While I was raking up fallen leaves in the yard recently, a passerby stopped to talk.

This lady was from India, and was curious about why Canadians raked up leaves each fall. Was it some cultural tradition of ours, she asked, a ritual that we enjoyed doing?

I smiled at her mistaken assumption, but explained that if we didn’t rake up the leaves, the lawn underneath would die. With a blanket of leaves blocking the sun and air, the grass would be smothered.

We’re certainly not raking up dozens of bags of leaves because it’s fun!

Our conversation got me thinking about rituals, and how we sometimes need to explain them to puzzled outsiders.

Why do kids dress up in outlandish costumes on Halloween and go door to door asking for candy?

Why do we decorate a tree in our homes at Christmas?

And why do Christians have bread and wine at Communion? Is it because they get hungry and need a snack partway through a church service?

Like Lucy in the old sitcom, we have some explaining to do…

The bread and wine emblems of Communion are symbols. They act as mnemonic devices (memory aids) to remind us of something else.

You might use memory aids in your life, too. Perhaps you were taught the fictional name “Roy G. Biv” as a child. This acronym helps you remember the order of colours in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Similarly, for Christians the bread and wine are stand-ins, representing something greater. They help us remember what Christ did for us.

The bread represents His body, which was sacrificed on the Cross for the atonement of our sins.

“He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ (Luke 22:19)

The wine is emblematic of Jesus’ blood, which sealed the new covenant between God and believers.

“After supper he took another cup of wine and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.’ ” (Luke 22:20)

Jesus tells us to eat of the bread and drink of the wine to remember.

Remember what exactly?

How Jesus’ body was beaten and pierced for our redemption. How His blood was poured out at Calvary for the remission of our sins. How through the Cross He once and for all time bought our forgiveness for us.

“Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.” (Hebrews 7:27)

“With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.” (Hebrews 9:12)

It’s wonderful to commemorate Jesus’ birth, at Christmas. It’s fitting to remember Jesus’ miracles. But what He specifically bids us to memorialize is His death.

Believers do this regularly through Communion.

So now you know the reason behind the ritual!

“For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God
as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”

hebrews 9:14

© 2023 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.