For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24)
I believe that in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we are graced with the real presence of the Risen Christ.
Christians have been arguing about the way to celebrate Communion since the days that Paul was writing to the church at Corinth. The question in the Corinthian church was not whether or how Jesus was present in their celebration, but how they were treating each other as they shared the common meal.
People have disputed the question of whether and where Christ is present: in the elements, in the act of partaking, in the gathered people of God, in the proclamation of the Word? (Hint: you can’t go wrong with “all of the above.”)
Theological (and actual) battles have sprung from the question of how Christ is present in the bread and wine. Is it transubstantiation, impanation, spiritual presence, a memorial?
Let’s stipulate that no one can possibly know exactly how Christ is present in the bread and wine. Let us also stipulate that this in no way decreases the certainty of those who argue about it.
I’m not writing to join the argument, but to invite us to think about a different question — one posed by one of the leading liturgical scholars of the 20th century, Godfrey Diekmann, OSB: “What difference does it make if the bread and wine turn into the Body and Blood of Christ and we don’t?”
We don’t come to the Table to express opinions or even to affirm a creed. We come so that we might know Christ more intimately and to be transformed into his likeness.
Christ’s presence at the Table is God’s gift to us.
Christ’s presence in us is God’s gift to the world.
Prayer: Breathe your Spirit over the whole earth and make us your new creation, the Body of Christ given for the world you have made. (from Eucharistic Prayer II in Enriching our Worship.)