"You know, pastor, your preaching is such a blessing to me – so helpful to my spiritual growth – that I really think we should have a sermon only, say, once every several months. That way, we'll appreciate your messages so much more, and they'll never become commonplace or just an empty routine."

Now, I have never heard anyone seriously suggest such a thing – and I suspect that no minister ever has. Good preaching begs to be heard by God's people! During the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached on Paul's letter to the Romans to eager audiences at London's Westminster Chapel nearly every Friday evening, in addition to his regular pulpit ministry on the Lord's Day. Weekday sermons were also a regular occurrence in Geneva in the days of John Calvin.

I know of no one who advocates less frequent Bible reading or less prayer because of their great spiritual blessing. But I have heard Christians object to weekly or monthly Communion on the grounds that such frequency might render it dull and ordinary.

Of all the means of grace (except baptism, which is a one-time thing), only the Lord's Supper is somehow thought to provide increased benefits from decreased use. I am baffled by this way of thinking.

The Lord's Supper is the sacrament of our remembrance of Christ's death and of our communion with him. It is the successor to, and the fulfillment of, the Old Testament Passover meal, which was observed once a year to commemorate Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. At the Last Supper, Jesus transformed the Passover into a remembrance of his death and a communion in his body and blood, which were shortly to be sacrificed on the cross (Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16).

The earliest Christians, aflame with gratitude and love for their Lord, met together on the first day of the week (the day of Jesus' resurrection). God does not tell us all they did on those occasions, but the scriptural evidence suggests that, although the Passover was observed annually, they "broke bread" in memory of Christ frequently (Acts 2:42; 20:7).

The believers in Corinth sadly abused the Supper, but Paul's discussion of their behavior in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22, 33-34 virtually states that the sacrament was rightly a normal part of their church meetings. (It must be admitted that an agape or love feast was then held in conjunction with the Supper, but that is another matter.)

John Calvin observes, on the basis of Acts 2:42, that,

it became the unvarying rule that no meeting of the church should take place without the Word, prayers, partaking of the Supper, and almsgiving, and that the practice continued for many centuries afterwards. (This and subsequent quotations are taken from Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. by F. L. Battles [Westminster, 1960], book 4, chap. 17, sec. 43, 44, and 46, where Calvin discusses at length the proper celebration of the Lord's Supper).

By the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Lord's Supper had degenerated into the Roman Catholic Mass, in which Christ was supposedly re-sacrificed to God continually. The presence of Christ was explained by the doctrine of transubstantiation, according to which the bread and wine are changed into his actual body and blood (without changing their appearance!). Moreover, priests celebrated Mass daily, although most of the faithful would take Communion only once or twice a year.

The Reformers unanimously rejected these and other Roman errors concerning the Supper. But because of these corruptions, and because people were so ignorant of the Bible, some Protestants urged that less attention be paid to the Supper and much more be given to the preaching and teaching of God's Word.

To his credit, Calvin, who took a back seat to no one in his zeal for teaching the Bible, realized that the best way to correct errors about the sacrament was not to ignore it, but rather to observe it correctly. He wrote,

Now, to get rid of this great pile of ceremonies, the Supper could have been administered most becomingly if it were set before the church very often, and at least once a week.

However, the civil authorities in Geneva at the time refused to allow such a practice.

At the same time, many devout believers refrained from Communion out of a concern for their own unworthiness (see Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29). In some places, notably Scotland, the Supper was observed once or twice a year in each church, often in connection with a series of weekday preparatory services led by a visiting minister. This emphasis surely brought blessings to many, but it tended to drive a wedge between Holy Communion and the regular Sabbath worship services.

Frequency of celebration has remained a stated goal in Presbyterian churches, but the minister and ruling elders are left to determine what frequency will be most conducive to the edification of the people.

In many churches, quarterly communion has remained the rule. But I believe that we would receive greater spiritual benefits if we moved closer to the frequency of the Supper that was observed in the days of the apostles and was advocated by Calvin.

Calvin writes that the Supper,

was ordained to be frequently used among all Christians in order that they might frequently return in memory to Christ's Passion, by such remembrance to sustain and strengthen their faith, and urge themselves to sing thanksgiving to God and to proclaim his goodness; finally, by it to nourish mutual love, and among themselves give witness to this love, and discern its bond in the unity of Christ's body. For as often as we partake of the symbol of the Lord's body, as a token given and received, we reciprocally bind ourselves to all the duties of love in order that none of us may permit anything that can harm our brother, or overlook anything that can help him, where necessity demands and ability suffices.

A wealth of untapped and diverse sacramental theology is available to us today. It could be used to enrich our more frequent observance of the Lord's Supper. In order for such observances to be edifying, God's people must realize that Communion is a gracious and deeply significant gift of our Lord, full of promise and strength for those who receive it in faith, and who thus grow in their desire for it.

God has given us his ordinances as means of grace and spiritual growth. Christians need the Word of God, whether from public preaching and teaching or from private reading and study, in doses more frequent than every couple of months. The apostle Paul exhorts us to "pray continually." Likewise, the Holy Supper will do us the most good when, in the assembly of the church, we receive it often and with believing hearts.