Thinking Anew: Faith in the presence of God in our world

‘There is a communion between us that is not limited to physical presence’

“As Christians we reflect on the promise of Christ to be present where two or more were gathered in his name, and his request that we would break bread in his memory, as the principal expression of our faith.” Photograph: Alan Betson

Fergal Mac Eoinín

“Old friends sat on a park bench like bookends . . . ” That Simon & Garfunkel lyric is one of very few lines ever written in honour of the silent presence of a true friend. Someday, there will be only one of the friends on that bench but the presence of the other will still be as real to the last one sitting.

The lasting friend changes place with the lingering presence and a uniquely human trait finds its voice. Abstract and imaginative, the human love song normally comes after the lover is separated from the loved. Millions of songs leave no doubt that there is a lasting bond between us that delivers more than a chronology of shared adventures. There is a communion between us that is not limited to physical presence.

We call it Holy Communion because we acknowledge that presence is not always life-giving. As Christians we reflect on the promise of Christ to be present where two or more were gathered in his name, and his request that we would break bread in his memory, as the principal expression of our faith. In Holy Communion the Christian celebrates the real presence of Christ in the breaking of the bread, just as the first disciples recorded, and the community called church continues to do.

Philosophers have had differing levels of success in explaining this sense of presence. Their teachings have helped many and have, sadly, sometimes polarised others and severed communion. This failure of great minds to agree has had little impact on the continued acceptance of the truth of presence.

Holy Communion has endured. It has survived in the weak language of emotion with a strength that irritates logic. It draws on the inexplicable bonds that grow between people and will always be expressed illogically. We can only ever describe what love and friendship are.

Nobody expects anybody to define these anyway. Yet, far from being a weak language, the language of love stretches the person to exceed their limitations and dare to hope for better.

It might not stop the spread of an infection or mend a shattered ankle but there is healing in Holy Communion. Human interchange brings a peace that can aid healing. The body’s natural defences work better when a person is relaxed. The comforting word of another is enough to induce healing and we call it the placebo effect.

That effect, like presence, is real but incapable of being explained accurately. The presence of another is accepted as a vital factor to mental recovery and maybe that should simply be recovery. The encounter and the memory of the encounter is what makes us hopeful.

Christ specifically mentioned that there should be two or more and sanctified communion as an act of togetherness. Christ and the church celebrate communion and that can lead to a fuller life by encouraging a light to shine.

For those who are still part of it this makes perfect sense but they will never be able to explain exactly why. Maybe they don’t have to. Faith in the presence of God in our world has endured and music sells better than documentaries.

We have all had the experience of presence in our lives, even if we dismiss the experience as fanciful or nothing. We know it and understand it but words fail. We express it as best we can but, the greatest religious minds are unlikely to have understood that presence any better or worse than an old friend with memories of a park bench.