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"Take this bread of remembrance and eat it. I have told you that I am the bread of life. And this bread of life is the united life of the Father and the Son in one gift. The word of the Father, as revealed in the Son, is indeed the bread of life." When they had partaken of the bread of remembrance, the symbol of the living word of truth incarnated in the likeness of mortal flesh, they all sat down. (1942)
The bread of remembrance which we eat in this simple ceremony is the symbol of the living word of truth incarnated in the likeness of the mortal flesh. In many Christian churches the words spoken at the passing out of the bread of remembrance are along these lines: "This is my body which is given for you. Take and eat this in remembrance of me." In the Catholic mass, the congregations partake only of the bread, not of the wine.
When questioned, even members of fundamental protestant churches stated that, to them, the communion bread and the wine serve as symbols to remind them that Jesus gave his life for us. The Urantia Book tells us:
"The sufferings of Jesus were not confined to the crucifixion. In reality, Jesus of Nazareth spent upward of twenty-five years on the cross of a real and intense mortal existence. The real value of the cross consists in the fact that it was the supreme and final expression of his love, the completed revelation of his mercy.
On millions of inhabited worlds, tens of trillions of evolving creatures who may have been tempted to give up the moral struggle and abandon the good fight of faith, have taken one more look at Jesus on the cross and then have forged on ahead, inspired by the sight of God's laying down his incarnate life in devotion to the unselfish service of man." (2018)
At the conclusion of the Remembrance Supper, Jesus really did instruct us to continue to carry out the symbolic breaking of bread and partaking of wine in a non-formalized way, both in remembrance of his life in the flesh and to arouse our awareness of his real presence with us. (1943) It seems that many mainstream Christian churches come much closer to fulfilling this request in its totality than do most members of the Urantia movement. It is worth some unprejudiced reflection.
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