{"id":386,"date":"2010-10-04T09:17:40","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T09:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html"},"modified":"2010-10-04T09:17:40","modified_gmt":"2010-10-04T09:17:40","slug":"why-do-i-take-communion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Do I Take Communion?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/communion.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"communion.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/113\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/communion-thumb-200x134-18226.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"134\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/a><\/span>I was recently asked by an editor at <a href=\"http:\/\/patheos.com\">Patheos<\/a>&nbsp;to respond to a &#8220;theoblogger&#8221; challenge, and to answer the following question in 100 words or yes: &#8220;Why do you take communion?&#8221;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>My answer:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\"><i>I&#8217;ve been to seminary and heard the debates about symbolism and transubstantiation and everything in between. I&#8217;ve read the Bible stories. I&#8217;ve meditated upon the idea of receiving Jesus&#8217; body and blood, broken and shed for me. I&#8217;ve been to high church celebrations of the mass and low church services where bread is dipped in grape juice. And I can&#8217;t say I&#8217;ve figured out why we do it, why I do it. It remains a mystery. A commandment. A gift. A time of giving and receiving, of humbling myself, of being blessed. A reminder that I am broken, and beloved.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Do you take communion? If so, why? If not, why not?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>To read the rest of the series in honor of World Communion Sunday, click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/Resources\/Additional-Resources\/Why-I-Take-Communion?offset=2&amp;max=1\">here<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was recently asked by an editor at Patheos&nbsp;to respond to a &#8220;theoblogger&#8221; challenge, and to answer the following question in 100 words or yes: &#8220;Why do you take communion?&#8221; My answer: I&#8217;ve been to seminary and heard the debates about symbolism and transubstantiation and everything in between. I&#8217;ve read the Bible stories. I&#8217;ve meditated&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Do I Take Communion? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Do I Take Communion? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was recently asked by an editor at Patheos&nbsp;to respond to a &#8220;theoblogger&#8221; challenge, and to answer the following question in 100 words or yes: &#8220;Why do you take communion?&#8221; My answer: I&#8217;ve been to seminary and heard the debates about symbolism and transubstantiation and everything in between. I&#8217;ve read the Bible stories. I&#8217;ve meditated&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-04T09:17:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/communion-thumb-200x134-18226.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amyjuliabecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Do I Take Communion? - Thin Places","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Do I Take Communion? - Thin Places","og_description":"I was recently asked by an editor at Patheos&nbsp;to respond to a &#8220;theoblogger&#8221; challenge, and to answer the following question in 100 words or yes: &#8220;Why do you take communion?&#8221; My answer: I&#8217;ve been to seminary and heard the debates about symbolism and transubstantiation and everything in between. I&#8217;ve read the Bible stories. I&#8217;ve meditated&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html","og_site_name":"Thin Places","article_published_time":"2010-10-04T09:17:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/communion-thumb-200x134-18226.jpg"}],"author":"amyjuliabecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html","name":"Why Do I Take Communion? - Thin Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/communion-thumb-200x134-18226.jpg","datePublished":"2010-10-04T09:17:40+00:00","dateModified":"2010-10-04T09:17:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/communion-thumb-200x134-18226.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/communion-thumb-200x134-18226.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/why-do-i-take-communion.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Do I Take Communion?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/","name":"Thin Places","description":"Amy Julia Becker on Faith, Family, and Disability","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b","name":"amyjuliabecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","caption":"amyjuliabecker"},"description":"Amy Julia Becker writes about theology, disability, family, and culture. Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}