Like preaching, other elements in a church’s order of worship are included every week. Praying and singing, for example, are consistently included for the edification of God’s people. Seldom, if ever, do people think that these should be occasional components of a church’s worship service. But what about Communion?
The church where I serve has historically served holy Communion once per month. Two years ago, our leadership decided to begin administering it weekly. The response was mixed. While the decision was warmly embraced by some, others were unhappy because they thought that the more frequently Communion is administered the less special it becomes. But through careful teaching on the subject and an incremental increase in frequency, we were able to successfully navigate that change.
Not only has our church at large embraced the practice of weekly Communion, but even those who were once disappointed that the Supper was being celebrated weekly have now grown in their appreciation of partaking on a weekly basis. What once was a point of concern is now a cherished weekly practice.
Adjusting Supper frequency in any church is sure to raise questions, so a resource that equips both church officers and members to see weekly Communion as a serious, spiritually beneficial celebration would be most welcome. We now have such a resource in a recent release by Harrison Perkins. In Take & Eat: Recovering the Regular Celebration of the Lord’s Supper, Perkins not only addresses the matter of the Supper but, as the subtitle makes clear, also is in favor of its being celebrated on a weekly basis.
Importantly, Take and Eat is not a polemic against churches who do not celebrate the Supper on a weekly basis, nor is it simply a case for weekly Communion. Rather, “the argument is that a proper understanding of the Supper will lead us to recover a frequent and regular celebration of this meal” (3, emphasis added). In other words, Perkins’s goal is to show that knowing the “what” of the Supper tells us the “how often.” Meaning determines frequency.
Throughout the book’s five chapters, Perkins highlights the truth that a proper understanding of the Supper is sourced in Jesus Christ. The reader begins to recognize this in the first chapter, “What Is the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper?” Here, Perkins confirms that Christ instituted the Supper. The Supper’s meaning, therefore, is generated from Christ. Although there is a difference among Christian traditions whether the Supper should be called a sacrament or an ordinance, this debate is a moot point if it centers on the identity of the One who instituted the Supper. Those who wish to deem the Supper an ordinance instead of a sacrament do so to distance themselves from other Christian traditions that hold to a different theology about Christ’s presence in the Supper. Even so, there is agreement among these competing views regarding the person who established the Supper (4–5).
In chapter 2, “The Place to Celebrate the Lord’s Supper,” Christ again is seen as the source of a proper understanding of the Supper in Perkins’s discussion of how sacraments in the Old Testament functioned. As Perkins points out, the New Testament uses language associated with the Supper such as “spiritual food” and “spiritual drink” (1 Cor 10:3–4) and applies it to God’s people of the Old Testament (30).1 They partook of this spiritual meal in the form of manna and water, and this meal was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). Similarly, God’s people of the New Testament partake of a spiritual meal in the form of bread and wine, and this meal is Christ (1 Cor 10:15–16). So, “the sacraments of both eras signified the sealed Christ and his benefits” (30).
Chapter 3, “The Pattern for Celebrating the Lord’s Supper,” examines the biblical storyline throughout both Testaments, pinpointing where in Scripture we find the significance of food in relation to God’s presence among His people. Whether it is Adam and trees in the garden (48–51), Melchizedek serving Abraham a meal (52), Israel being fed manna in the wilderness (53–54), or the temple housing the bread of presence (55), it is apparent that God has decided that among His people there will be “holy space” and “special food.” In light of the teaching of the New Testament, Christ is both the holy space (temple) and special food (His body and blood) who “facilities fellowship between God and his people” (59).
In the penultimate chapter, “The Blessings in Celebrating the Lord’s Supper,” Christ as the source of a proper understanding of the Supper is evinced in Perkins’s treatment of Luke 24:13–35, an account of two disciples headed to a village named Emmaus (72–82). Perkins explains that during this Communion meal, Christ’s actions not only followed the pattern He set with His disciples when He instituted the Supper but also makes the point that “the Lord’s Supper brings home and clarifies the preaching of the Word.” The Supper opens “our eyes to what Scripture is already saying to us” (77).
