Arguments Against Weekly Communion Revisited

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DatOrganistTho

Puritan Board Freshman
Full disclosure: I now participate in a church that celebrates weekly communion (offering wine and bread) and has well attended morning and evening services. We do not celebrate communion at each service, but rather alternate week to week.

Over the years (having grown up in a church that did it once a month then even worshiped in a church that celebrated once a quarter) I have heard various arguments against weekly communion.

I don't mean to ask my questions as to challenge the individual church's authority and conscience to govern its frequency. Rather, I intend to ask some serious logical questions and invite others to chime in with valid arguments against weekly communion. I'll first raise the typical arguments and offer a quick rebuttal against them. I am approaching this question from a Reformed-Calvinistic view of the sacraments, and that they are a means of grace in the doctrine of the RPW. (Please do not enact arguments that do not fit within this framework)

  1. Weekly communion fosters indifference, &t. Logically, this would also apply to other "weekly" observances such as singing, praying, preaching, and fellowship, which are all means of grace that God ordains to occur. This means that we should be preaching, singing, praying, and fellowshiping less often in order to "foster importance" in the believer's life.
  2. Weekly communion is logistically difficult / financially stressing, &t. This begs the question: what is so difficult logistically to prevent the believer from sacrificing their "time" in order to worship the Eternal Son of God?
  3. Celebrating communion too frequently leads to people not being able to prepare properly for the seriousness of said matter, &t. If we see communion as a means of grace, like other elements in worship, then other things can too become issues of preparation. Yet, we are called to be ready for these things anyway.
  4. Weekly communion causes confusion as to the priority of preaching in enacting and strengthening the faith which bears the conscience of the believer during communion. Who says so? Can this also be said about prayer and singing?

Some less common arguments are (and thus arguments I have not responded to):
  1. The Elders are responsible for making sure that their flock is personally and spiritually able to take communion as the defenders of the table. Doing it more often requires a level of flippancy on the accountability of the Elders to verify the surety of faith in their flock.
  2. Even though communion is a means of grace, it is still the only thing in the Bible that the NT warns us to "not take lightly," therefore we should do something different in relationship to our examination of our worthiness to partake of communion.

Understand? I would love to hear any other arguments, and any rebuttals against what I've offered up.
 
We take it every Lord's Day during our evening service. I love it so much, it would be strange now to not have that wonderful blessing each week. Not only do we receive two audible sermons on the Lord's Day, but we also get a visible sermon. We are always brought back to the heart of the Gospel. The Scriptures do say "Do this as often as you come together." I see this as being faithful to the text.
 
DatOrganistTho said:
[*]Weekly communion fosters indifference, &t. Logically, this would also apply to other "weekly" observances such as singing, praying, preaching, and fellowship, which are all means of grace that God ordains to occur. This means that we should be preaching, singing, praying, and fellowshiping less often in order to "foster importance" in the believer's life.
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In the Reformed view of sacraments we agree I hope that they are "confirming" ordinances, not "converting" ordinances. The question, then, is not whether they foster indifference, but whether participating in a confirming ordinance every week will actually serve as a confirming ordinance, or whether having it every week will take away from that quality by which it confirms faith.

What precisely does the Lord's supper confirm? Does it merely confirm the word preached, or does it confirm faith in the word preached? And is it all the word as preached, or is it specially centralised on the proclamation of the death of Christ? If the minister happens to preach on the duty to obey magistrates from Romans 13, what is the Lord's supper confirming at that point?

DatOrganistTho said:
[*]Weekly communion is logistically difficult / financially stressing, &t. This begs the question: what is so difficult logistically to prevent the believer from sacrificing their "time" in order to worship the Eternal Son of God?
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The issue does not pertain to logistics but to the life of the congregation. It has to do with the kind of preparation which is beneficial for congregational participation so far as the Bible lays down a preparative pattern. In the upper room we see concentrated discourse. In Acts 20 we see concentrated discourse. If such is ideal for preparation, the congregation as a whole will need to set apart time in particular in order to make that preparation.

DatOrganistTho said:
[*]Celebrating communion too frequently leads to people not being able to prepare properly for the seriousness of said matter, &t. If we see communion as a means of grace, like other elements in worship, then other things can too become issues of preparation. Yet, we are called to be ready for these things anyway.
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Again, it is a confirming ordinance. Consider, as an example of proper spiritual preparation, the teaching of the Larger Catechism as to what is required before coming to the Lord's supper. The preparative is different to the preparative required for the hearing of the Word because the Word is a converting ordinance.

