I would like to beging my first contribution to this blog by saying I'm thrilled to be part of an on-going discussion about the history of the FMC. My undergraduate degree was in English Literature, and when I got to seminary it was a natural fit for me to study the hymns of Charles Wesley. My thesis was on the collection of hymns called Hymns on the Lord's Supper. The first question during my thesis defense was an easy, introductory question: "Why study this hymnal?"
During a time of lament and sorrow, I was debating whether or not to receive Communion (the question would be unthinkable to John Wesley, but I'll explain more on that later). I knew the service. Could I "Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for me, and feed on Him in my heart, by faith with thanksgiving"? The problem was that I was not thankful. The world was not right and I was hurting. But by the time the elements came to me, I did receive because I knew that regardless of how I may have felt about God, I could admit that I still needed His grace. And secondly I received Communion looking forward. In the Manual for the Free Methodist Church in Canada, there's a quote about Communion adapted from Michael Green:
"In Communion we look in at ourselves and confess the things that have gone wrong. We look back to Calvary and praise Jesus for his death for us. We look up to his risen presence, longing to nourish us through the bread and the cup which he said were his body and blood. We look around in love and fellowship with other guests at God's table. We look forward to his return at the end of all history, the marriage supper of the Lamb, of which every Communion service is a foretaste. And then we look out to a needy world; Communion is battle rations for Christian soldiers."
During that time of lament, I received Communion looking forward to the Day when all would be well. If Communion is a foretaste to the wedding supper on that glorious Day, I knew that it was our Lord's promise that He has not forgotten about us. During that service I received the grace I needed, my lament came to an end, and ever sine the Lord's Supper has held a special place in my heart.
I grew up with an infrequent celebration of the Lord's Supper. Our Methodist roots, however, present a different picture. John Wesley's sermon The Duty of Constant Communion attempts to show that it is the duty of every Christian to receive Communion as much as possible, and then he answers the objections to this practice. Many of the objections he lists were ones that I once used in debating the practice of a weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper. His message rests on two points: this is a command of God and it is meant for your blessing. His conclusion is simple, "Considering this is a command of God, he that does not communicate as often as he can has no piety; consider it as a mercy, he that does not communicate as often as he can has no wisdom." When I preached this message I used contemporary language to replace the vocabulary of "piety and prudence." I suggested that people who refuse Communion are either sinful or stupid.
The first Methodists had a practice of weekly Communion and it is not surprising that the Communion hymnal had to be large. In that collection there are 166 songs arranged under the following headings: 1) As it is a memorial of the suffering and death of Christ. 2) As it is a sign and a means of grace. 3) The sacrament as a pledge of heaven. 4) The Holy Eucharist as it implies a sacrifice. 5) Concerning the sacrifice of our persons. 6) After the sacrament.
When I first encountered this hymnal I was surprised by the many references to sacrifice, however, hymn number 63 has the line "No local Deity" to distance their theology from the sacrifice of the Roman Catholic Mass. Nevertheless, in the introduction to this hymnal, John Wesley writes, "Too many who are called Christian live as if under the Gospel there is no sacrifice but that of Christ on the cross." Granted the work of Christ is the only sacrifice that can atone for sin, but in receiving the elements of the Lord's Supper, the children of God are called to sacrifice. We receive grace from God at His table in order that we might serve God in a needy and broken world.
At the church where I serve in Holt, Ontario, there is a picture of the bread and cup of Communion. And the prayer in the picture says, "Lord make me like your bread, your body. Take me and pass me around among your people. Bless me and pass me around among your people. Break me and pass me around among your people." I think this picture points to the Lord's Supper as a way of looking out to a world in need.
The conclusion to Hymns on the Lord's Supper is a near epic 22 stanza opoem. It begins celebrating the virtues of the early church. The saints of old were "impregnated with life divine" and even "glad rivals of the heavenly choir." But as the Methodist movement was beginning, things were very different. It prompted the question, "Why? What has changed? Why is the church today lacking the power that was evident in the early church?" The answer was because of a neglect of Communion: Sad mutual causes of decay, slackness and vice together move / Grown cold we cast the means away, and quench'd our latest Spark of Love." The hymn closes with a petition that God would restore to His Church a hunger for the Lord's Supper.
