All real Communion is and must forever be based upon the principle of personal breaking and giving. Too readily we fill the place of the receiver only, when we ought also to be the giver. Any person wishing to be in communion with another must be ready to take the position of supplier, and not primarily the place of the suppliant. Having first received of Him, we ought, as He, to break the bread in order to give to others also. That is the way Communion, THE Communion, is established.
We normally break off our own piece and eat it and pass the loaf on to the next person; or else perhaps give it back to the person who handed it to us. Perhaps also we believe that symbolically we are passing the body of Christ from one to another. But O how much we miss and forfeit thereby, for He is trying to show us that we should break and give to others. Ought we not to discern 'the body of Christ' as Paul exhorts us and know what it is and that we are particular members of it? We must do this thing. We are not to try and remember Him hanging with unbroken body on a tree, wounded, cursed and dying, crying out in agonised bewilderment as untold contradictions meet in His mind, crowning His baffled head with unanswered and unanswerable enigmas.
We must understand the mystery in our hands and give ourselves with the bread we break and pass on to others, for that is the communion of the body. By this means we partake from one another as from the Christ who is the Head of the body in each member. If we were to do it like this, we should receive from one another in an entirely new way, for this kind of enlightened reform would bring us more nearly to the meaning of the real Communion.
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G.W. North (1913 - 2003)
G. W. North was born in London England in 1913. As a young man he became aware that the Lord was calling him into the work of the ministry. At timely stages the Lord placed folk in his path who were able to direct him into the truth of heart purity and a more expansive understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He held pastorates in Kent and Bradford. By the late 1960s, following a significant period of ministry in Liverpool, he began a more itinerant ministry. This led him to many parts of the world, and occupied him until well into his eighties. His powerful preaching and the unique sense of the Lord's presence, which seemed to brood over his meetings, were always intensely challenging.The true secret of his remarkable ministry stemmed from his personal communion with the Lord Jesus. To him, 'entering the holiest' was not merely a theological concept; it was a distinct spiritual reality - and the central feature of his spiritual life. It was here, in the place of worship, that his revelatory ministry found its source. He preached from understanding and conviction. He was never the echo of another, nor did he take on board the ebb and flow of various contemporary emphases. He was not a man of 'books'; he soaked himself in Scripture and allowed it to saturate his heart and mind. Truly, this is a man who has lifted up a standard for the people. Mr North went to be with the Lord on 29th April 2003, shortly after his ninetieth birthday.