Let's Limit Sermons to Once a Quarter
Could you imagine the outcry from pastors and parishioners if sermons were limited to once a quarter or only on special occasions? We would obviously never hear such a suggestion in response to the Verbal Word of a sermon but often hear it in response to the Visual Word of Communion.
Our argument for the infrequency of Communion is so that it doesn’t become too ritualistic, repetitious, or insignificant. But that is exactly what it has devolved into as we’ve continued to observe it as supplemental instead of foundational.
Communion has become so mundane that it no longer calls forth the reality it symbolizes. So, maybe it’s time to discover it again each time with such freshness that it would be like experiencing it for the first time.[1]
The Greek word, Anamnesis means to celebrate a past event in order to live in its experience and participate in its qualities once again. The historical event is unrepeatable, but its effects are reaffirmed. The difference between remembrance like many of us observe Communion and remembrance like Anamnesis is the difference between remembering your marriage by looking at old wedding photos and remembering by going back and renewing your wedding vows again.
We must stop being afraid of making too much of the Table that we keep making too little of it. Observing it actively instead of passively or foundationally instead of supplementally won’t change the physical characteristics of the elements…it will change us.
Repeating Communion frequently doesn’t minimize its value, it enhances it. Repetition allows us to go this time to a place personally or corporately that we might not have had the resolve to go last time. Because this ordinance is sufficiently deep, it allows us to swim more deeply no matter how many times we step into it.[2]
Communion reminds us not only what Jesus did, but also what He continues to do. Observing it more often gives us another chance to recall the story of His life, the sorrow of His death, the joy of His resurrection, and the hope of His return. So, how can we expect it to ever go that deep when we limit it to one time a quarter.
[1] Adapted from Kenneth Chafin, “Discovering and Preaching the Ordinances Again for the First Time,” in Proclaiming the Baptist Vision: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, ed. Walter B. Shurden (Macon: Smyth & Helwys, 1999), 129.
[2] Adapted from Timothy L. Carson, Transforming Worship, (St. Louis: Chalice, 2003), 57.