I and Thou

Logan Whitley

Thou, It, You

            More than thirty percent of the world’s people sit at the same table. It is the Lord’s Table, where a great communion takes place, containing the elements of the bread and the cup. It may not always look the same or be practiced in the same way, but this table is a place where the You resides to many and where an I can burgeon and become subjective to the other. With an unspoiled commitment to commune and encounter fully the You, the I can maintain its subjectivity to the divine, but if the I does not, the table will lose its significance and simply become an object.

            Unquestionably, Communion is a sacred place for many. It is one of the two acts consecrated in the Christian faith directly from religious text. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, an individual partakes physically of the bread and of the cup (wine or juice). Though the physical act is in fellowship, the spiritual component of this place authenticates the I. The bread and cup are symbolic for the sacrifice of Jesus for his followers saying, “this is my body that is for you,” according to First Corinthians. The elements of the table are the means by which “man becomes an I through a You” (Buber, 80). The elements of the table are an eternal symbol for Christians which gives them identity from the divine. To those who chose to enter into the rite wholly, the bread and cup become more than the physical, the elements are unequivocally a You; through this same rite, man can likewise become an I.

            While many participate in the ceremony of the Lord’s Supper, it is entirely possible to participate in an objective way. Viewing the elements merely as tokens of an ancient act may mean that a person is at the table without entering it (Lane, 19). It is thus that the spiritual constituents of the table lose their subjectivity to another. I and You are no longer components of the table, it is simply the interaction of objects in a physical way. To take part in the table consecrated by Jesus, man must use his power to relate with these elements in order to “live in the spirit” (Buber, 89). To Christians, the connection to a personal God can be fulfilled by celebrating communion “in remembrance” (1 Cor.) of Christ’s life among men, in the spiritual rededication to living more like Christ, and with thanksgiving for renewal and forgiveness. This fulfillment is the way that I and You may encounter at the table, while becoming “conscious of itself as subjectivity” (Buber, 112).

            The table is a place where I come to understand my subjectivity to the bread and the cup. It is a place where I am enabled to see an ordinary article as something extraordinary. So long as I am not limited by the physical, the subjectivity is reciprocal and is dually affirmed. I am transformed through You and You are transformed through me.