Anne from Pennsylvania writes:

Please comment on Communion. I don't feel like a sinner or that Jesus died for me. I am a church-going Christian. I have read all your books but I am still confused about why I receive "the body and blood" of Jesus. It has got to be more than remembrance.

Dear Anne ,

You need first to identify the source of your understanding of Communion. I suspect it is not the Eucharist itself, but the inadequate and bizarre theology of the Eucharist that is at the center of your problem.

Much of traditional Christianity defines human beings as "fallen, victims of original sin and therefore evil." I reject that definition as both inept and uninformed. The problem with human life in my opinion is not that it has fallen, but that it has not yet evolved into full humanity. I am a post-Darwinian thinker, while the traditional ecclesiastical spokespersons are still thinking in pre-Darwinian terms. That means I do not look to Jesus for either rescue or for saving, as the traditional voices still appear to do, I look to him for empowerment on my road to wholeness.

So I do not view the Communion service as a re-enactment of the story of the cross where Jesus died for us or in place of us to satisfy an angry God, who was intent on punishing someone to satisfy the divine sense of righteousness. I consider this theology to be barbaric at best. It makes God an ogre, Jesus a victim, and you and me guilt laden.

I prefer to look at the Communion service as a time for the community to break bread together in the presence of the Lord. My experience in life is that relationships never grow or deepen until people eat together. That is what Communion is designed to do and be. The problem with the Eucharist is that a simple act has been overlaid with atonement theology and cannibalistic practice. A reformation is badly needed.

- John Shelby Spong