Communion: Are You Going to EAT That?!

August 2005

I remember my First Communion quite well. It was a few months past my 13th birthday. What I remember most is that I was allowed to wear high heels for the first time. And may the human who invented high heels be condemned to an eternal afterlife of wearing pointy-toed high heels that are two sizes too small, and carrying 16 pounds of groceries while doing so. Forever and ever. Amen.

I was so excited. This was my Rite of Passage as far as the Lutheran Church was concerned. I had taken my two years of Confirmation Instructions to prepare me for the big day. I was younger than most, as I always was in any school, because my birthday is in November and I always “turned” after any class did its graduating. On the other hand, I looked older than anyone else in my Confirmation Class. I matured early, too early my parents thought. I remember being in a restaurant with a lot of family and I was 15 years old. As the waiter took cocktail orders before the meal he asked me what I wanted! And at that time the legal drinking age was 21. My parents looked at me as if I had done something wrong. Is that unfair or what? But I digress.

So there I was, wearing my first ever high heels and nylon stockings (yes, gentlemen, this was before pantyhose were common) and ready to take my First Communion. First though we young teens (I think there were about eight of us) had to be asked several questions in front of the entire congregation to prove that we knew our religious doctrine and were therefore worthy of accepting Holy Communion. The questions were softballs, guaranteed to guarantee that all of us passed with flying colors. However, we did not know that at the time and we all had sweaty palms, pounding hearts and cotton mouths. I think that was intended. Kind of like a fraternity hazing.

Well, we all answered our questions correctly, if shakily, and then came the big moment. We were allowed to approach the altar, kneel, and accept the Eucharist. We were about to become communicants! This was a heady moment. For me it had even more meaning than for the rest. My father was the church organist and I was very musically inclined and educated; so as I walked up to the altar my ear was attuned to the quiet music my father was playing. I not only knew the title and composer of the piece he was playing, but I could hum along. It was actually a bit distracting. But my excitement was not dimmed.

Then it happened. There, on my knees at the altar of God, with my eyes closed and my mouth open and soft music surrounding me, I felt a sliver of something being placed on my tongue. It felt like a tiny piece of paper. Then it was gone! It dissolved so quickly I didn’t get to taste it. What a disappointment. Soon after I felt a tiny glass against my lips. It was a thimbleful of wine. But it tasted like turpentine. I later pointed that out to my parents, with no small amount of disdain for the proceedings, and I was told that it was a very nice wine, a Port or Sherry, I forget which. But I knew in my heart it was turpentine.

Still, I had accepted Communion! I received gifts, the most important of which was a beautifully bound, gilt-edged Bible, which I still have. It was all very exciting. But if I had been approached by a friendly stranger on that day, and asked what had actually taken place, I would have had to answer, “For the first time in my life, I got to drink the blood and eat the body of Jesus!” (Pardon me. I just had a gagging moment.) Put like that it sounds awful, doesn’t it? And yet there is no other way to put it. That’s what Communion is: Drinking the blood and eating the body of Jesus.

Roman Catholics, most of them anyway, are supposed to believe in transubstantiation. It’s just a big word that means the conversion of one substance into another. In this case it means that the bread and the wine are literally transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. It is not symbolic. It is real. That is truly gross. But a lot of people believe it.

Even symbolically though, it makes little sense. My Confirmation Class had been symbolically, um, eating the body and, uh, drinking the blood of…um, Jesus. (Pardon me. Another gagging moment.) When you think about it objectively, it’s not just thoroughly disgusting (you want fries with that?) but utterly puzzling. Why would anyone, anywhere, anytime, want to eat anyone’s body and blood? Is there no other way to bond with your gods?

The biblical justification for this peculiar ritual is found in a couple of places in the New Testament. Here’s one:

“ . . . That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1 Cor 11:23-25 (KJV)

There is no accompanying explanation as to why anyone should do that other than “in remembrance.” But there are so very many other ways to remember someone or something, even ritualistically, that this digression into symbolic cannibalism makes no sense. The only context which does in fact make sense would be that the practice is building on a previously cannibalistic society. Studies of extant cannibalism have shown that the most common reason for it is the transfer of power and/or life. For example, if you eat part of an enemy or rival you will gain his powers or life strength. This description is eerily similar to what is going on in Christian Communion. The word “commune” itself means “to be in a state of intimate, heightened sensitivity and receptivity” which certainly fits in with cannibalistic behavior.

