When I was a pastor at a church I would regularly preside over communion. This included speaking before the congregation received the bread and wine (or juice). The church was non-denominational, and there was no particular liturgy for communion. I would quote scripture, pray and make some remarks moving towards the sharing of communion. One of the things that I said almost every time was “This is a table not of exclusion, but of inclusion.” The comment was made to note a couple of things.
Firstly, none of us “deserves” communion.
Secondly, all of us are invited to receive.
Apparently this is not the view of a number of Catholic bishops in the United States. They clearly view the communion table as a table of exclusion. Communion is something, according to their way of thinking, that can be withheld from people who fail to measure up to some kind of standard. It would appear to be the case that their sights are now set upon the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, as one who deserves to be excluded. Biden is one of the most religious and devout Christian believers to ever hold office in the United States. Jimmy Carter was another deeply devout Christian (Protestant, not Catholic) as President, and was also hated by the conservative Christian right. Biden’s Catholic faith has been a consistent and formative part of his life. He attends mass more than most Catholics attend mass, certainly more than most Protestants attend church. He himself cites his faith as critical everyday in his life, and as life saving in times of suffering and loss. When he was young, Biden thought much more about becoming a priest than about becoming a politician.
The reason that he may be barred from receiving communion is that a number of conservative bishops are upset about his stance on access to abortion. It would be inaccurate to say that Biden is “pro-abortion”. His position is that a woman should be able to make the choice. This is against the official teaching of the Catholic church (as is birth control, and women as priests) and a number of bishops thus feel that a point can be made by refusing Biden the sacrament of Holy Communion.
I will simply say that I think this is very much unlike Jesus. Jesus did not say, “This is my body, broken for you (bishops), but not for you (Biden).”
When Jesus instituted communion, he said, “This is my body”. He took wine and referred to it as his blood. The occasion was actually a Passover meal with his followers the night before he was killed. There is a line in First Corinthians, in a passage describing the first communion that says, “On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and broke it …”
There is some argument about it, but it seems to be the case that Jesus gave communion to Judas who he knew was about to betray him. He certainly gave it to Peter who he knew would deny him within hours.
Communion is a table of inclusion, not of exclusion.
There is mention in the Bible that you might want to exclude yourself from receiving in certain circumstances. The direction here is that if you have wronged someone, if apology is required, perhaps make that apology first. That seems good to me, that we could exclude ourselves after some honest self-reflection. In other words, communion is never something that is deserved or earned by measuring up to some standard. It would be good to hear from the bishops, not first about why Joe Biden doesn’t deserve communion, but about why they do deserve it. It’s always curious to hear people explain why they measure up and others do not. This is true whether the explanation comes from conservative Catholic bishops on the right or from self-appointed guardians of social and cultural standards on the left. You can see the humour in it anytime anyone (ourselves included) aims to articulate just how right they are and how wrong other people are.
Most hilarious of all (except for the real damage and terror it has cause) is when church people, religious officials who have granted themselves titles, and non-officials who have power in local congregations, act as if they are called to protect Jesus.
I picture a conversation. It is actually one-way, some religious person is speaking to Jesus saying something like:
“We got your back, Jesus” or,
“It’s a good thing we are here to fight this fight for you” or,
“We know who your enemies are (they happen to be all of our enemies). We will attack them for you” or,
“We have determined the things that threaten your mission. We will defeat those things on your behalf.”
See? Hilarious.
Communion always posed a dilemma for me. Almost any church I attended seemed to preface the “invitation” with a “but”. So, simply, I stopped taking communication and made that decision even before entering a church. I just didn’t want to wrestle with “am I Christian enough”.
I decided that Jesus was okay with me either way. When I started attending church after my husband died I had already made the decision to bypass communion.
I heard your invitation but I was comfortable by now with not taking communion.
The person I was with questioned my decision and after much discussion I decided to start taking communion again. I still feel that Jesus is okay with me either way.