In the upper room, at the Last Supper, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, He broke it, saying “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper, he did the same with the cup, saying (according to Luke’s Gospel) “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” The Eucharist is the one thing that is found in nearly all Christian churches, although what it means is debated. The point has occasionally been fought with swords.
Queen Elizabeth, hoping to stabilize her country’s future, passed the Act of Uniformity, which unified worship across the country. The Act of Uniformity was not intended to force Protestants to have Catholic doctrine, or Catholic doctrine; instead, it was a kind of “middle way.” In other words, Elizabeth’s main concern was not how her people were worshipping, so long as they were worshipping the same way[3]. It was at her hands that the Articles of Religion were first written and the Book of Common Prayer was updated. However, she died without an heir of the body. The crown passed to a relative of hers: James I. It was his son, Charles I, who led the country into civil war.
After the English Civil War, Pietism began to have a greater influence on the English population, because of the fears of Antinomianism[4]. Because of the Pietists’ influence, religious societies formed and spread all over England. The Book of Common Prayer was re-introduced by King Charles II, and anyone who would not either accept it unexamined or accept Episcopal ordination lost his pulpit[5]. There were major changes in society as well. The industrial revolution was leading to a rise in city populations and gin (with its resulting alcoholism) was becoming a major problem. It was in this unrest that John Wesley started preaching.
He wrote two sermons that deal explicitly with the Eucharist. His sermon “The Means of Grace” was written to argue against the Moravians and their influences in the Methodist circles. They tended to regard all outward observances as superficial and harmful to the spiritual life. The other sermon is “The Duty of Constant Communion,” which is his fullest explanation of his Eucharistic doctrine. The sermon itself contains a mix of material borrowed from an Anglican liturgist named Robert Nelson and some of Wesley’s own original material. It was submitted to the Arminian Magazine and is written to a largely Anglican audience.
In “The Duty of Constant Communion,” Wesley formulates communion as both a sacrament and an ordinance. It is an ordinance because it is something ordained and commanded by God and sacramental in that it points to something beyond itself. Because God ordained it, every Christian has a duty to fulfill the letter of God’s commands to the fullest extent of his or her ability. Thus, whoever does not partake of the Eucharist, but ignores the opportunity to do so, either does not understand the commandment or does not care for it, in Wesley’s view[6].
Aside from being a commandment, Wesley views the Eucharist as God’s mercy to humanity. The grace offered in the Lord’s Supper is a unique way God makes humanity holy. It is only by being holy that humanity can obtain the blessings God has in store for this life or glory in heaven. The Eucharist, then, becomes in itself a means to pardon sin. Since the Eucharist is also an ordinance, to say that one is unworthy is somewhat redundant. Even if a person is unworthy to obey God’s commands, he or she should do it anyway.[7]
The point of every commandment is love, however. In this case, love of God and neighbor. However, it is impossible to love the unknown. The means of grace (of which the Eucharist is one) are not the end; using the means of grace enables a person to know God, and therefore love God, more fully. The end of the means is love[8]. When the means of grace are separated from the end, they are completely worthless. However, it is only through the Spirit of God that the means of grace actually lead to the knowledge and love of God at all. The means of grace, even the bread and the cup, do not have any power in themselves; the grace is God’s alone[9].
Through the Eucharist, the Lord offers grace that is open to all and not to be refused[10]. The Charles Wesley hymn “Come, sinners, to the gospel feast,” illuminates this point, particularly in the first three stanzas.
Communion is taken in memory of Christ, as commanded at the Last supper. However, it is also taken as a means of receiving God’s grace, which is freely offered to all. No person can comprehend how it works, only that it works. Grace is received through the Eucharist by the grace of God alone. Without it, all things are but vanity.
In Luke, Christ commands his disciples to “do this in remembrance of me.” However, later in that same pericope, Jesus says “This is my body,” and “this is my blood,” which seem to indicate that there is something more than mere wine and bread. Even if they were to be mere symbols, a symbol is by definition something greater than itself. A sports team logo is representative of that team and all the fandom (or hatred) the beholder associates with that team. With Christ saying “This is my body…This is my blood,” even if it were a mere memorial, such a memorial would awaken and reconnect the community to the sacrifice of Christ, the way an anniversary reconnects a couple to their wedding. It is not, therefore, a simple memorial meal. There is more to it than that.
In Matthew, after the Resurrection, Christ promised to be with the disciples always, even to the end of the age. If Christ is already among the disciples, then surely Christ is with the disciples during the Eucharist, even though Christ has ascended to the right hand of God. Yet, the bread and wine, according to Luke, are also the Body and Blood of Christ through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. The parable of the Great Dinner in Luke 14:16-24 best illustrates the Eucharist. God is hosting the banquet; all humanity can do is either accept the invitation or deny it with lame excuses.
While the Eucharist is a visible means of an invisible grace, it is not the only such means. The point is not to take Communion as often as one can simply for the sake of the Eucharist. To do that can imply that the means of grace are being mistaken for the end. If a person is taking the Eucharist but simply treating it like a liturgical snack, then it is doing that person no good and is ceasing to be a means of grace[12].
In short, the Eucharist is a means of grace, given by God as a mercy to God’s people. It is the body and blood of Christ, given for us, that we might be made whole. However, this unfathomable grace will not leave us as we are, but will transform anyone who partakes to live life a little more like Christ.
Stookey, Laurence Hull. Eucharist: Christ’s Feast with the Church. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993. Print.
Wesley, John. “The Duty of Constant Communion.” John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology. Ed. Albert Cook Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater. Nashville: Abingdon, 1991. Print.
Wesley, John. “The Means of Grace.” John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology. Ed. Albert Cook Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater. Nashville: Abingdon, 1991. Print.
