Do you sit there and confess your sins to "get right with God" feeling guilty and "heavy" and shameful like you need to wipe your slate clean before eating the elements?
Or
Do you thank the Lord and celebrate the fact that His shed blood took away ALL your sins and you are now in Him and He is in you?
I used to do the first but now I do the second after a revelation that communion is a celebration of the covenant He made with me! It's supposed to be both a Holy, reverant time but also a joyous time because He loved me so much He died for ME!! And my faith is in His shed blood and broken body not in my confessions. My confessions of sin are the results of what He did for me, not the method of my salvation.
I have found that communion is also a time of connecting to Him in a physical way through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Anyway, what do you think? What's your experience?
2007-11-08 10:55:31 · 6 answers · asked by Lover of Blue 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I like your answer Jay but I must say that we don't need to "beg" anymore. That my friend is a sign of a lack of faith. I can confess my sins because I'll always fall short in some area but I think begging is insulting to our Lord. Faith says, "Yes, I was wrong but Thank You Jesus for making me clean and whole!"
My point is I think communion is turning into something it was never meant to be - a confessional time as a means for salvation. No, that is not scriptural.
2007-11-08 11:19:39 · update #1
Several years back I heard a sermon on the taking of communion that has been the basis of how I view it now.
Basically without giving the whole sermon all over again, he talked about the washing of the feet that Jesus performed prior to the last supper. They reacted in a way that told Jesus they should be the ones doing the washing of the feet not the other way around. The point I got out of the lesson is that what we must do is accept what Jesus was giving us. I was taught that Communion was the acceptance of what Christ did.
I really think the latter is the proper way to look at things.
2007-11-09 09:47:55 · answer #1 · answered by doug 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The answer, in my humble opinion, is that it should be both.
You should confess your sins with a heavy heart. After all that God did for you (the generic 'you'), you ~still~ turned against Him (definition of sin). Now, as you celebrate His sacrifice of love, you beg his forgiveness for your sins.
~AND~
You celebrate that the Lord ~does~ forgive you, due to Christ's sacrifice.
You want something that will blow your mind further? Read in the Bible how the woman with bleeding issues fought to merely touch Jesus' clothes. She knew that if she could just ~touch~ Him, she would be cured. Now think, what do we do in Communion? We not only touch Him, we internalize Him! We make Him part of us! With just a little faith, what cannot occur when we have God within us?!
Amen!
2007-11-08 19:04:43 · answer #2 · answered by Jay 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, I go to Confession to be forgiven of all my mortal sins first, and that way I am free to think of nothing but the fact that God gave his life for us. I suggest that all Catholics do the same. The Sacrament of Confession is the only true way to "get right with God" before you partake of the Holy Eucharist. If you give a good Confession, you can really feel that weight lifted off of you. I used to go to Confession just about every two months, but now I find myself there every two weeks. God's grace is infinite, and that's something he wants you to take advantage of. After this experience of Reconcilliation, your sins are truly forgiven. Great question, by the way. God bless you!
2007-11-08 19:04:05 · answer #3 · answered by Poopoo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was raised Catholic, so when I hear the word communion I automatically associate it with the Eucharist. This was when I was young so I had to go along with it, even though I didn't agree with any of it, or the religion itself.
I would have to say that many people probably do it for the same reasons you yourself have mentioned (i.e. a personal covenant, God's self-sacrifice, connecting w/ God, etc.)
You sound like you are very happy with your religion/spirituality, which I believe is a great thing to have.
2007-11-08 19:06:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are right communion should be done in reverence of what Jesus did for all.
2007-11-08 19:01:20 · answer #5 · answered by rikirailrd 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i do the first, but you're right, the second one is what i should prolly do
2007-11-08 19:04:50 · answer #6 · answered by :) 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