This is an old paper I wrote in 1984.
The practice of celebrating Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper has undergone some changes recently. One would like to think that this is not so much a reflection of changing theologies as it is a restoration of an earlier traditional theology of the Eucharist. As we look at our Eucharistic Theology, let us begin with a discussion of Wesley’s understanding of it.
The main document we will deal with is Wesley’s sermon titled The Duty of Constant Communion. But another document that deserves attention is the Eucharistic Hymns of John and Charles Wesley. As a preface to this work Wesley included his abridgment of Daniel Brevint’s The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice (1673) which discussed the sacrament under several headings. These headings were also used to classify the hymns that Charles wrote for the Eucharist.
Brevint (and Wesley) saw the Eucharist as a recapitulation of the supreme sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. The idea of a repeatable sacrifice is unacceptable in Wesley’s thought but on the other hand the anamnesis is more than a remembering but serves as experiencing anew the sacrifice that Christ has made.
First, the sacrament is a sign of present grace. When one receives the sacrament, one is accepting or receiving the promises that God has made and freely offers. An attitude of faith is necessary to receive this reality. Second, the sacrament is a means of grace. Wesley felt that the sacrament was more than a bare memorial but whereas Calvin made the Eucharist a sign of grace already received, Wesley rejects this notion by believing that the Eucharist is a means of grace. Third, the sacrament is a pledge of future glory. It is an activity that will not be necessary in the Kingdom of God as we will sit at the messianic banquet.
How glorious is the life above,
which in this ordinance we taste;
That fullness of celestial love,
That joy which shall forever last!
(Eucharistic Hymn # 101)
Fourth, the sacrament is a sacrifice. Again it is not a repeated sacrifice but a re-presented sacrifice. Finally, the sacrament involves a sacrifice of ourselves as we must follow him to his victory.
Wesley had originally written his The Duty of Constant Communion as a discourse to use with his students at Oxford. He later prepared it as a sermon because of the manner in which the Lord’s Supper was rarely attended by a good many of the Society members who for various reasons felt that the Spoken Word (preaching) was a sufficient means of grace and were not attending the Communion Services at the Established Church on Sundays.
Wesley argued that it was the “plain command of Christ” to commune constantly and it should be done to receive the benefits of the Lord’s Supper which he listed as the forgiveness of sins and the refreshing and uplifting of the soul. Wesley felt that anybody who denied the table denied “the dying command” of Christ, forgiveness, and “the strengthening of his soul.”
Wesley then appealed to this history of the early Church in that the early Christians received the Lord’s Supper on almost a daily basis. He also encouraged the study of the scriptural passages that deal with Christ’s institution of the Lord’s Supper.
The second part of Wesley’s sermon is the longest. It deals with objections against constant communion. The first and most common excuse was the feeling among people that they were unworthy to receive the sacrament. Wesley wrote, “Unworthy to obey God? Unworthy to do what God bids you do? ...do you mean... that those who are unworthy to obey God ought not to obey him? (Albert Outler, John Wesley, “The Duty of Constant Communion,” p. 339) Wesley points out that there is a difference between being worthy and eating and drinking unworthily. Wesley attributed this excuse to a misunderstanding of Paul’s text. As for those who did not partake because they had fallen into a recent state of sin, Wesley asked, “Where does the Bible teach to atone for breaking one commandment of God by breaking another?” (“Constant Communion,” p. 343)
The second objection of people was that they did not have enough time to prepare for the Lord’s Supper. This is not so because all the preparation one really needs is a willingness to repent and to “amend your lives, and be in charity with all men...” (“Constant Communion,” p. 392) Wesley’s idea of preparation was closer to Luther’s (you must have faith) than to Calvin’s (who required a rather lengthy preparation). Nothing can stop someone from being able to be prepared unless one wishes to be unprepared for heaven or “out of a state of salvation.”
The third objection was that constant communion “abates...reverence for the sacrament.” Wesley said that even if it does, this did not excuse you from the commandment.
