What do communion mean

Jesus started the tradition of communion. He instructed His followers to use bread and wine to remember the sacrifice He was going to make when He died for our sins on the cross 1 Corinthians The early Church celebrated Jesus by taking communion, sometimes every day Acts The intent is not for us to mindlessly perform a ritual, but to intentionally set aside time to remember what Jesus has done and why He did it 1 Corinthians Every time we gather around bread and wine, in church or in our homes, we remember Jesus is the one who provides all we need.

The author has a vision of an emerging worldwide Christian communion. Empathy and sensitivity. You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics: Relationships: general words. Religious people: followers of religious groups.

Translations of communion in Chinese Traditional. See more. Need a translator? Translator tool. What is the pronunciation of communion? Browse communications satellite. By taking the bread, we are acknowledging that we need substance physically, but more importantly we need substance spiritually.

It reminds us that the Israelites had to leave Egypt in a hurry, but it also has other symbolism. Yeast and fermentation is associated with corruption 1 Cor 5.

Christ said the bread was his body broken for us. His body was without corruption or sin. They were to only collect their daily bread and no more — same as he will provide for us day by day when we feed on him. The exception was for the Sabbath when they would collect a double portion Ex A double portion is also what a firstborn son inherited!

It represented the covenant between the Israelites and God. Aaron and his priest sons were to eat it in the holy place. Jesus is the bread of life and he covers our sins! Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.

But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. Wine in communion represents the blood Jesus shed on the cross to atone for our sins. While this might seem strange at first glance, it is packed full of meaning.

Blood represents life. By partaking in communion we are symbolically intermingling his blood with ours to represent intercommunion and pledge of oneness. We are entering a covenant together. Could it also be symbolic that he was purifying the water as he does with our hearts? Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing John If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed.

But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved. We will burst if we cling to tradition and do not become new in Jesus Christ. Because blood signifies life. Communion, then, was not a ritual produced by later Christians, but something instituted immediately. It has been celebrated ever since. In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity, effectively ending the state persecution of Christianity.

This caused Christianity to come into vogue. The Roman Catholic Church grew in power and split with the Eastern Church in , an event that came to be known as the Great Schism and is explained more here by Encyclopedia Britannica. The Catholic church continued to grow until by the Middle Ages it was the most powerful political and spiritual entity in Europe. Even kings bowed to the pope, and the threat of excommunication and not being able to partake in the Eucharist communion was enough to drive monarchs to their knees.

As one of the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eucharist was administered by priests. However, with the Protestant Reformation and the birth of Protestant ideology, communion began to change once more for those who adhered to Protestantism.

As Protestants fractured into dozens of denominations, various ways of taking communion developed, until today where we have a multitude of traditions, from the wine-vs-grape-juice debate, to the frequency of partaking, to church membership mandates, to the communal goblet vs. Jesus told us why we celebrate communion when He instated it.

Just as we depend on food and drink to live physically, we can only live spiritually through Christ. Communion is a time of just that: communing. It is a chance to bring ourselves before the Lord and partake in the life He has given us through His death and resurrection. Communion is also a time to be in community with fellow believers, past and present. As an ordinance that has stretched from the original disciples to twenty-first century believers and is celebrated all over the world, it brings us together as the body of Christ.

We should also take the time to examine ourselves to ensure that our relationship with Christ is authentic and genuine. Not only recalling the inauguration of our relationship with Christ, but also seeking to discover if there is any unconfessed sin impeding our current fellowship with God 1 John —9.

Lastly, we would be remiss to ingest these symbols of Christ without a heart that is purposefully thankful. Different churches and traditions celebrate communion diversely. Below are some of the ways different groups of Christians have celebrated communion, and their reasons why:.

This requirement is drawn from an interpretation of 1 Corinthians to not partake in an unworthy manner. A person also must not have eaten or drank anything besides water with the exception of medicine for an hour before partaking.