Original Research

The reconciliatory role of Holy Communion in the Methodist tradition

Wessel Bentley
Verbum et Ecclesia | Vol 32, No 2 | a501 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v32i2.501 | © 2011 Wessel Bentley | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 26 January 2011 | Published: 18 October 2011

About the author(s)

Wessel Bentley, University of South Africa, South Africa

Abstract

Violence is an instrument of segregation, whether it manifests physically, emotionally, verbally or by any other means. Can the church be an instrument of reconciliation where people have been divided through violence? This article explores the reconciliatory role of the Sacrament of Holy Communion in the Methodist tradition, which has as a Christian denomination, experienced many threats of division in its history. Holy Communion, it is argued, is the one place where people, who may find every reason not to be together, are invited to share in an event which unites them.

Keywords

Holy Communion; Methodism; Open Table; Prevenient Grace; Reconciliation

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