Pastor John,
As a Christian since 1977 at the age of 34, I have always found the communion service, be it in Presbyterian, Pentecostal or Independent churches to be lifeless. I have accepted it as a necessary reminder of the death of Christ – that we should always be brought back to His death as the foundation of our faith. I consider myself a fairly spiritual person, being both born again of the Spirit of God and being baptized in the Holy Spirit, but I am always amazed by persons who may be only nominal Christians who sat how blessed they are by the communion service, how they feel the real presence of God in the ceremony. While I feel nothing and never have.
I have recently dared to think that the communion service might be idolatrous – we must worship a person, not his blood.
Your website is the first confirmation I have ever found of my unease in the communion, this after 43 years of Christian service.
I would appreciate your further thoughts on the matter
Yours Faithfully
Edgar Bradley
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Hi Brother Bradley!
It is the Spirit of God, not your own mind, that is telling you that the Christian ceremony called communion is worthless. That is not what Jesus suffered and died for. Sometimes, God reveals things to us that we dare not think, and I have found that many of His children even condemn themselves for having the thoughts that God gives them, not realizing that those thoughts are from Jesus!
As you have seen, God will bless people who believe in Him wherever they are, even in a Christian “communion service”. He is good, and He is looking for faith, not knowledge. He has in the past blessed you and me, and all His people, even though at the time, we believed things which we later learned were not true. But how much better is it, Brother Bradley, to learn the truth and be made “free indeed”? How much more pleasing to God is it for us to be free and love Him than to be bound by superstitious ritual and love Him?
You might be interested in these short gospel tracts that are related to the issue you mentioned in your email:
https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_tracts.html?tname=tract-028-works
https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_tracts.html?tname=tract-064-communion
Please stay in touch! We love to hear from brothers and sisters around the world. I hope to see you face-to-face someday, whether in this life or the next.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor John