It’s a funny thing, coming to take the bread and the wine.  We all bring different levels of understanding, or of not understanding.  We all come with different strengths of faith or lack of faith.  Different Christian traditions have different limits on who can receive Holy Communion, The Lord’s Supper, The Eucharist.  That’s because they each have different understandings of what it means.  My favorite summary teaching on the Eucharist comes from St. Augustine of Hippo, who taught catechumens on the meaning of communion by saying, “Be what you see, receive what you are.”  What happens in the Eucharist always requires some sort of translation, some kind of imperfect metaphor to help a person begin to grasp this incredible mystery.

This comic is not meant to cover all the breadth of theology surrounding the Eucharist, nor is the punchline some culmination or summary of Eucharistic theology.  Rather, I wanted to convey the beauty of the communion of saints who gathers at the table, the variety of theology that enriches our understanding.  Perhaps in one of these saints you hear echoes of how you tend to understand this Holy Mystery.  As I youth minister, it’s always a joy to help a person find Christ in translation.

Come, sinners, to the gospel feast;
let every soul be Jesus’ guest.
Ye need not one be left behind,
for God hath bid all humankind.

-Charles Wesley