Heidelberg Catechism Week 29

78. Q. Are the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ? A. No. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ's blood and does not itself wash away sins but is simply God's sign and assurance,  so too the bread of the Lord's Supper is not changed into the actual body of Christ even though it is called the body of Christ in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments.

79. Q. Why then does Christ call the bread His body and the cup His blood, or the new covenant in His blood, and Paul use the words, a sharing in Christ's body and blood? A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so too His crucified body and poured-out blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life. But more important, He wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit's work, share in His true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in His remembrance, and that all of His suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung outlines the different theological views of the Lord's Supper: Roman Catholic "transubstantiation," Martin Luther's "consubstantiation," Ulrich Zwingli's "feast of remembrance," and John Calvin's "feast of remembrance and communion." Calvin's view is that which is represented in the Heidelberg Catechism.

Memorial: We remember Christ's sacrifice and proclaim His death.
Communion: We participate in, have fellowship with, the body and blood of Christ. We participate in the benefits of Christ's death.

It took me a while to figure out what exactly it was that made the Lord's Supper a more special, treasured time when I first began attending a Reformed church. Instead of merely the "this do in remembrance," it was treated like communion. One of the hymns we sing often at my church expresses the sweetness of this time:

Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to face;

Here would I touch and handle things unseen,

Here grasp with firmer hand th'eternal grace,

And all my weariness upon Thee lean.

Here would I feed upon the bread of God,

Here drink with Thee the royal wine of heav'n;

Here would I lay aside each earthly load,

Here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven.

Mine is the sin, but Thine the righteousness;

Mine is the guilt, but Thine the cleansing blood!

Here is my robe, my refuge and my peace—

Thy blood, Thy righteousness, O Lord my God.

Too soon we rise; the symbols disappear;

The feast, though not the love, is past and gone;

The bread and wine remove, but Thou art here,

Nearer than ever, still my Shield and Sun.

I have no help but Thine; nor do I need

Another arm save Thine to lean upon;

It is enough, my Lord, enough indeed;

My strength is in Thy might, Thy might alone.

Feast after feast thus comes and passes by,

Yet, passing, points to the glad feast above,

Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,

The Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love.

(Horatius Bonar)