Like so many religious rituals and sayings, Communion is accepted uncritically as “normal.” But it is anything but normal. Symbolically or otherwise, pretending to eat the flesh and drink the blood of a human body is not normal. It is grisly, barbaric, primitive and stupid. But it ain’t normal. Of course the Bible is filled with God’s demands for bloody sacrifices of animals. Here is one about Moses:

Lev 8:14-29

14  And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.

15  And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it.

16  And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar.

17  But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the LORD commanded Moses.

18  And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.

19  And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

20  And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat.

21  And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

22  And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.

23  And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.

24  And he brought Aaron’s sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

25  And he took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder:

26  And out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder:

27  And he put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the LORD.

28  And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

29  And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the LORD: for of the ram of consecration it was Moses’ part; as the LORD commanded Moses. (KJV)

What a bloody mess that must have been by the time they were finished! Did they “wave” those blood-dripping pieces of animal carcass at the sky for the LORD to see before they burnt them on the altar? It would appear so. The “inwards” and the “caul” (Caul = a portion of the amnion, especially when it covers the head of a fetus at birth. Amnion = a thin, tough, membranous sac that encloses the embryo or fetus of a mammal, bird, or reptile. It is filled with a serous fluid in which the embryo is suspended. Feel free to gag.) and the kidneys and their fat. The ram’s flesh and hide and rump and dung. Slaughtering an animal, sprinkling the blood around and wiping it on someone’s ears and toes. What the heck is going on here? This is just one of the far too many examples of the uncivilized, sacrificing nature of the Bible. Instead of condensing the above I quoted at length to make a point: The Old Testament is literally dripping with these bloody rituals. There are hundreds of biblical verses filled with similar, grisly details. Hundreds. They are nauseating. Christians like to shy away from them and pretend that they have no meaning in today’s world. But never forget these words of Jesus:

Matt 5:17-18

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (KJV)

Jesus is unambiguously talking about Old Testament Law. For those of you who are constantly blasted by Christians with the argument that Jesus came to “change all that” can and should make note of the above verses. It’s the infamous jot and tittle reference. Jesus came to change nothing. And those jots and tittles include ram’s blood and kidneys and caul and fat…..(Pause. Gag.)

Nevertheless, animal sacrifices, however repugnant, pale by comparison to human sacrifices or even allusions to human sacrifices. “Primitive” people everywhere have been known to sacrifice other humans to try to bribe the powers that be into providing good weather; a good crop; the health of the tribe; protection from evil spirits; and so on. Jesus was supposedly “sacrificed” to ensure a heavenly reward for those who believed in him. I don’t see a lot of difference. Do you?

Communion is nothing more than a throwback to cannibalism and the power/protection that it was thought to confer. Jesus’ imagined sacrificial death is nothing more than a throwback to primitive sacrificing societies. Christianity, therefore, is nothing more than a throwback to our Paleolithic origins, a time when we had no idea that the earth was a planet or that it was a sphere. Today we understand that the DNA molecule is a double helix. We’ve come quite a long way, haven’t we? So why are humans still engaging in these primitive rituals? It’s difficult to say, other than to speculate that somehow it makes people feel a continuity with their ancestors. But outside of a tacky Hollywood Dracula movie, can you imagine ever saying, “Would you pass me that cup of human blood, please?” No, of course not. Symbolic or not, we should have put these barbaric practices behind us long ago.

From The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia – “Communion: a sacrament in most of Christianity, a partaking of bread and wine…some believe that the substances actually and miraculously become the body and blood of Jesus (transubstantiation)…all who practice communion believe that the recipient is united mystically with Jesus.” “Cannibalism: the practice of eating human flesh.” There’s no avoiding the similarities. And no, I don’t want fries with that. 

© 2005 Judith Hayes

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