When asked what Communion represented, I remembered this story i had read within Andrew Root's paper: Youth Ministry as Discerning Christopraxis a Hermeneutical Model;
Loaded in the back of a truck and
headed deep into the Bavarian Forest sat prisoners heading to the
concentration camp at Flossenburg in the final days of World War II.
In one corner sat pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, next to him was a
Russian soldier. As they travelled the Russian soldier and
Bonhoeffer talked, becoming friends as the soldier taught the pastor
Russian. When the truck stopped for the night and it became clear
that many of the prisoners would soon meet their demise, pastor
Bonhoeffer was asked to administer communion. He agreed and stood to
begin, but the Russian soldier remained sitting, explaining that he
was a communist atheist and therefore it would be hypocritical for
him to partake. Upon hearing his response pastor Bonhoeffer sat back
down and is reported to have stated, “Then neither will I partake,
for how can I be sure that in leaving you for the communion table I
would not be leaving Christ.”
During communion it is often the individual receiver that is emphasised but taking communion while others are excluded splits rather than builds community. In this case, perhaps it is in the denial of communion you are partaking in Christ's ministry rather than merely remembering it.
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