On the evening before he died, Jesus ate supper with his followers. He took bread, broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘this is my body broken for you’. He took a cup of wine and shared it with them saying, ‘this is my blood poured out for you for your forgiveness’. And he tells them that when we eat bread and drink wine to remember him, he will be with us.
This is what happens at communion. We remember that Jesus gave his life so that we can know God’s forgiveness, we eat and drink together as God’s people, we invite him by the power of the Holy Spirit to be present to us as we eat and drink and to come into us, and we look forward to that day when we will eat and drink with him in his kingdom. We come with nothing, with open hands, to receive the life that God longs to give us.