Acts20.com

Interested to know how many of our communities believe in the real presence of Christ in communion?I'm not interested in discussing transubstantiation here or any other Catholic traditions, just wondering how many teach it to there congregations this way.

No, I do not believe in the real prescence views regarding the Lord's Supper

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No, OTCP, I do not mean where the wine and bread literally transform into the body and blood of Christ. That would be the Catholic tradition of transubstantiation.

No, OTCP, I do not mean where the wine and bread literally transform into the body and blood of Christ. That would be the Catholic tradition of transubstantiation. I am referring to telling/teaching your congregation that the presence of God resides in the elements. I aint joshin with ya here, mytime, I'm wantin to know we on the same page for I answer. 1. Are you sayin the real presence of Jesus in the elements in the sense that he said where 2 or 3 are present I am in the midst? As in, we know the Lord is here cause he promised to be?

obviously, we do not hold to the idea of trans/con. that being said, i think pentecostals in general have viewed the meal in a merely symbolic fashion. we've used that term for years, and we do so out of fear that people may think we believe in trans/con.its very obvious in scripture that Jesus was transferring the meaning of the passover meal to himself. the words are clear: this is my body this is my blood. Jesus was so clear that the first audience asked does this man actually think we're going to eat him? Jesus offered no symbolic explanation. misusing the supper can eat damnation to my soul. that's more than a symbol.however, the official COG teaching is more ambiguous.that's my two cents...

I'd love for you to expand on this.We had communion Sunday. The latest thing we've done at our church is to purchase a prepackaged little cup of juice that has a wafer sealed inside the cellophane top which, in turn, seals the juice. The wafer looked like Styrofoam, and I wondered if it was truly edible. I did ingest it. The juice smelled weird, so I didn't drink it. My son said the wafer was not like Styrofoam because he could actually use it as a guitar pick. At that point, our conversation was beginning to sound like an irreverent criticism, so I felt I should remind us that regardless of the quality, it represented something else. The very phrase I used was it's a symbol.

Re: its more than a symbol

He didn't have to offer a symbolic explanation, it is self evident in the text. When he said this is my body he was still alive. When he said This is my blood he was still living. They knew he wasn't speaking literally as he handed them the bread/wine, he was sitting there alive in their presence.

I hope not, but I did have to sort of get past it.I do remember a couple of communions that were considerably less packaged. One was at a mental hospital that our church held monthly services at. When we served the doughnuts and Kool Aid afterward, one of the patients suggested, Let's all hold hands and have communion. As kooky as it sounded, she might have been on the right track.