Communion is a sacred rite in Christian denominations but is quite varied in how it is practiced. The first time I took communion in a Catholic Church I had just professed to a street evangelist in the church my need to receive afresh the message of Christ having been crucified for me. He had been preaching it in the shopping centre and I went with him into this nearby church building which was Catholic. We went to the front row and there he prayed for me, out loud, and then asked me to pray aloud. The gospel message had sunk in so much that it was as if I had never heard it before, even though I had been in a church all my life and had been a leader in Christian circles. I knew my biggest sin had been a compulsion to lie and give a better that true impression of myself. Now as I prayed aloud, there was a power in my voice I never knew before or since, but as soon as I started to revert to my lying, self-exalting way of speaking in the prayer, the power went away. When I prayed humbly and honestly it came back. This went on a few minutes maybe. I think the voice I had when filled with the heavenly power must have resounded in the church and people nearby were having a service. The evangelist took me to join the service just in time for communion. Now it was like taking my first communion even though I had been baptised and taken communion many times before. This was new, a new me. The lying habit was getting broken. I had a resolve to please heaven’s power by keeping the fellowship of the power by only telling the truth. I was given both bread and wine. This is a bit unusual for some. Sometimes both bread and wine is protected in its sanctity by only being offered in exceptional circumstances in some Catholic churches under some bishops. I did not know this till recently. My profession that moment earlier meant that this was an exceptional circumstance anyway as I was under special holy influence and had not sinned wilfully against it so I was free to receive both bread and wine, both body and blood of Christ. It is clear to me now as I learn about Catholic communion. In Eastern Orthodox and in Protestant churches the bread and wine are usually given. That is what I had been used to. It is all a depiction of the crucifixion of Lord Jesus Christ. The power in my inner being which affected my voice and taught me honest speech was in response to my open acceptance of a simple message from heaven “Christ died for you” and my hope in response to it of cleansing from my sins. The power continued a day or so longer and kept teaching me until my lying habit was broken. It gradually faded over coming days but my habit changed by then to one of persistence in speaking truthfully. Heaven has a language of truth. Lies, said Jesus, are the language of the devil. The message of the cross brings power to switch language and learn to speak only truth despite having been compelled to lie previously. Such is God’s power. Power is in the gospel message Christ died for you. He did. It is hope for you, if you simply receive it. The Communion depicts this sacrificial death for sins, shedding body and blood in Christ’s crucifixion. Heaven has come to us. God has supplied a mediator, who is a lamb sacrificed to take away the sins of the world, yours and mine. Let us keep the feast in holiness.
