Who can partake of Communion? As with most questions like this, it seems to demand a community of discernment, a group who will live in response to Jesus and in response to the texts of Scripture. It is interesting that Luke-Acts is rather ambiguous in the language used for communion. Is breaking bread a sacred meal or a normal meal (Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7)? I suggest that the ambiguity is intentional, that the common meal was the place for Eucharist. Every one ate. The children ate. The strangers were welcomed to the table. It was in the spirit of Passover where it was an opportunity to illustrate the narrative of our lives. Every time the bread was broken and the wine shared, they would remember and relive the gift of their identity.
The Corinthian problem with communion is interesting. The reason they were failing was that they were still living according to the principalities and the powers, playing the domination game. The rich did not wait for the poor. In our community we still have a problem understanding this. We have turned the Eucharist into a private devotional time that happens to occur in the assembly. The people were taught somewhere that to 'discern the body' was to imagine the suffering of Jesus on the cross (1 Cor 11:29). It seems to me that Paul meant for us to look out for one another, to recognize that the alternative world proposed by a crucified Lord would mean that the old standards for separation were no longer in play. All should eat at the Lord's Table and receive His hospitality and ours. And as far as possible it should be a truly communal act.
