To Commune or Not to Commune?

I have taken Communion (or in the Southern BAB-Dist circles, "The Lord's Supper") since I've been a Believer in 1976. I've always done it in Southern BAB-Dist churches both in my home church and in my college church. Then, when I moved away from the Land of Opportunity to begin a new life in the Keystone State, I joined a local SBC mission church in my new hometown & I regularly participated in Communion there.

Then, I was asked to be ordained as a Deacon & I was privleged to serve Communion to my fellow Southern BAB-Dists. I view Communion as a very personal & intimate ritual between a Believer, his/her church, and God. Jesus as he & "the Twelve" sat together for the Last Supper did not invite all of Jerusalem to partake. It was only just He and the 12 people who had devoted three years to following Him. It was the 12 most trusted people that the Lord had been surrounded with in all of His ministry.

I view Communion in this same way. Intimate, and unique.

I have now relocated to central PA & living in the State College area, have united with a local SBC church plant which is very post-modern. They have an "open Communion" method that literally throws the barn doors open wide. Now, this is not how I exactly view this ordinance, but again...it is between the individual, the local body of Believers, and God. Not me. So, yes, I do see some folks partaking of the bread & the cup of whom I speculate just how much a part of this community (or even of God) that they really are. It's still none of my beeswax so I have come to a happy medium where I will simply focus on me...and not everybody else.

But does everyone else do the same? I would say not.

My wife (who, along with me) is a member of the SBC church plant in State College. However, since our church meets on Sunday nights only, she is a paid employee of one of the local United Churches of Christ as the music director. So, I bring the boys & we attend the Sunday morning worship services with her so as we can support her in what she's doing. The congregation is warm, loving, generous, and are sincerely good friends. I am getting to know each one very well and have the greatest amount of respect for them.

But they are not a part of my church.

And that's okay, too. Not everyone can be a member of my church.

I also have a chasm of differences between what I believe the Bible says & what the UCC corporate church believes. So, when Communion comes around on select Sunday mornings, I pass. This has generated a few questions among the other churchgoers as to why I do this. It is not because I think the UCC is "wrong". Maybe "wrong" for ME, but not ultimately "wrong". I don't even think my own church or the Southern Baptist Convention is totally right about all of God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit.

The Bible is clear about the fact that if there are differences between Believers that Communion should not be taken. I have a clear difference between myself & the belief system of the UCC. So, I am refraining from participating in Communion. I believe this is a Biblical thing to do & it also speaks about how I relate to God through a local church congreagation. Why folks think this is separatist, is beyond me.

We all can't be one, big, happy church any more than we can all believe the same thing about God. I have no problem with attending the UCC worship services. Singing their hymns, reading their responsives, and such. That is being in fellowship with them. Partaking in Communion, however, is going beyond that. It is the breaking of bread together as a close body of the local church as that local church remembers Jesus Christ & His Life. Consequently, it is also a recommitment of how I can better serve Jesus through the local church. I can no more be of good use to a plethora of churches anymore than I can be a devoted husband while still dating every woman I find attractive.

I take the same position with taking Communion. I engage in this sacred, intimate, reflective Ordinance with my local community of Believers for another reason. I am spiritually accountable to the leadership (under-shepherd) of my church and my Pastor. I am not accountable to the UCC or any other church because I have not placed myself under them.

For these reasons, I do not feel ashamed nor guilty for not taking Communion with any church that is not "of like faith and order". This phrase merely means that it must be similar to how I abide by and/or interpret the Bible & relate to God. It does not mean that I will only take Communion with a Baptist church only. There are some Baptist churches that I cannot say are "of like faith and order". Yet, there are Christian & Missionary Alliance Churches that I believe are very much "of like faith and order" where I would not feel unwilling to partake of Communion with them.

If Communion is to be the personal & intimate ritual that it was meant to be, folks should respect this & focus on the Reason for The Lord's Supper and not so much on the Reaction.