Remembrance (Communion Song)

I saw it coming, as we were to the last of the three rules. 1. Do no harm 2. Do good. 3. Stay in love with God. The strongest act of worship in the Christian faith is Holy Communion. No matter your theology of communion, no matter your denominational affiliation, Holy Communion is something that all Christian believers have in common. The Communion Table stretches back 2000 years, to the night before His betrayal when Jesus took the Bread and the Cup in His hands and told the disciples, "Take and eat; this is my body." Communion is something that Christians can do over and over, as celebration, as worship, as a time for self examination, as a place to gain strength in the faith, as an act of remembering what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross.
The synoptic gospel writers all recorded that very first Communion service:

Matthew 26:

26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." 27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

Mark 14:

22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." 23Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. 25"I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

Luke 22:

19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him."

In his gospel, John adds a few more layers of meaning. From John 6:

53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."

Paul, in his letter to the church at Corinth, had to review what the ritual of the Bread and the Cup meant. The Corinthians were struggling with many issues surrounding their worship, not the least of which was the way the congregation was "eating the last supper." You can find Paul's thoughts in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. In chapter 11, Paul walks the church again through the history of the love feast of bread and wine:

23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

Finally, a word from Webster's.

Main Entry: com·mu·nion

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin communion-, communio mutual participation, from communis. [The same roots give us words like community and communication.]

1 : an act or instance of sharing.

2 a capitalized : a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ b : the act of receiving Communion c capitalized : the part of a Communion service in which the sacrament is received
3 : intimate fellowship or rapport
4 : a body of Christians having a common faith and discipline.

Well, that turned into quite the little study, all in order to get to this wonderful song of worship written by Matt Redman. This is Matt Maher's version: