# Why Communion should be Sacramental The Churches of Christ, following the Protestant trend, have tended to see Communion or the Lord's Supper as symbolic. The significance of the symbolism was primarily a reflection on the cross, and the significance of the act was primarily seen as a matter of obedience to a specified "act of worship". I think this is insufficient. While I don't believe anything is physically transformed in the Communion ceremony (until we consume it), the scriptural texts on which the practice is modeled seem to see something else going on. Paul's account in 1 Corinthians 11 seems definitive. As Paul sees it, in the sharing of food, the people of Christ are being recognized, formed, and knit together into a cohesive body. The existence of discrimination—even unintentional—deeply impairs that process. This is not a symbolic action. This is enacted formation. And in a way, this is transubstantiation—not of the bread, but of the people. A diverse and conflicted community is being transformed into the Body of Christ. But neither is this magic. The binding element of the Body of Christ is love, and it is through the formation and expression of love that the Body grows. Communion is the enacted formation of that love and that identity. --- [Related — Marriage as a Sacrament](/o_gzgpBnSXadqHMiJFnp4g) [Related — Church of Christ & Eastern Orthodoxy](https://hackmd.io/gdeE4EmkSNWFNQLqcg2SbQ) --- [Source — Church of Christ Theology](https://www.facebook.com/groups/108962615857138/permalink/2670276839725690/)