The Lord's Table

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First Christian Church Greater New Orleans

The Lord’s Supper

My Heritage and My Experience

I always feel like I am doing a disservice to my denomination when I don’t attempt to explain our positions on certain matters since we are not very well known in this region.  However, I also know that makes for boring reading, but if you just hang in there while I go over a few things, we can get to the more personal side of what the Eucharist, or as we in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) or DOC often call the Lord’s Supper or Communion.

Disciple’s partake of communion weekly and practice what is known as “open” communion.  It is a tradition that dates back to around 1867.  We believe that anyone who claims that Jesus is the Messiah, whether they be baptized or not, or from another Christian denomination, are welcome to partake.  One of our founders, Alexander Campbell was quoted as saying, “We do, indeed, in our affections and in our practice, receive all Christians, all who give evidence of their faith in the Messiah, and of their attachment to his person, character, and will” (Crow 82).  Disciples believe that the Lord’s Supper is where God’s forgiveness is manifested, where it is revealed to all who participate.

The partaking of the Lord’s Supper has often been interpreted by Disciples as remembrance

(I Corinthians 11:24, 25; and Luke 22:19).  However, over time, the theology of remembrance (anamnesis) has been confused with that of memorial.  Some of the confusion came about as Disciples interpreted Zwingli (Johnson 233), but ultimately the theology of the Lord’s Supper is one of remembrance which means representation.  The “remembrance” that takes place in the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of participating with the saving action that God did through our crucified and resurrected Lord.  It is an event where the presence of Christ is experienced.  British Disciples in 1937 affirmed, “It is not customary for us to speak of the Real Presence in the Eucharist, but we never have been in doubt about the Real Action of God in this sacrament” (Crow 84).

Ultimately, as a Disciple, the Lord’s Supper is central to our worship experience, it is to which all things point.  Although we come from the Reform tradition, Disciples share with the Catholic Church the belief that the Lord’s Supper is the center and climax of worship.   During the time that I spent as a Lutheran (ELCA) youth minister, I often would find myself hungry since we only had communion once a month.  I longed for my Disciples church where the center of all things pointed to that moment when I, with head bowed, would partake of the Lord’s Supper, and meditate on His suffering for me.  It was and still is a mysterious and wonderful moment.  I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t able to go to the table each week, profess my sins, and see in my mind’s eye my Master, crucified for me.  It brings on pains of love for His obedience and joy in His resurrection.  Both are connected and one cannot be separated from the other.

Lastly, partaking of the Lord’s Supper is about unity.  It’s not something that I do individually, but also in community with all believers.  I was sitting with a congregant after worship on Easter Sunday and was talking about the service going over by four minutes.  I told him I thought that my sermon was about twelve minutes when he told me, “No, it was fifteen minutes and thirty seconds.”  I chuckled and asked him if he was another one of my time keepers and he said that he does check his watch regularly, but it’s because he’s trying to time communion.  He went on to tell me that his wife lives in Kentucky and he knows that she has communion at roughly 10:40 am each Sunday, so if it’s 10:40 am when we get to communion, he knows he having communion at the same time she is.  Isn’t that beautiful!  He reminded me of the larger presence of Christ, the Christ that is present with us all when we partake of the Eucharist.

Sharon Watkins (General Minster and President of Christian Church DOC)

Thanksgiving Message on Communion

 Crow, Paul A, Jr. "Ministry And The Sacraments In The Christian Church (Disciples Of Christ)." Encounter 41.1 (1980): 73-89. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

 Johnson, Maxwell E. Sacraments and Worship: The Sources of Christian Theology. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 2012. Print.