The final chapter, “The Manner to Celebrate the Lord’s Supper,” displays Christ as the source of a proper understanding of the Supper in its main point: “We flee from sin because we receive the Supper” (97). Fleeing from sin requires that sin’s penalty be paid. Christ did this, for He fulfilled the conditions of the covenant that Israel broke. This beneficent accomplishment is signified in the Supper (89–90). Fleeing from sin also requires resurrection life, which Christ graciously gives His people in the Supper (91). What is more, fleeing from sin is not a solitary attempt but a corporate pursuit of all those who have been joined to the church by virtue of their union with Christ (103).
The book exhibits numerous strengths, such as helpful analogies. Take the analogy of driving and the Supper, for instance. Like driving, the Supper is a dangerous yet beautiful experience. One does not need to reflect long on the former to know that “if we do not follow the rules of the road, we can end up badly injuring someone else or ourselves. Still, the possibility of danger does not mean we give up driving altogether” (87). So it is with the Supper. Without question, there is “risk…built into the responsibility that comes with the gift of the Lord’s Supper” (1 Cor 11:27–32) (92). Nevertheless, as with driving, so it is in the Lord’s Supper that there exists a privilege too grand to leave behind (88). This privilege of the Supper, the grace of God in Christ, is so glorious that even great risk should not keep a church from celebrating the Supper on a weekly basis.
Another helpful analogy likens a scuba tank to the Supper. As a scuba tank is essential to living in the ocean’s depths, so God has provided His people a special tool, the Supper, to provide them “the oxygen-like resource of saving grace, even as we continue to live in the sin-flooded world that could so easily drown us spiritually” (2). To name one more example: a video call analogy about how Christ is present in the Supper. “Like a video call communicates someone’s virtual presence in such a way as to create a real fellowship,” Christ communicates His actual presence to His people in the Supper without the bread and wine undergoing transubstantiation (9).
An additional strength of the book is its awareness of common objections to weekly Communion. In response to the first reservation that weekly Supper is lackluster, Perkins identifies the misunderstanding that frequency decides whether the Supper is special. Not the Supper’s frequency but its content—namely, “Christ and our communion with him”—is what makes the Supper special (16).
To provide correction to the notion that weekly Communion is more Roman Catholic than it is Protestant, Perkins teaches his readers a history lesson. Whereas one might think Rome has always administered the Supper during Mass, this is not the case. It was not until the twentieth century that “Rome emphasized receiving the Eucharist weekly at the Mass” (17). Furthermore, from at least the eleventh century to 1969, those who attended Mass were barred from receiving the cup. Church members could receive only the bread, not the cup (17–18). And lest the reader think that weekly celebration of the Supper is foreign to Protestants, Perkins mentions two Reformed luminaries, John Owen and John Calvin, who argued for weekly Communion (20).
In summary, Perkins successfully defends his thesis of why the Supper should be celebrated on a weekly basis. The careful reader will recognize that the word “celebrate” or one of its derivatives is included in each chapter’s title. As the Supper should be continually received, Perkins repeatedly refers to the Supper as a celebration in each chapter title. This description of the Supper explains why this book sets itself far apart from the many others that also address this subject. From its beginning to end, this book’s persuasive biblical and historical evidence, helpful analogies, and incisive responses to common objections of weekly Supper all collaboratively and persuasively work to attract the reader to regularly participate in this celebration.
Though conflict relative to the Supper has been around for as long the Supper itself has (1 Cor 11:17–34), Perkins’s book makes a convincing case for Christians to practice what is being preached in its pages. We can hope and pray that Christ, by his Spirit, may use this book to reform his church and spur more frequent celebration of the Supper, which practice is “perhaps exactly what the church needs to help overcome this kind of division.” Perkins shrewdly points out, “Maybe our avoidance of the grace in the Supper, which intends to bring us before God and alongside one another, is part of the problem that keeps us at odds” (65). Till he returns, brothers and sisters, take and eat.
Note
- By quoting Francis Turretin, Perkins also highlights that the New Testament uses language of Old Testament sacraments, such as the Passover, and applies it to God’s people of the New Testament (1 Cor 5:7) (30).
© Blake Runyan. All Rights Reserved.
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Blake Runyan
Native Coloradan Blake Runyan studied at Reformed Theological Seminary (MATS) and Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (ThM) and currently serves as the Intern Pastor of Canyons Community Church. In addition to finding much joy in talking theology he also enjoys recreating outdoors in his beautiful home state.
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