The fourth objection came from those who felt that they did not receive any benefit from partaking the sacrament. First, Wesley responded that sometimes we don’t notice the benefit. “We shall be insensibly strengthened, made more fit for the service of God, and more constant in it.” (“Constant Communion,” p. 343) Second, it could be that the individual went to the table without trusting in God.
Finally, in response to the fifth objection, “the Church enjoins it only three times a year,” Wesley quoted the Book of Common Prayer (1662) as saying that “every parishioner shall communicate at least three times in the year.” Wesley made two points in response to this. First, if the Church hadn’t mentioned it at all, shouldn’t it have been enough that God did; and, three is the minimum number of times to commune. Those who communicate fewer than three times will be cast out of the Church.
Wesley’s concerns for Holy Communion should also be our concerns today. Within the last two decades most major Christian denominations have begun looking at their understandings of the Lord’s Supper. Often times this has resulted in a change of liturgies (e.g. The Roman Catholic Church, The Lutheran Church of America, The Episcopal Church, The Disciples of Christ, and others). The United Methodist Church also introduced a new Eucharistic liturgy within the larger context of Word and Table (Abington, 1980). In this work six theological emphases of the Lord’s Supper are presented.
The first emphasis is the “new accent upon joyful praise and thanksgiving.” (WT, p. 18) In the 1980 rite of the Lord’s Supper there is noticed more of a sense of thanksgiving as we “offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.” (Heb. 13.15) The stress on joyful thanksgiving over sorrowful remembrance is so great that in the commentary on the Ash Wednesday service in From Ashes to Fire it says that the “gravity and pace of this service may not lend itself to the inclusion of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.” (p. 49)
The second emphasis is on a new understanding of the centrality of Scripture and proclamation. Scripture and proclamation are an integral part of the Eucharist. With greater emphasis on the frequency of observing the 1980 rite, with the service of Word in the center of the text, the relationship between Word and Sacrament becomes more visible. Many United Methodists are encouraging a more frequent observance of the Eucharist. In this respect we are recapturing the same zeal for “constant communion” as urged by Wesley.
The third emphasis is that “a more prominent place is given to remembrance as a vivid presentation of the past which directs us to our future in God’s kingdom.” (WT, 19) The eucharistic prayer is creedal and commemorative in nature. The prayer also thanks God for his mighty acts in history and for all that he has done for the community of believers by reciting those acts.
The Lord of all life came to live among us.
He healed and taught,
ate with sinners,
and won for you a new people.
(We Gather Together, pp. 8-9)
The fourth emphasis is that “a more prominent place is given to the Holy Spirit in worship.” (WT, 19) This is especially evident in the epiclesis. James White attributes much of the awareness of the Holy Spirit at work in the Eucharist to the Eastern church. He adds that the Pentacostalists have emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit out of experience. The epiclesis in the United Methodist liturgies may be long or very brief as brought out in these two examples:
Send the power of your Spirit on us,
gathered here out of love for you,
and on these gifts.
May the Spirit help us know
in the breaking of this bread
and the drinking of this wine
the presence of Christ
who gave his body and blood for all,
And may the Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other,
and one in service to all the world.
(We Gather Together, p. 10)
We pray that the power of your holy Spirit may come,
on us and on these gifts.
(Eastertide - A Service of Holy Communion, Hoyt Hickman)
The Holy Spirit is given a greater role throughout the United Methodist liturgies as is evident in the prayer for illumination “Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit...,” the Trinitarian blessing, the service of Baptism “the power of the Holy Spirit work within you...,” and so on.
The fifth emphasis is “the recovery of congregational prayer and praise” as central to the work of the people in worship. (WT, 20) One of the first things that is noticed about the services in We Gather Together is that there is greater congregational response, especially in the services of “Christian Marriage” and “Death and Resurrection.” The participation of the laity is becoming increasingly greater in the liturgies.
