Hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper

I don't remember the first time I visited Jacob's Porch, the Lutheran campus ministry at Ohio State, but my first memory of the service was the Lord's supper. I had grown up in church my entire life and I knew of about three different ways you can partake in communion: dip, sip, or tiny cups. We always went up to the altar, and the pastor always gave us the bread. I figured every single congregation in the whole world did communion like this.

So imagine my surprise when we were asked to stand in a circle for communion that Sunday evening. The pastor handed the bread to the person next to him, "body of Christ, given for you," and she dipped the bread into the wine in the pastor's other hand, "blood of Christ, shed for you." Then the student took the bread and repeated the process to the next person in the circle. Around we went in this organically played out dance together until the final person serviced the pastor.

It changed everything for me.

I remember going back to my seat on the couch and crying through the next two songs. Suddenly, communion wasn't something performed in front of the congregation or something done "for" the lay people by the pastor. It was an act of God in the community, literally being in communion with one another. I still have never experienced anything that could so fully reveal a new eucharistic theology so profoundly. And we simply served each other Christ in a circle.

Somehow, without even meaning to (or maybe fully meaning to), campus ministry brought me into more full communion with God and with my siblings. 

Vicar Ellen Clough, campus ministry leader at Furman University, tells about how campus ministry brings students into more full communion with God in other surprising ways:

"When I was in college, I very rarely wanted to wake up for worship on Sunday mornings. I was a religion major, and one of my professors would jokingly call out those of us who didn’t make it to worship on Sunday mornings by asking us on Monday if we’d worshipped “St. Mattress” the day before. I’d feel guilty for a few hours before promptly forgetting about it until the next Sunday when I’d choose to eat a late brunch in the cafeteria with my friends, sharing laughs and stories from our eventful Saturday nights. 

For this reason, when I started working with college students as their campus minister, I half-heartedly invited them to join us for worship as I’d been told to do, and didn’t expect any of them to show up. I absolutely believe that it is good for the people of God to gather together for worship and to share in the Lord’s supper, I just knew that while I was in college, I didn’t make this a priority at all.  

But my students surprised me. One girl told me she was attending the Catholic mass held on campus because she knew she needed communion every week and was taking it without telling the Priest she wasn’t actually catholic. Others didn’t have cars but asked if I would be willing to coordinate a carpool to worship. Now, halfway into the year, about half of the students who are regularly participating in our weekly gatherings are also attending worship. It’s beautiful, it’s humbling, and their desire to come to worship so diligently is truly a sign that the Kingdom of God really is present when we gather together around even the simplest of things, word, wine, wheat, and water."

I believe that campus ministry has the opportunity to not only be a place for students to hear the word of God and share in the Lord's supper, but do these things in new, exciting, personal, and transformative ways. One of the incredible blessings (and sometimes hardships) of campus ministry is that we are often freed from worship committees and congregational traditions. I've very rarely (if ever) heard anyone within campus ministry say, "because that's the way we've always done it." Campus ministry can be transforming and renewing with every year and every new student.

In an age where we must continue to adapt to the changing and constantly-moving lives of young adults, campus ministry has a unique opportunity to be an anchoring point, a sanctuary of the old old story and the deeply nourishing meal. In this way, campus ministry is more than a club or gathering place, but a true and sacred worshiping community meant to bring students into a more full communion with God and with one another through the word and meal.