“While Jesus was eating with the disciples, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’”
Mark 14:22-24
Notes for Contemplation as You Use this Devotional:
- This passage by the Gospel Writer called Mark establishes a connection between Jesus’s covenant (divine promise) with God and Moses’s. This means that the divine promise is not for some, but for all, that all people are filled with the life of God.
- Accounts of ritual communion date back to ancient times, at least 500 years before Jesus’s birth, including among the Greeks, Essenes, and Jews, who already had a practice of blessing bread and wine.
- Communion, from the Greek koinonia, is defined as a sharing of common thoughts, feelings, interests, and ideas, as well as spiritual fellowship. It’s also a form of communication which suggests a desire for mutuality and connection.
- Jesus was always in communion with and connected to God. He is a great wayshower and master teacher because of his extraordinary God consciousness, which was his understanding of his oneness with God.
- Communion reminds us of our divinity and our ever-abiding connection with God, unconditionally loving, infinitely compassionate. When we take communion, we can know the truth that we are one of God’s Beloveds, just as Jesus was. And whenever we share in the ritual of eating the bread and drinking the wine, we can more fully recognize our own Christ (anointed) nature and our ability to live from that nature, just as Jesus did.
- Bread—the bread of life—represents divine substance, the life source which animates everything in our world. Wine—the fruit of the vine—which can be a symbol for blood, represents the divine life energy and joy which flow within us, through us, and as us.
- In The Mystical Teachings of Christianity, Rev James C Lewis teaches that true communion is encompassed in Jesus’s words, “when you pray, go within your room and close the door and pray to God which is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). He recommends that rather than reaching “in thought and feeling to a god . . . out in space,” you understand that “the true God, the Source of Creativity and Intelligence, is within you. Of course, God is omnipresent, but your place of contact or communion with God is within your consciousness.”
Contemplation Questions:
As you reflect on your life and circumstances, ask yourself:
- In what ways do I commune (connect) with God?
- List, word map, or illustrate all the ways.
- In what ways do I deny my worth and divinity?
- Without analysis or judgment, list, word map, or illustrate all the ways.
- In what ways do I recognize my worth and divinity?
- Without analysis or judgment, list, word map, or illustrate all the ways.
- In what ways do I commune with, or share in communion, with others?
- List, word map, or illustrate all the ways.
- When I contemplate my answers, what are at least three (3) ways I can be at one with God as my true source of creativity, intelligence, and everything else I need in my life?
- List, word map, or illustrate as many ways as you can imagine.
- Then, list, word map, or illustrate what you’ll do to continually commune with God.
As you work with this devotional, know that you are a divine child of God, just as Jesus was. No matter what some traditional Christian practices instruct, you are worthy and deserving of all God’s goodness and grace. So, if you want to participate in communion, but aren’t “allowed,” look for a spiritual community which recognizes your divinity, no matter who you are, how you look, what you believe, or who you love.
And however you enjoy your time of communion, allow yourself to unite you mind, heart, and soul—your entire being—with God. Affirm: “The power and presence of God is with me, within me, and all around me now. I am filled with divine life energy and my soul rejoices.”
© 2022 – Rev. Jennifer L. Sacks – All rights reserved.
Photo from Shutterstock by Olha Rohulya.
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