The sixth emphasis is stated thus: “Christian worship is to be celebrated and experienced in light of the promise of the kingdom of God yet to be fully revealed. We are to love, serve, and worship God as his people ‘between the times’ of God’s redemptive acts in history and his coming in final victory at the end of history.” (WT, 20) There is a renewed interest in the eschatological nature of the Eucharist. There is a newer understanding of Christians as the eschatological people of God. This is brought out in the acclamation of the mystery, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” The eschatological nature of the Eucharist can be best seen at the point of the prayer immediately preceding this acclamation:
When we eat this bread and drink this cup.
we experience anew
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
and look forward to his coming in final victory.
(We Gather Together, p. 9)
This eschatological hope also lends itself to a fuller understanding of the church year as is well brought out in the three-year ecumenical lectionary.
Methodists have always had a doctrine of the Real Presence. This is evident in the Eucharistic rituals of the church. The Methodist service eventually did drop the words “may be partakers of the divine nature through him” in the Prayer of Consecration. (Compare Cramner’s service to the 1964 Methodist service for example.) But the words at the distribution of the elements still included “the body of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” along with their more Zwinglian counterparts “Take and eat this in remembrance, etc.” The 1980 rite is clearer in affirming this doctrine.
When we eat this bread and drink this cup,
we experience anew
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
May the Spirit help us know....
...the presence of Christ
When we break the bread,
is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
When we give thanks over the cup,
is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?
(We Gather Together, pp. 9-10)
Also notice that the Zwinglian words of distribution are omitted, leaving only “The body of Christ, given for you,” and “the blood of Christ, given for you.”
There is one last area that is affected by the newer understandings of the Eucharist in the United Methodist Church and that is how the celebration of the Eucharist brings an added dimension to the other rituals and services of the church.
The general instructions to A Service of Baptism, Confirmation, and Renewal states that “the Lord’s Supper should be a part of the total service into which A Service of Baptism, Confirmation, and Renewal is incorporated.” (p. 30) The sacrament of Baptism unites us with Jesus Christ as does the Eucharist. For the newly initiated members of the faith, “the welcome to the Lord’s table represents the final act of welcome into the household of faith.” (James White, Christian Worship in Transition, p. 53)
The celebration of the Eucharist at a service of “Death and Resurrection” represents “the gospel message of death and resurrection ‘par excellence’ with all its overtones of penitence and faith, of brokenness and healing, of sorrow and job.” (A Service of Death and Resurrection, p. 66) It is a way to keep the balance between mourning and celebration. It takes the normally maudlin service of the funeral and invigorates it with the eschatological hope in Jesus Christ. It offers more opportunity for the friends and family of the deceased to take an active part in the service. The Eucharistic prayer written for this occasion reminds us that in this moment of death we are not alone.
Renew our communion with all your saints,
especially [name] and all those most dear to us.
May we run with perseverance the race that is set
before us
and with them receive the unfading crown of glory,
through your Son Jesus Christ.
(A Service of Death and Resurrection, p. xvii)
The Eucharist is listed as the second of three options for the Thanksgiving in A Service of Christian Marriage. There is the emphasis that it should not be administered only to the couple; rather, the lord’s table must be open to all that are present. The Eucharistic prayer adds a certain deeper sacramental dimension to the marriage service.
You made us in your image,
male and female you created us.
You gave us the gift of marriage,
which embodies your love.
He [Jesus] won for you a new people to be his family
and gave us in his sacrificial love
he example for the love of husband and wife.
Pour out the abundance of your blessing
upon (name) and (name).
May their love for one another
reflect the love of Christ for us.
Make them one flesh....
(A Service of Christian Marriage, pp. xi-xii)
How can it be made clearer with as much beauty that the marriage bond is a sacramental gift of God.
It may be said that all of the services of the United Methodist Church are taking on a new sacramental character that is brought out by a fuller understanding of the Eucharist in the life of the Christian. But then, when Baptism and the Eucharist are the two central actions of the worshiping community should this be seen as unusual or surprising? Both Baptism (Infant Baptism) and the Eucharist are at the heart of the Gospel and are the Church’s fullest expressions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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