So, crappy things happening the world over consistently is symptomatic, not a proof. Martin Luther said that good works don¡¯t make a man good, but a good man does good works. I could look at the world through the filter of all the terrible acts humans do constantly (and I do often.) I could look at the world as though humans are basically good and people want to love one another and help one another. But I think my wife summed it up for me the other day. She was talking about the Law of the Old Testament and the concept of sin. She said that one could follow the Law in total (although we did mention that loving God with all of your heart, soul and mind is a little difficult. As soon as we think about needing to buy cat food in the middle of church we¡¯ve messed it up). But one will not. Just like humans really could make the world a better place, rise to the occasion, treat one another with perfect respect, love, tenderness and understanding, and make the world into Utopia. But we will not.

That¡¯s the bad news. That¡¯s the disvangel. I started talking about Communion so here¡¯s the good news. So we¡¯ve got the Fall which imputed sin to humans. Or, in lay talk, we¡¯ve got people who are flawed. In the OT, there were yearly sacrifices pointing to sin still being an unpaid debt (which is why they continued to happen each year.) God sent His Son, Jesus, perfect, took sins upon Himself in sacrifice and God¡¯s wrath for sin poured out on Him. Does that make Christians qualitatively better than anyone else? Heck, no! They¡¯re just as rank, depraved sinners as anyone else. They are no better or worse than any other human. They all have the capacity for Hitler, Manson, Hilton, or any depth of sin within them. But the difference is Christ¡¯s imputed righteousness. Like they had a Jesus costume and God, looking down from His cloud with His long beard, saw Jesus walking around when He looks at Christians. Sorry. That¡¯s a little¡­ ham-fisted. The point is that everyone falls short but the elect, who are the ones lead to belief which imputes Christ¡¯s righteousness.

So, said Jesus institutes the sacrament of Communion at the Last Supper. The Last Supper is in remembrance of the payment and atonement. It also looks forward to the future meal in God¡¯s presence at the marriage supper of the Lamb where forgiven sinners will be coram deo ("before the face of God.")

Communion, unlike baptism, happens many times over the course of a believer¡¯s life (often weekly or more.) The believer comes with a prepared heart to reflect on Christ¡¯s death and atonement, the undeserved benefits he gets from Christ¡¯s sacrifice, and to proclaim a belief in Christ publicly with other believers.

Now here¡¯s the big question and what we started with. What actually happens during Communion? The traditional Catholic view was, and remains, that of transubstantiation. The priest blesses the elements and the elements (the wafer and wine) actually become the blood and body of Jesus Christ. Flesh and blood. It may look like a wafer and wine, but really it is blood and flesh. That¡¯s why Luther choked during the blessing of the elements the first time he was called upon to officiate a Mass. He was overwhelmed by the weight of what he held and how undeserving he was to be holding it. Later Luther, and other Reformers, took issue with the Catholic teaching that grace is actually imparted on the believer during Communion. Scripture teaches that it is by faith alone in Christ alone that one is saved, not by works.

Luther came up with the concept of CONsubstantiation. Like I say, he really felt and understood the weight of what went on during the Lord¡¯s Supper. And he took "this is my body" so seriously that he pounded the table like Khruschev in Marburg. He thought that Christ is present in, with and under the bread. He is present and the event is of the highest holiness. It¡¯s not that the elements magically become flesh and blood, but that Christ is present and that is what is important. And so, to Martin Luther, the taking of Communion was in essence ingesting the Gospel.

Our man John Calvin didn¡¯t think the elements changed into anything. Calvin wasn¡¯t at Marburg because he was busy being 20 years old and studying law and not being a Christian at all yet while that was going on in Marburg. I get that Luther was trying to hold fast to the holiness of the sacrament. In fact, I think that he was trying to prevent how cavalier a lot of the modern Protestant churches have become toward the sacrament. Calvin, like most modern Pr

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