What is the Lord's Supper?
The Lord's Supper is a means of grace, a representation of our redemption, a remembrance of the sufferings and death of Christ, and a token of love and union which Christians have with Christ and with one another.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 43
22And while they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it he broke it and gave it to them and said, "Take; this is my body." 23And he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body." 27And he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
19And after taking bread and giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20And likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.
53Therefore Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves." 54The one eating my flesh and drinking my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56The one eating my flesh and drinking my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live through the Father, so the one eating me will also live through me. 58This is the bread that came down out from heaven, not just as the fathers ate and died; the one eating this bread will live toward the age." 59These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
16The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. 24And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
27For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
The Lord's Supper is a means of grace, a representation of our redemption, a remembrance of Christ's sufferings and death, and a token of love and union. Article VI of the Confession of Faith supplies the definition: the Supper is "a representation of our redemption, a memorial of the sufferings and death of Christ, and a token of love and union which Christians have with Christ and with one another." The same article teaches that both sacraments are means of grace, and "remembrance" is the word Jesus himself used at the table.
The Supper is a representation of our redemption because the signs set before the congregation are the body and the blood by which redemption was won. Jesus said of the cup, "this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Article XVIII of the Articles of Religion calls it "a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death." The Supper is a remembrance of the sufferings and death of Christ because he commanded it: "This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). Paul repeats the command for the cup, "do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:25), and records that it was given "on the night when he was betrayed" (1 Corinthians 11:23).
The Supper is a token of love and union with Christ. Jesus promised, "The one eating my flesh and drinking my blood remains in me, and I in him" (John 6:56), and (John 6:58). It is also a token of union with one another. Paul asked the Corinthians, (1 Corinthians 10:16), and went on: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:17). Everyone who eats at this table has already "put on Christ" in baptism (Galatians 3:27), so the table and the font belong to the same life.
A Methodist comes to the table often. John Wesley preached a sermon titled "The Duty of Constant Communion," and his argument rests on this same teaching: the Supper is a means of grace, so a Christian should receive it as often as it is offered. At the table a member remembers the cross, receives Christ's promise of forgiveness, and is joined again to the one body of the church.