bread without yeast, which meant that it was pure and He took up the cup …I wonder what we have on our plates? Are we focusing on the meat and veges, and we would prefer to eat this food rather than the bread? Sometimes our focus when we read the Bible can be on using Scripture to justify ourselves.

As we look at the bread and remember that this loaf represents the physical body of Christ and in the same way we are also parts of the spiritual body of Christ, the church, and so this loaf of bread also represents us. When the bread is broken, the Lord Jesus gave His life and was broken for us and in the same way our lives are also broken if we belong to Him.

We break this bread and share it amongst us and God breaks our lives and we share the word of God as it becomes alive to us. Jesus took the bread and blessed it and broke it (some versions say he broke the bread and then blessed it). Once we are broken, God gives our lives to others and we become a blessing if indeed we feed others through correctly sharing the word of God.

Be careful not to justify your own wrong behavior and use the word of God incorrectly. This is blasphemy. Be in unity with the church just as the loaf of bread is one unit. Your broken life has been given to be shared in the church, humble yourselves, accept this and God will lift you up!

Let us also focus on the wine and put aside our own agendas, our own meat and veges. Lord help us to stay on the right diet!