When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God.’ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And 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.’ In 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.
Luke 22:14-20 NIVUK
I've been going back and forth to the Philippines as regularly as I can since 2001, when I met the woman who became my wife and the mother of my daughter. It's a wonderful country and one of my most favourite places to visit. I know parts of the country and the culture quite well. But sometimes it still has the capacity to take me by surprise.
On the Sunday before our wedding, we were in church and my wife was busy talking to her friends when some young guy I had never met before came up to me and asked, "So, Paul, where's my invitation?"
When I asked him who he was, he couldn't give me a satisfactory answer and disappeared. It turned out that he was one of the students at the Bible college ran by the church, didn't have a lot of money and was looking for a free feed. I never saw him again, which was a bit of a shame as some of our guests didn't turn up. We might have been able to squeeze him in.
No-one comes to the Lord's Supper looking for a free feed. The context of the original Lord's Supper, of the church meetings in Acts (Acts 2:46-47) and the Words of Institution in 1 Corinthians 11 denote a meal - a Love Feast - something akin to a modern pot luck lunch but with more significance - and not just a few morsels of bread and a shot glass of juice.
What's more, as the father of a good friend of mine in Romania often pointed out, we are supposed to do it every time we gather, not just on Sundays and not according to a timetable.
But we do neither. Our ecclesiastical culture has relegated it to something we tag on to the end of a busy service on a Sunday morning, almost as an afterthought or a box to be ticked, and that is fundamentally wrong. The Lord's Supper is not a religious rite or ritual. It is not a good luck charm.
No, it itself is an act of grace. We shouldn't need it, but we do. Because it is the church's memory - its reminder of the Godliness of God, the sinfulness of sin and the human-ness of humans. The Lord's Supper should make us feel uncomfortable when we see the symbols of a violent act carried out against an innocent man on our behalf right there in front of us. It should be a powerful and unmistakable reminder of our sin, and that has to hurt.
But yet it is also a powerful and unmistakable sign of the love and the grace of God. And that should make our heart sing.
Two often neglected truths about the Lord's Supper is that it teaches us about the fundamental equality and unity of the church: how we are all sinners before God who need a Saviour, and how we are all part of both the local and global Body of Christ. That has to bring humility into our mindset and correct any divisive attitudes we have. If it doesn't, if we still harbour ill-feeling towards our brothers or sisters, then we will be taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner.
Lastly, it also speaks of the church's eternity. Because the Lord's Supper is not a permanent church ritual. One day there will be no need of it. And the reality of its temporary nature gives hope of a much better future.
My Filipino family does things sometimes that Westerns think is strange, and that's perfectly okay because British people can be a downright weird bunch too. Filipinos only believe they've had a meal if they've eaten rice. In fact, there is only a slight difference between the word for food ('ka'on') and the word for rice ('kan'on').
This leads to Filipinos going out for fast food - at McDonald's or Burger King or KFC or Jollibee - and sitting down to dinner with rice when they get home.
I believe the church suffers when we have a 'fast food' Lord's Supper and don't down for a proper spiritual meal. I believe we suffer, as individuals. And therefore we all suffer, as a body. As the Body of Christ.
The Lord's Supper has undergone numerous changes. But the biggest wrong thing we can do to it is take it lightly. If we tag it on as an extra to our services, or have an infrequent service for it, or use it as a 'tick box exercise' or a good luck charm, then we have robbed ourselves of a special experience and are partaking of it in an unworthy manner.
But if we approach it in the right way - in humility of heart and mind and attitude, with deep gratitude for what Jesus has done for us on the cross and a willingness to accept others as part of the Body of Christ, then, and only then, will we be truly blessed.
However we 'do' the Lord's Supper, what we get out of it will depend entirely on how we approach it. The Corinthians were clearly making a mess of it. We will make the same mess, but in a different way, if we approach it in an unworthy manner.
The Lord's Supper can be a cold ritual that passes us by in an instant. Or it can be a challenging, uplifting, spiritual experience. And the people who determine which of these it is are not elders or deacons or pastors. No. It's us - all of us - as individuals and corporately as the Body of Christ.
So let's make up our minds to approach it in the right way, and to honour Jesus Christ and His Body as we do so.
In most churches communion is tagged on at the end of a service once a month. In other churches if you are a believer you can only participate in communion if you have a letter of recognition both these ways are wrong. Communion is not meant to be an added extra for the few but for all who are in relationship with God.