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Ms. Lesley didn't write this article to explain the Bible, she's here to explain her tradition and church practice. Her objective is to further parse what women are allowed to do in a church service. This is a frequent practice of Ms. Lesley, to micro-analyze gender roles to make sure women keep their place, all based on
1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
The problem is, the NT does not contain a solemn communion ritual. There is no biblical indication that communion can only happen in a church building on Sunday. Rather, communion was the church gathering for a meal and fellowship.
Whenever they got together to eat, they were to remember the Blood [1Co. 11:25] and the Body [1Co. 11:24], and especially, to not dishonor its members [1Co. 11:22]. This was the regular fellowship meal, not a solemn, solitary ceremony with a little plastic cup of juice and a cracker.
Partaking of a meal together speaks to being one body. The sharing of bread is symbolic of togetherness, unity, and a singular identity. Eating together means we belong together as the family.
Communion is the interaction of the body of Christ one with another in honor when it gathers together to eat. To dishonor the body (the church) is to dishonor Christ. However, the Corinthian church was despising the Body (that is, certain members of the church, and by extension, Jesus' sacrifice) by neglecting some, eating all the food, and by getting drunk.
If we don't recognize the Body we eat and drink judgment upon ourselves. If we eat and exclude, diminish, or dishonor our brothers and sisters, we tear down the Body. It isn't about considering the state of our own souls in relation to unconfessed sin, it is instead about our regard for both Jesus' sacrifice and our care and honor for the Body.
It seems clear that communion is more accurately represented by a church potluck than by the little cracker and splash of grape juice during a solemn church service. Communion speaks of a much higher purpose for the church than is currently practiced, a togetherness and unity of vision and purpose that far exceeds the ritual.
Why is this important? Because if communion is only a church ritual, then who "administers" it becomes an issue, and also where it happens is important. So if communion can only be done by a pastor in a church service, that gives Ms. Lesley the opportunity to bring in her ideas about what women can and can't do.
And this is the crux of the question. Ms. Lesley wants to add another sub-doctrine to 1 Timothy 2:12. We must deem this Bad Bible Teaching.
Is it biblical for women to administer communion to other women in a local church or a parachurch ladies gathering? It it biblical for a couple to administer communion at a social gathering in their home?
Communion.. the Lord’s Supper… the Lord’s Table… the breaking of bread and drinking of wine (or grape juice) as a memorial to our Lord’s suffering and death is an extremely solemn and serious ordinance of the church.
I mean, in the Corinthian church, people were getting sick and dying because they weren’t handling the Lord’s Supper in a godly way.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 1 Corinthians 11:27-30
Take a moment and meditate on what that means. How seriously does God take the Lord’s Supper?
The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the gathered church, just like baptism is. (This is Ms. Lesley's pivotal premise. Notice it is a bare assertion.)
You wouldn’t (I hope) baptize people at your Tupperware party or even your weekly women’s Bible study, and you shouldn’t be observing the Lord’s Supper in those sorts of venues either. (From her undocumented premise comes the errant application, that communion is done only in a church building.)
Look at the language in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and how it differentiates between eating outside the church gathering (at home) and partaking of the Lord’s Supper inside the worship gathering of the church. (The gathering of the church was at SOMEONE'S HOUSE, Ms. Lesley. Paul's point was that the gathering of the church to eat and fellowship together is different than eating at home.
Look at the language in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and how it differentiates between eating outside the church gathering (at home) and partaking of the Lord’s Supper inside the worship gathering of the church. (The gathering of the church was at SOMEONE'S HOUSE, Ms. Lesley. Paul's point was that the gathering of the church to eat and fellowship together is different than eating at home.
The gathering of the saints is important. The honor to be given to every saint is important. The blood and flesh is important. A solemn ceremony at a church building is irrelevant.)
The language assumes that the Lord’s Supper takes place in the church gathering: “When you come together…” (17, 20), “When you come together as a church…” (18), “Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God…” (22), “when you come together to eat” (33), “if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together…” (34).
When you unbiblically remove the Lord’s Supper from the worship gathering of the church body, you immediately cheapen it. (Any meal where the church comes together is communion. It is Ms. Lesley who is cheapening it.)
When you unbiblically remove the Lord’s Supper from the worship gathering of the church body, you immediately cheapen it. (Any meal where the church comes together is communion. It is Ms. Lesley who is cheapening it.)
It becomes lesser. Just some little thing we do so we can feel like we’re being holy, or because we crave ritual. (??? Irony Alert.)
It’s reduced to the level of hors d’oeuvres or a party game. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is for the gathered church to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (26).
And because it is an ordinance of the church, (Restates her premise, but supplies no additional information.)
And because it is an ordinance of the church, (Restates her premise, but supplies no additional information.)
those who shepherd the church – pastors and elders – are responsible for administering it in a biblical way. (Here we have it. First Ms. Lesley insists that communion is a ritual that can only happen in a church building. From this she concludes that since it happens in a church building it must be administered by church leadership. And we know from her other writings that women cannot be allowed to do anything that implies church leadership.)
That responsibility has not been given to any Tom, Dick, and Harry (or Dawn, Pat, and Mary, if you will) who decides he or she wants to offer it at a private shindig. It is a pastoral responsibility, which includes fencing the table.
So the answer to all of your questions is no. The Lord’s Supper should not be observed at parachurch meetings or social gatherings at all. (Or weddings. You didn’t ask about that, but I’m going to throw that in there, too, for the same reasons.) And the only reason I can think of that a church would have women administering the Lord’s Supper during a worship service instead of the pastor, elders, and/or deacons is either to appear egalitarian or because they are egalitarian, so that’s a “no” too.
So the answer to all of your questions is no. The Lord’s Supper should not be observed at parachurch meetings or social gatherings at all. (Or weddings. You didn’t ask about that, but I’m going to throw that in there, too, for the same reasons.) And the only reason I can think of that a church would have women administering the Lord’s Supper during a worship service instead of the pastor, elders, and/or deacons is either to appear egalitarian or because they are egalitarian, so that’s a “no” too.
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