DatOrganistTho said:
[*]Weekly communion causes confusion as to the priority of preaching in enacting and strengthening the faith which bears the conscience of the believer during communion. Who says so? Can this also be said about prayer and singing?
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The Word has primacy because the efficacy of the sacraments will depend in part on the faith of the recipient and faith comes by hearing the Word. So far as prayer and singing are concerned, they are to be engaged in every day in private. They are not specific to the public gathered worship. Word and sacraments are specific to the public worship; and here the Word has primacy and centrality as the primary means of convincing and converting sinners as well as of confirming and comforting believers.
 
Ryan&Amber2013 said:
The Scriptures do say "Do this as often as you come together."
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You might want to check your reference, friend. I don't remember reading that anywhere. There are statements like, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come" - I Corinthians 11:26; and, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" - Acts 20:7.

I think you may have merged two or more texts. Indeed, if there were a statement as explicit as what you have claimed, there would be no debate, would there?
 
I recommend this helpful work on this subject.

In today's Reformed world, there is a growing movement toward regarding the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper as divinely mandated by Scripture. In defense of this perspective, its proponents often enlist Calvin as one of their own. This booklet seeks to evaluate such claims in light of an extensive and careful reading of Calvin's life and theology. Is the contemporary outcry for weekly communion a genuine revival of the sacramental thought and practice of the Genevan reformer? The answer may surprise you!
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I am a proponent of weekly communion, and would argue that your arguments in points one and three can be equally well applied to infrequent communion. i would argue:

1: Infrequent communion leads to indifference, for the same reason we take issue with individuals only attending church on Christmas and Easter (of course attending church and taking communion are different but the spiritual effects are the same). I find that weekly communion forces me to concentrate and reflect and that the more frequent this discipline is forced on me the more spiritually healthy I become. If fact, I am thinking of leaving my current church for this exact reason. Put crudely the service rarely "offers" me anything. I can listed to a sermon or read the Bible anytime.

2: Celebrating communion infrequently causes individuals to prepare inadequately. I know of one church which offers communion twice a year. Given the rarity of the service I have my doubts that one can really engage in proper self-searching. Again, putting the matter crudely, frequent communion allows one to get "better" at participation. Practice makes perfect. I found that when I took my first communion at my current church (after almost two months) the experience was less rarefied and special, but felt more like an odd innovation.

I would also add a third point:

3: Communion gives one a concrete "reason" to attend church. Again, crudely, without communion, everything that gets "done" on Sunday I could do outside of church, whether it be fellowship, Bible reading, reflection, listening to sermons. Communion "forces" me to attend church, seriously consider what Christ accomplished on the cross, and submit myself to him. It adds a texture to my week and makes it more godly.

Previously I would wake up on Sunday and think "I will stand before God today" and this realization was in my mind throughout the week. Now (with communion offered every two months, attending church has lost some of its gravity.

P.S. I do not want to make communion seem like some sort of utilitarian tool for forcing discipline but in my personal experience weekly communion has been immensely healthy in the spiritual sense.
 
Ryan&Amber2013 said:
We take it every Lord's Day during our evening service. I love it so much, it would be strange now to not have that wonderful blessing each week. Not only do we receive two audible sermons on the Lord's Day, but we also get a visible sermon. We are always brought back to the heart of the Gospel. The Scriptures do say "Do this as often as you come together." I see this as being faithful to the text.
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Amen! Our pastor names the Lord's Day evening service as a "double portion."
 
TylerRay said:
Ryan&Amber2013 said:
The Scriptures do say "Do this as often as you come together."
Click to expand...

You might want to check your reference, friend. I don't remember reading that anywhere. There are statements like, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come" - I Corinthians 11:26; and, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" - Acts 20:7.

I think you may have merged two or more texts. Indeed, if there were a statement as explicit as what you have claimed, there would be no debate, would there?
Click to expand...

Lol, I'm sorry, you are right. I was paraphrasing in a hurry. I think I was referring to 1 Cor 11:26, but was off. Thanks for the correction!
 
Edward said:
Ryan&Amber2013 said:
The Scriptures do say "Do this as often as you come together."
Click to expand...

What translation are you using, and what verse is that?
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I apologize, I misquoted. I was thinking of 1 Cor 11:26, "For as often as you eat this." And this isn't a direct verse which applies to how often to take the Supper. I think I heard someone use it in that context before, so it popped in my mind that way, but that's not what the verse says. Good catch. Thank you guys for correcting me.
 
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