Guest Columnist: Rekindling Our Love for Communion is key

By Paul Edenfield

For the past few weeks, our Sunday school class has been reading Charles Yrigoyen’s John Wesley: Holiness of Heart & Life. This book is an introduction to early Methodist history and beliefs for small-group study and is useful not only to newcomers but also to members who are trying to deepen their understanding of John Wesley and his vision of Methodism.Our class has often discussed just how much has changed in the life of the church since Wesley’s time, particularly those “works of piety” that he did so much to encourage. The celebration of Holy Communion, for instance, is a striking example of just how far Methodists have strayed from their historical roots. Yrigoyen notes that “United Methodists usually celebrate the Lord’s Supper once a month or four times a year. John Wesley would have been mystified by this. After all, he communed an average of every four to five days during his adult life.”

Yrigoyen then goes on to quote from the 1787 sermon, “The Duty of Constant Communion,” in which Wesley wrote, “Let everyone … who has either any desire to please God, or any love of his own soul … [receive Communion] every time he can.” The entire text of the sermon is available online and offers much insight into Wesley’s fervent Eucharistic devotion. Wesley studied the early Christian writers constantly over the course of his career and praised the example of the “first Christians, with whom the Christian sacrifice was a constant part of the Lord’s Day service.”Of these early Church writers, Wesley had a particular affection for Ephrem the Syrian, the fourth-century poet and theologian. Indeed, his journals and letters indicate that he read Ephrem as early as 1732 while at Oxford, and he even managed to continue this study while in Georgia in 1736. We do not know for sure which of Ephrem’s writings Wesley was familiar with, but he was no doubt inspired by words such as these written about the Eucharist: “By means of the Spiritual Bread, everyone becomes an eagle who reaches as far as paradise … whoever eats the Living Bread of the Son flies to meet Him in the very clouds.”

How far we have come from that kind of heart-felt appreciation for the gift of the Lord’s Supper in the twenty-first century! Indeed, it is a safe generalization that Communion is the least favorite part of worship for many of us. I have even seen people avoid particular services because they knew that Communion would be observed. This apathy may exist for a number of reasons, but I think that in the final analysis it is very common to go through the motions of receiving Communion without feeling anything at all, that we often experience an emotional disconnect between the Lord’s Supper and what’s going on in our spiritual lives.

This lack of spiritual resonance is exacerbated when during our services we hurry through Communion to suit those who would like to get it over with as quickly as possible. It’s important to slow down and remind ourselves and each other what the Lord’s Supper is all about … in small-group discussions, sermons, and most importantly testimonials. Devotion is contagious. We can rekindle our love for Communion by sharing with each other about how this ancient practice of sharing bread and wine in the remembrance of Jesus continues to make a difference in our hearts and in our lives. John Wesley’s ministry endures as just such a testimony.

Paul Edenfield attends Rock Springs UMC in Lawrenceville.