For over 2,000 years, Holy Communion has been at the heart of Christian worship. We have called it by many names – the Lord’s Supper, the Mass, the Eucharist – but from the very beginning, followers of Jesus have been brought closer to God and to one another as we have shared in this sacred meal. As we eat the bread and drink the wine, we are doing as Jesus asked us to do. He said, “Do this, as often as you will, in remembrance of me.” As we do this, and as we remember Jesus’ life, his death, his resurrection, Christ himself comes and meets us here, and gives us his gifts of love and forgiveness and guidance and strength.

For the entire history of the Christian movement, this sacrament has been so filled with meaning, and so important in the lives of Christian believers, that words alone …