How to Celebrate Communion Online

Matthew 26:26-8, 30 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Obviously, the nature of the internet is such that bread and wine cannot be passed out along it. In order to celebrate communion with Liberation Cyber-Church it is necessary that you perform it yourself, at home. While most churches restrict the offering of bread and wine to a priest or minister, we believe in the priesthood of all believers and that every member of the Body of Christ is entitled to celebrate this if they wish to do so. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

There is nothing in Scripture to say you cannot celebrate communion on your own, but it is perhaps best to gather together friends for this communal event. This church celebrates the Lord's Supper at 6pm Greenwich Mean Time on the first Sunday of every month. If you participate alone at this time you may know that you are not really alone, but celebrating with others worldwide. Hopefully we will be able to install a chat room on this site at some stage so that you can participate with others in this celebration.

In order to celebrat the Lord's Supper you will need some wine or grape juice, and bread or some sort of cracker. If you cannot procure these, using whatever your staple foods are - such as rice and fruit juice, or even simply water, should be fine. Follow your conscience on this matter. If you are celebrating in the physical presence of others do be sure to heed Paul's maxim in 1 Corinthians 8:9 Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. If any of your brethren who celebrate with you might stumble in their faith because you are not using bread and wine, say, take all care not to harm them by your action.

Essentially the practise of the Lord's Supper is simple. Simply sharing a cup or wine and some bread which you have given thanks to God for, in rememberance of the sacrifice of Jesus, is all that constitutes it. The singing of hymns and reading portions of the Bible are also means by which to celebrate the reason behind the Lord's Supper (especially Paul's treatment of this issue in 1 Corinthians 11). Depending on personal conviction, you can make this as simple or as intricate as you wish. There are some suggestions on how to celebrate this in our Liturgies of Liberation section.

© Rev Emma McCarthy, 2003. All content on this site, except for material written by others and designated as such, is copyleft under the provisions of the GNU General Public License. This means you can reproduce it in any form you wish, provided that you retain the copyright information.