Please take a moment and vote in the poll below. I would love to hear some comments as well as why you selected what you did.
I’m interested in how people take Communion, and what you do to help reflect on what you are doing. I personally love to sing during Communion, because it helps me focus. For years, I’ve tried the prayer during the Communion time, reading the scriptures, thinking or reflecting with my eyes closed, and so on. It just seems like for me, being such a music person, that this is what helps me.
A few years ago, there was a large debate at the Freed Hardeman Lectureships in their Open Forum about whether or not it was scriptural to sing during Communion. I’d love to hear from people why they feel it is unscriptural to do such a thing. For those who feel like it should not be done, please elaborate as to why. This is not a debate, nor is it a place where we’re trying to prove you wrong, its just a place for input. Thanks for voting!
Being Changed from the Inside Out 
personally, i think we should learn better to focus on one another as being the body of Christ during our time of “communion.”
in china, one of the house churches i was a part of used this time for each Christian to share with the group concerning his week in Christ. and then we’d pray prayers of celebration and intercession, etc, over each individual — as we celebrated Jesus’ life and death, and his life again through us. we also ate a more substantial amount of food.
Excellent point. I agree that “communing” with each other should require a bit more talking amongst ourselves as we share.
I with Brett. I appreciate a more “communal” time rather than simply sitting in silent reflection.
How do we achieve this “Communal” time on Sunday mornings with the current set up of how churches do Communion?
A lot of churches are opening up their time to a period of discussion prior to communion. They’ll have discussion questions on the screen and give people 5-10 minutes to talk about these kinds of things with the people that are near them.
Of course, our current “shotgun” style auditorium with seats all facing the podium aren’t really conducive to this kind of thing. But that’s because we’ve fallen in love with the sermon and we’ve minimized the horizontal nature of the communal meal.
But fellowship meals / potlucks are another way we could do this and probably be a little closer to the model of the first century church.
i’m not sure. that’s one of the things i don’t like about the “current set-up” of churches.
but i like the idea of doing fellowship meals and potlucks — i don’t know that most people would end up speaking about deep and/or spiritual matters, but it’d at least be a good start.
but with a large church (or even small to medium by our standards), we could always form some kind of smaller groups (which is what would be naturally done by sitting at tables during a fellowship meal). i’m not a big fan of that, though, because paul sure seems to want everyone to do this together. and i want to be able to recognize, appreciate, and celebrate as the body of Christ, with the body of Christ.
i will say this: some of my most meaningful times of communion were on weeknights, when christie and i would just have a bunch of friends over for dinner. sometimes we’d start the meal by sharing with one another, praying, and taking the Lord’s supper. other nights we’d sing and then eat it together. but i do think that’s one good solution — to teach that we don’t have to only take communion on sunday mornings. any time two or three of us are together, we ought to be able to celebrate that we are together, and that we are his body on earth today. i think?