“ And we all eat from one loaf, showing that we are one body. And think about the nation of Israel; all who eat the sacrifices are united by that act.
— 1 Corinthians 10:17-18 (NLT)”
Response
I consider myself a "part" (whatever that means) of two churches. These places appear to be complete opposites of one another. One church I grew up in; the other I started attending after I moved to Orlando a couple years ago. One church is non-denominational; the other is a denomination nobody has ever heard of. One church does communion every Sunday; the other does communion at seemingly random infrequent intervals. One church is tiny (we're talking very very small) and the other is massive, exploding across Orlando. One church has big screens and projectors and contemporary worship music; the other has hymnals and a modest choir. One church has pews; the other has rows of chairs. One church has an entire Internet ministry, the other has me. These two places are my yin and my yang, my left and right, up and down, big and small, inside and out. They are unique and distinct, yet somehow they both mean the same thing to me.
Some people would say that there are traditional Christians and nontraditional Christians, new age and old age (haha) Christians, CEO (Christmas and Easter Only) Christians… I used to think you could tell which of these categories a person fell into by asking what version of the Bible they read. But it's irrelevant. At the end of the day we are all Christians. One body, one faith.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. — Galatians 3:28 (NIV)
Just as we are one body, I believe that there should be one bread and one cup for that body. Open communion is so central to the Disciples of Christ faith (that tiny denomination I mentioned earlier), and it is of course practiced in non-denominational churches as well. Both churches recognize baptisms from other denominations and invite all persons who believe in Christ to come to the table, drink of the cup, and eat of the bread.
The Bible teaches us that communion unites us as one body in Christ. What a comfort it is to know that I am welcome at the tables of two churches that are polar opposites of one another, and that each is united to the other and to all Christian churches through the blessings of the bread and the cup! Amen.