A Convenient Communion?

I got the most interesting sample pack in the mail this week. It’s an “all-in-one disposable communion packet.” It looks like one of those little plastic creamer containers that you get in restaurants when you ask for cream for your coffee. Yet, nestled away in the peel-back top is a little waifer. The nice dark grape juice is visible through the transparent cup. Sort of a portable, on-the-go communion set for the busy, over-stressed Christian.

I’m not knocking the product (though it seems that Jesus makes a lot of money for people nowadays). There’s just something about it that didn’t sit well with me. I guess it’s because you can’t help but look at the bread and the cup without thinking of Jesus and his broken body and his torn flesh. And to take the bread and the wine and wrap it in a disposable, easy-to-use convenience pack just seemed to go against the very thing it represents.

There was nothing convenient or quick about the work Jesus did on the cross. And there’s nothing quick or convenient about gathering in His presence to worship the risen Christ. There’s nothing quick or convenient about centering your heart on the beautiful sacrifice of our amazing Lord. There’s certainly nothing quick or convenient about the life of faith that rises out of our response to His sacrifice.

Just give me the torn loaf of bread and the big cup. I like it the old fashioned way. And I love the fact that the resurrection of our Lord turns simple bread and wine (no matter how it’s packaged) into true spiritual sustinance for a hungry heart.