Helpful to me in understanding the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is an image I first heard articulated by John Calvin in which he says in effect that as we take bread and wine into our bodies, the believer in that act is through the mouth of faith taking Jesus to himself. As the bread and wine represent the common food of everyday life which feeds and nourishes our bodies, so taking Christ to ourselves by faith not only represents a radical break from all other devotions, it is the way that we genuinely find strength for our faith and trust in him.

Expressing that much better than I are two Anglican sources I encountered this morning. The first is from the Anglican preacher John Stott and the second, quoted in a commentary by Anglican scholar F. F. Bruce, comes from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

Christians anticipating communion this coming Sunday could do well to reflect on these things.

“Just as it was not enough for the bread to be broken and the wine to be poured out, but they had to eat and drink, so it was not enough for him to die, but they had to appropriate the benefits of his death personally. The eating and drinking were, and still are, a vivid acted parable of receiving Christ as our crucified Savior and of feeding on him in our hearts by faith.” (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, pages 72-73)

“Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.” (Anglican Book of Common Prayer)