Since we are not able to gather as a church in person on Sunday mornings during this stay at home order, our church members have been worshipping virtually. Before the virus hit, my home church celebrated communion or the Lord’s Supper the first Sunday of each month. Now that we are home, our pastor will lead us through the Lord’s Supper virtually. He encouraged us to have the elements on hand at home and we will be taking it together. Well, not really together, but at least at the same time on Sunday morning.

After our pastor announced that we would be having communion at home, I heard from others that their church was waiting until they could be together again in person until they celebrated the Lord’s Supper. That made me think about why I thought it was fine to do it at home. Here’s my train of thought:

Where did the observance of the Lord’s Supper come from?

God told the Israelities to remember how He protected them from the angel of death when they were slaves in Egypt. They brushed lamb’s blood on their doorpost to protect them. God instituted a yearly Passover remembrance meal to remember their salvation from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12). Jesus was celebrating this meal with His disciples when He extended the meaning of the meal to include our salvation from our slavery to sin through His body and His blood (Luke 22). The early church then continued to celebrate the Lord’s Supper with the bread and the wine the way Jesus described it at His Last Supper (1 Corinthians 11:17-34).

It’s interesting to me that the Lord’s Supper originates in the Passover which was a ceremonial family meal. Although the Israelites were observing it on the same day on the calendar, they were eating it as a family in their home. In the New Testament, we can tell by the context that the Christians were celebrating the Lord’s Supper as a church family. The basis for communion is a family setting.

What is the purpose of Communion?

One purpose of communion is to proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes back. “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor.11:26). We proclaim the Lord’s death to ourselves, reminding us that we are dependent on Him for all aspects of salvation and that we are to abide in Him. We proclaim the Lord’s death with thanksgiving for the salvation that His death provides.

Communion also reminds us that we are connected to the broader body of Christ, the Church, through Christ’s death. “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf”  (1Cor.10:17). Because we typically celebrate communion as a local church family, we remember that we are connected to one another not just because we happen to attend the same church, but Jesus Christ has united us together through the Spirit. Through the Spirit we are also connected to every believer across the globe and across time. It’s important to note that even in our local church we have an imperfect experience of taking communion with the Body of Christ. That is not physically possible until the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). So our communion with the local church is representative of our communion with the Church.

What is the relationship between the elements of the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’ body and blood?

There are a variety of views of the elements of the Lord’s Supper depending on your church background or theological position. I don’t bring these views up to drive us apart, but to show why some may or may not see it as possible to have the Lord’s Supper at home.

Transubstantiation

The Catholic church holds to transubstantiation. In other words, they believe that the elements completely transform into the body and blood of Christ when the liturgy of the priest is performed. The elements still look like the body and blood, but they are actually the body and blood of Jesus. See here for more on the Catholic view of the Eucharist. The priest is in a special way responsible for the Eucharist elements since it is through his words that the elements are transformed so in this tradition, it would not be theologically possible to have communion at home without a priest.

Consubstantiation

The Lutheran church holds to consubstantiation which means that the body and blood of Christ is mysteriously joined with the elements. It’s not a total transformation, but the body and blood are in, with, and under and the elements. Martin Luther took Jesus’ words “this is my body” literally. See here for more on the Lutheran view of communion.

Spiritual Presence

John Calvin believed that there is a spiritual presence of Jesus with the elements. Although Jesus’ physical body can only be in one place at a time just like everyone else’s physical body, the Holy Spirit is the seal of our salvation and therefore, when we partake of the elements physically then we are partaking of Jesus spiritually. Calvin calls this “spiritual eating.” Here is an article that explains Calvin’s position in more detail.

Memorial View

Zwingli, a Swiss reformer, held to a memorial view. The elements in communion are just a representation of Christ’s body and blood and in no way contain the presence of Christ either bodily or in some special spiritual way. This view makes much of Luke 22:19 where Jesus tells his followers to “do this in remembrance of me.” Here is more on Zwingli and how Luther referred to him as “nothing but a wormy nut.”

What role does the pastor play in communion?

I see no direct command in Scripture that communion must be served by a pastor. Paul had opportunity to instruct on this matter when he wrote in I Corinthians 11 about how to maintain order in the worship gathering in regards to communion. Some see in 1 Timothy 3 that the job of the deacons was to serve the tables and therefore that is assumed to mean the Lord’s Supper table. However, I see in Acts 6 that deacons were selected to serve tables as in food to widows. So I would think that the 1 Timothy 3 serving the tables may relate to meals not the Lord’s Supper. And while there is no direct command that it should be the church leaders, this makes sense that the church leaders should be responsible for it since they are responsible for overseeing their congregation in all manners of spiritual growth.

Again, the Lord’s Supper stems from the family and national celebration of Passover. It was not a priest-lead celebration. It was done at home with the family or with those who are with you in your home at the time.

Should we celebrate the Lord’s Supper at home?

Although it is not ideal, I do think we should celebrate the Lord’s Supper at home. We are still able to have the elements remind us of Jesus’ death. We can still remember how we are connected to the Church although that may take more imagination since we are at home and not gathered with our local church family. In fact, at our church we do not use a communal cup or start with a whole loaf, but I decided to do it at home to emphasize the unity of the believers.

This may be easier for me to say yes to communion at home since I hold to a memorial view of the elements. If you have a different view, I could see why you may hesitate to celebrate communion at home.

What do you think? Should we take communion or the Lord’s Supper at home? Comment below.

Further Readings on Communion at Home:

Coronavirus! Do we offer the Lord’s Supper Even When Two or Three are Not Gathered? Oh Yes! This article includes two helpful insights from church history.

Lord’s Supper Online? This article from The Gospel Coalition speaks against celebrating the Lord’s Supper at home.

Holy Communion in the Times of Coronavirus. This article is from a Greek Orthodox point of view.

Recipe for Unleavened Bread. Ever since reading Rosaria Butterfield’s The Gospel Comes with a House Key I’ve wanted to make my own communion bread which I got to do this past Sunday.

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