Some thoughts on the frequency of the Lord’s Supper
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Friday, January 25, 2013 at 6:45 am
(This piece is adapted from The Lord’s Supper as a Means of Grace: More than a Memory, Richard C. Barcellos, forthcoming from Christian Focus Publications.)
The frequency of the Supper is a question worth pursuing in light of its status as a means of grace. The Supper is a sacred, covenantal meal. It is a means of grace. But how often should churches take the Supper? Some are re-thinking this issue in our day and are celebrating communion more frequently than in the past. Others, out of concern not to trivialize the sacred (a concern I share), are content with a monthly or less-frequent celebration. But prayer is sacred, and the reading and preaching of the word are sacred and no one (as far as I know) argues from that to less frequent public prayer and less frequent public reading and preaching of the word of God. These words by John Brown of Haddington make this point well.
…I fear it will be no easy task to prove
that our way of administering the Supper is agreeable to the Word of
God…. That its infrequency tends to make it solemn I do not see, for if
it so why not administer baptism but once a year also, as it, in its own
nature, is as solemn as the Supper? Why not pray seldom, preach seldom,
read God’s Word seldom, that they may become more solemn too?[1]
The problem with the pietistic version of
the Lord’s Supper, therefore, is that in its obsession with the
individual’s inner piety, it loses much of the import of the feast as a
sacred meal that actually binds us to Christ and to each other. Instead
of viewing it first as God’s saving action toward us and then our
fellowship with each other in Christ, we come to see it as just another
opportunity to be threatened with the law. Instead of celebrating the
foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb on Mount Zion, we are still
trembling at the foot of Mount Sinai. It is no wonder, then, that there
is a diminished interest in frequent communion.[2]
It is clear that the New Testament nowhere commands weekly communion, but neither does it command weekly singing or weekly prayer or weekly preaching, at least not explicitly. We believe in weekly corporate singing (and prayer and preaching) by the church because we believe it is necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture, and rightly so.[3] Singing is an element of public worship and is a means of grace of a sort but only if and when we sing the truths of the word of God. Singing can be conducted more than once, and it ought to be done at least on the Lord’s Day when the church gathers. But we also believe that the Supper is an element of public worship and repeatable, unlike baptism (though we can be reminded of our baptism), and ought to be conducted on the Lord’s Day, at least ordinarily. But how many Lord’s Days per year? How many Lord’s Days per month? These are questions pastors and churches must wrestle with.
The early church apparently celebrated the Supper weekly. The Didache 14:1 says, “On the Lord’s own day gather together and break bread and give thanks.”[4] It appears that the Supper was so important to the early church that the early believers took it weekly.[5] It could be that they made a theological connection between a weekly Lord’s Day and a weekly Lord’s Supper. Whatever the case, it is important to think through the issue of frequency with the fact that the Lord’s Supper, like the word of God and prayer, is a means of grace.
Richard C. Barcellos, pastor Grace Reformed Baptist Church Palmdale, CA
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