LS-09-How Often?
How Often? As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till He come.--1 Corinthians 11:26.
How often should it be? Our Lord did not say. Churches differ in their faith and practice. Some keep the feast only at extended intervals--quarterly, or even annually. More frequently the Supper is observed as a monthly institution. It is our custom to meet for this sacred purpose every first day of the week, and we do not hesitate, in special circumstances, such as in cases of sickness, to spread the Lord’s Table on other days besides.
Alexander Campbell pointed out that while all churches acknowledged the breaking of bread to be a Divine institution, they differed much in their views of the import of the institution. In one idea, however, they all agreed, that it was an extraordinary and not an ordinary act of Christian worship, and consequently did not belong to the ordinary worship of the Christian Church. That resulted in an incorrect attitude towards the Supper. As an extraordinary event in the worship of the Church, it could only be attended to occasionally, and then with a degree of preparation and a solemnity of observance that destroyed the joyous character of the feast, as it was experienced by the early disciples. The frequency of the observance of the Supper, therefore, will have an important relation to the meaning that it has for us.
Those who practise the less frequent observance plead that the weekly communion service tends to diminish its beauty and effectiveness, that it brings with it a familiarity which induces thoughtlessness and irreverence, and thus destroys the significance of this Divine ordinance. It is claimed that the more infrequent meeting gives opportunity for special preparation of heart and mind that could hardly belong to the weekly gathering. It seems clear, however, that at least one New Testament Church met every first day of the week to break bread, and there is no indication, apart from that, what the practice of the early Church was. We are persuaded, as a result of our experience, that the coming together with the return of every Lord’s day, to partake of the Supper, has spiritual values that can be realised in no other way. It is surely not too much to ask of us, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, that every week we follow the apostle’s suggestion: "Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." Certainly those who make the weekly observance the habit of their lives, believing it to be in accordance with the Divine will, find therein a satisfaction of soul, and a renewal of spiritual power, which nothing else can give. Let us come therefore, though it is but a week since last we met thus, with grateful thanks, sincerely seeking the benediction that awaits His people here.