I love this quote:
It is at the cross and through the cross that God communicates most clearly with man because this is where He experienced suffering and met us where we abide—in the “shadow of death.” And it is through this cross that God can create an alternative reality for a fallen creation that sees the cross as folly until they come to accept His great gift of grace. ~E. L. Shields
There’s a radio preacher on the shortwave that I’ve listened to who teaches his people to take communion in their homes. He leads them in taking it, reading the passages, giving the message, and saying the prayer. He even says, “This take in remembrance of me. Let us take it together.”
At first, I thought, “That’s kind of a good idea. It’s good for shut-ins.”
But as I have come to understand Communion and Community, I see that we are to take it together — as we are assembled together. I am not saying it’s wrong, if you can’t get out to be with other Christians, to take it alone.
But the design is to be taking it together.
This message speaks to the meaning of the word “Communion” and how it relates to togetherness.
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“Compassion, to be with others when and where they suffer and to willingly enter into a fellowship of the weak, is God’s way to justice and peace among people.” ~Henri Nouwen, Here and Now