There are four main themes to the meaning of the Communion service.

1. Remembrance.

It commemorates the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus took and broke the bread, referred to it as his body, and said, 'Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after supper, he took a cup, referred to it as 'the new covenant in my blood' and repeated the command 'Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me' (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). By what he did with the bread and wine (breaking the one, and pouring the other) and by what he said about them ('this is my body, this is my blood'), he was drawing attention to his death and its purpose, and urging them to remember him in this way.

In order to stimulate our minds and memories, the officiating celebrant both copies the actions and repeats the words of Jesus in the upper room.

2. Participation

Jesus gave the bread and the cup to the apostles saying 'take, eat and drink'. They were not only spectators but participants. The Lord's Supper is more than a 'commemoration', by which we recall an event of the past; it is a 'communion', by which we share in its present benefits. This was St. Paul's emphasis when he wrote: 'Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread which we break a participation in the body of Christ?' (1 Corinthians 10:16)

But, in what do we actually participate, and how do we participate in it? What does it mean to participate in the body and blood of Christ? It means the death of Jesus Christ, together with the benefits which he obtained for us by his death. It is the body broken and the blood shed that purchased for us our salvation in which we participate by faith. Just as by eating the bread and drinking from the cup we take the elements into our bodies and assimilate them, so by faith we feed on Christ crucified in our hearts and make him our own. We receive his saving presence into our lives. The sacrament acts to stimulate our faith. The Lord's Supper is a means to faith because it sets forth in dramatic visual symbolism the good news that Christ died for our sins in order that we might be forgiven. As we are offered the bread and the cup, so Christ offers his body broken and his blood shed to our souls. Our faith looks beyond the symbols to the reality they represent, and even as we take the bread and the cup, and feed on them in our mouths by eating and drinking, so we feed on Christ crucified in our hearts by faith. The moment of reception becomes to us a direct faith-encounter with Jesus Christ.

3. Fellowship

Five times in 1 Corinthians 11, in the space of eighteen verses, St. Paul uses the verb to 'come together' in relation to the Lord's Supper. The service is meant to be a communal meal. By breaking bread together we celebrate our family life. 'Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.' (1 Corinthians10:17) Each of us is a member of the same body, the body of Christ, the church. Since the bread is an emblem of our crucified Savior, it is our common participation in him which makes us one.

The Lord's Supper, which is the church's fellowship meal on earth, is also a foretaste of the heavenly feast. St. Paul tells us that, whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup, we 'proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." ((1Corinthians 11:26) When Christ comes, he will complete his kingdom, and we will celebrate at the wedding feast.

4. Thanksgiving

'Eucharist' is the Greek word for thanksgiving, and was from the early days a name for the Lord's Supper. The service evokes in us thanksgiving for all that God has done for us in Christ. We remember Christ's sacrifice with adoration and gratitude. We receive its saving benefits by faith. We enjoy with one another the fellowship which it has made possible. We offer ourselves to God in responsive self-sacrifice.

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