Thinking of Communion

I'm a Greek Orthodox. Our main service on any given Sunday, as well as many Saturdays and weekdays during the year, is called "E Theia Liturgia" (The Divine Liturgy) and it always leads into a communion service. Strangely, we receive communion in the form of leavened bread (chunks) soaked in wine, and fed to us, like babies, on a small spoon. The same spoon goes into everybody's mouth. It's a real social leveler. Only those who have been baptised in an Orthodox church (Greek, Russian, American, Antiochian, etc.) can receive. We all know that it is what the Bible says it is: the Body and Blood of Christ. That's that. No further explanation how it can be that. It just is. Why do we have communion whenever we meet for worship? Probably because the early Christians did, and that's still us, only the early church didn't die out in the eastern end of the world (Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Egypt, Ethiopia, etc.), and it has migrated to America along with the immigrants.

But there's more, for me and my friend.
Every time we have a meal together in sincere fellowship, calling on the name of our God, be it at home or at a lunch counter (and we do!), we experience a non-ritualized version of the same Presence of Jesus with us. That's why even if there's two bread rolls and two of us, we still break each piece in half and share it, the same with the cheese, the grapes, the olives, whatever we're eating—if it can be divided and shared, we do it. That's because the sharing is better food than the eating.

In the context of worship, communion takes on a glorious and supernatural aspect. At the humble dinner table of love's bread, Christ comes among us in no less real a manner, just humbly, intimately. It's there that we can really touch Him in touching each other, love Him in loving each other, and share His generosity in the literal breaking of bread.

"When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…"
(Luke 24:30-31 NIV)