We celebrate it every week at CrossView Church. I know some, like Mark Dever, don’t take breaking bread in Acts 2:42 or Acts 20:7 as communion (The Gospel Coalition blog has some good reasons to question taking the phrase “breaking bread” as communion). I think it refers to eating together and communion. Even if it isn’t communion, churches should at least be eating together regularly. Ray Van Neste’s arguments from 1 Corinthians 11 are also convincing.
I can’t see how doing communion every week as a reminder and proclamation of the gospel to feed our faith in the truth could be a bad thing. Some say it would lose its meaning or state of being special if it was so frequent. What about preaching the gospel every week? I preach Christ crucified every Sunday in line with 1 Corinthians 2:2. Carson writes on this verse:
What he means is that all he does and teaches is tied to the cross. He cannot long talk about Christian joy, or Christian ethics, or Christian fellowship, or the Christian doctrine of God, or anything else, without finally tying it to the cross. Paul is gospel-centered; he is cross-centered (The Cross and Christian Ministry, 38).
Paul connected everything to the gospel and the cross. I preach Christ and the cross every week. The Lord’s Supper is the visual sign of the proclamation of Christ’s cross. We preach Christ’s cross in the sermon and in taking the Lord’s Supper we explain the cross again from different angles. We use different texts each week (Exodus 13, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, 1 Corinthians 11, Hebrews 8). We usually take the Lord’s Supper during lunch. Sometimes we take it with our church covenant, sometimes during a song, but never after the sermon as the transition to lunch. We should probably try that as the response to the sermon as Ray Van Neste suggests.
As I read the other posts on communion, I was refreshed and strengthened in our practice. I realized we aren’t as sensitive to non-Christians in communion and we need to make a gospel appeal to them every time we take it. I realized we should do it often after the sermon at the close of the “service.” I’m reminded that I shouldn’t look down on those who differ with us in terms of the frequency.
Three views (HT: JT):
- Ray Van Neste: Three Arguments for Weekly Communion
- Eric Bancroft: We Celebrate the Lord’s Supper Frequently But Not Weekly
- Kenneth J. Stewart: The Frequency of Communion Calmly Considered
Jim Hamilton also has a post arguing for weekly communion (HT: Patrick Schreiner)
PJ's personal blog. For articles see gospelize.me 