Now as we speak of the mysteries involved in the Lord’s Supper, and they are many and deep, we need to occasionally speak a word of caution against a superstitious approach to the Supper. In short, the difference between superstition and evangelical faith is a difference between an unthinking acceptance of impersonal magic throughout all the world, and a basic faith in the authority of the Word spoken.
That said, as evangelicals we have to remind ourselves that the Word has spoken to us more clearly and extensively than our traditions sometimes admit. St. Paul says that we are all the one loaf of communion. Just as plainly as Jesus said, “this is my body, broken for you,” so also the apostle Paul said that “we being many are one loaf.” He says this right after he has taught us that we have communion in the blood of Christ by partaking and communion in the body of Christ by partaking. Now plainly the bread on the table does not “turn into” the Smiths, and Johnsons, and Thompsons. Paul is addressing and insisting on our koinonia union at a much deeper and more profound level than a magic trick on the table. So do not make the mistake that many evangelicals have made, which is to think that because it is not happening on the table that it must not be happening. Do not think that if the words of a priest cannot do it, then somehow it cannot be done. No, not at all. What priests and ministers cannot do, God has determined to do through the instrumentality of the Word and faith, simple evangelical faith. And the Word says that this happens as we eat and drink in love. Come, then.