Communion Service-How to have it at home

Recently my family and I had our first communion service at home. It was intimate, led by the Holy Spirit, and full of remembrance of all that Jesus did to give us every opportunity to enter into eternity with Him. It was such a special time, and I wanted to share with you to give you the opportunity to fill your home with praise & worship as we did.

What is Communion?

In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Jesus tells us to “This do in remembrance of me”. What He’s referring to is the intentional coming together in worship, bowing our hearts, and breaking bread as a community of believers in celebration of His sacrifice for us.

During this remembrance we use bread, symbolizing Jesus’ body (which was broken) and wine, symbolizing His blood (which was poured out). Yes, it sounds strange, I admit that. However, remember that this is symbolic of His broken body and His shed blood.

I had no idea, but there seems to be some regulations that have (post Jesus) been put around communion service days & times. However I’ve never heard, in fact Acts 2:42-46 tells us the apostles met and broke bread everyday. We can easily get caught up in schedules and rules (to the point it restricts & stifles our worship), but  we must remember to let the Holy Spirit lead us. So, if you feel like breaking bread on a random Tuesday, then have at it.

Why should I participate in communion?

Notice up there when I said “intentional”. God never wants us to do something out of ritualistic routine. In 1 Corinthians 11:27-31 we’re reminded that when we take communion, our hearts need to be in the right place. We should pray, remember, and do some self-examining to recognize that Jesus’ death was necessary to save us.

Communion is supposed to be a personal experience (even though it’s done in a communal way). As I said before, we’re all sinners, and just as a parent disciplines a child to instruct and teach them as they grow, so does God to us. However, our sin has set up such a veil (think of a brides veil) between us and God, that without Jesus, it would be impossible to tear down the separation. Along came Jesus, breaking chains of slavery to sin, healing disease, raising the dead, and loving us like no other on earth. Just think of what’s He’s done for you. Where He’s brought you from, and what He’s saved you out of. THAT, my friends, is why you should participate in communion service. It’s our way of worshiping and thanking Jesus for doing what we never could have accomplished on our own.

How can I create communion service at home?

• First, create a worship atmosphere. We set the lights low in our home, sat in a comfortable place with our Bibles, and praised the Lord through worship songs allowing to Holy Spirit to move freely. 
  • Set up a “Communion” radio station on Pandora (or wherever service you like). Start with one of your favorite songs, (in Pandora) thumbs-up and thumbs-down tracks as desired until Pandora begins to learn what you do and do not like. Soon, it will become a station you can let play as you’re partaking in your communion services moving forward.
  • Here are a few song options to get your station started: Nothing but the blood-All Sons & Daughters, Holy Spirit-Jesus Culture (Kim Walker Smith), You’re beautiful-Shane &  Shane, Break every chain-Jesus Culture, Still believe-Kim Walker Smith, Fill me up Lord- Jesus Culture (Kim Walker Smith…notice a trend here..), Resurrecting-Elevation Worship, Stronger-Hillsong, Freedom Reigns-Jesus Culture

• For the actual partaking, you’ll need some type of unleavened bread, (we use Matzo at church) but we only had crackers at home, so that’s what we used to represent the Body of Christ. Some people use actual wine, but we used grape juice to represent the blood.
• Now, I prefer to allow my pastor to lead us through the the words as we partake. Some of our communion services have been posted on our Church’s website, here’s a link to one that I use, (it also happens to be our Christmas eve service). Of course you could go through and watch the entire service, but because the worship is being done on our own, I skip right to 1:27:38. 
• We end with prayer, and thanksgiving to God for allowing us this freedom to worship and for our redemption through Jesus.
• Remember, keep it basic, keep it about Jesus. Again, don’t get caught up in making it too ritualistic.

You know we have a tendency to get caught up in the grandeur, trying to making it bigger & better, and I get that. We’re doing this for our Jesus, we want to give it everything, we want to make it extra special, extra great &  glamorous. But we should remember there was nothing glamorous about the first communion service. God doesn’t need a grand event, He needs our grand heart, our whole heart. All other things fade away, but we should simply come with thanksgiving, remembering Jesus, and giving our hearts over to Him. Let’s not get caught up in rules or the planning, let’s get caught up in our heart!

Oh goodness, friends, I so hope this helps you make this special time of worship come alive in your own home! Remember to invite the Holy Spirit to be part of this communion and take the lead. And please don’t use this as a complete replacement for finding a church home and gathering with them in fellowship too.